Trying to balance mental/physical health problems while having a full time job

[SnowWhite94]

How do people do it? How do you handle your physical and mental health while working full time? Is life always going to be this difficult? Am I always going to have to choose between a job and my health? Cause that’s how it feels anymore.

I’m a hard worker. I always have been. I care about my work so I put a lot into it. But I do have mental and physical illnesses. So yes I have missed work more than my coworkers. I have a lot of drs appts. I have new health issues arise. To me it’s so frustrating that I have to ask to miss work. That I’m told “hey just try to give me more of a heads up in the future”. It’s not like I can plan out being sick? And if it’s my PTO then why do I have to ask you to use it? My job is the same, day in and day out. I don’t have a job that is life and death. So I hate being treated like if I have to ask permission because I’m sick. Maybe that makes me sound wishy washy but I don’t know what else to say. It’s almost like how we had to ask to use the restroom in school growing up. Never made sense and the fact that they could tell you no. Just like a job could tell me no. Sure some people take advantage but it shows in my work that I don’t.

It’s kinda hard to come into work when I’m having an IBS flare up. I’m going to the bathroom all day, can’t control the pain, can’t feel comfortable in a public bathroom, always worried if I feel worse I’m not close to home. And it’s not like I have time to call the doctors office while I’m working?? And the office is closed when I finish up for the day. I’ve been sick this past week with stomach problems. So I took today to try and figure it out. None of this makes sense. “Adulting” seriously sucks and if this is how my life is going to go then I don’t know how I’m going to make it. I seriously don’t because this just adds more distress and discomfort to my life.

[DVISION]

Isaiah 41:10

3 John 1:2

Matthew 11:28-30

[SnowWhite94 in reply to DVISION]

I needed this, thank you so much.

[DVISION in reply to SnowWhite94]

You’re very welcome! I hope you’re feeling better?

David

[SnowWhite94 in reply to DVISION]

I was doing a lot better, thank you for asking and checking in, David. The past week I haven’t been well but I’m hopeful it will pass.

[DVISION in reply to SnowWhite94]

I hope you feel better. Things will get better.

[Coral43]

I know exactly how you feel with all of this. I have a full time job, a part time job and I am also a full time college student. As if that isn't bad enough lets sprinkle in some depression, IBS and female issues. Some days I am not sure how I managed to make it through the day, but I do. I had to tell myself to stop feeling bad for needing to take time off to take care of myself. You see I work in a very small office, I am the only full time employee, the only other person in my office is my boss and then one day a week I have one person come in to help. Adulting does suck, but you will make it through it. You need to tell yourself that you will no longer feel bad about taking off of work to take care of yourself, you staying healthy is your first priority.

I hope that you can relax a little today de-stress from all of it.

[SnowWhite94 in reply to Coral43]

Oh my gosh what a busy schedule you have! You're a very strong person to handle all of that, good for you. You should be really proud of that honestly. I like that advice tho, about stop feeling bad for needing to take care of yourself.. I'll need to remember that as well Thank you so much for sharing and giving me advice.

[Bluetj]

I have a full time job & go 2 school full time, so I can relate 2 what ur saying. This year in April I was hospitalized with a very high heart rate. So although I'm tryn to stay positive but the mental health sucks & then throw physical health problems n the bucket really sucks. All the craziness n the world definitely don't help. 😔😔😢😢

[SnowWhite94 in reply to Bluetj]

I'm so sorry to hear that Bluetj! I hope you're feeling a lot better. You should be so proud of yourself for handling all of that. That's an extremely full plate. Hopefully things outside can return to normal soon... it would make life so much easier on all of us.

[Jeff1943]

What a blessing a job is when you have mental issues. Otherwise you'd just sit around obsessing about those mental issues and their symptoms and making yourself feel worse than ever.

Yes, occupation is a great help to all those with anxiety and depression. SnowWhite, you talk about physical illnesses you have too. May I ask if you think that some or all of those physical illnesses are the symptoms of health anxiety, a very common phenomenon that many here have experienced.

For example, it is rightly said that the stomach is the organ most sympathetic to over sensitised nerves. Thus many cases of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which you mention, are really a symptom of a nervous system that has reached anxiety overload. Another is chest pain. Symptoms like this should always be investigated by a doctor but if the tests come back as 'everything normal', and we're not feeling normal, then we must seek other answers. So much chest pain which we fear is in fact non-cardiac and is tension of the chest muscles caused by anxiety. Anxiety is so good at mimicking real organic illnesses.

When symptoms of illness strike a rush of first fear hits us to which our reaction is to add second fear to it. But fear is our mortal enemy. Fear causes the release of more adrenaline that in excess causes our nervous system to become over sensitised: in this state it exaggerates any small worry ten fold into high anxiety mode. This produces more fake illnesses for us to worry about which produces more fear hormone producing more nervous sensitivity - and so the vicious circle continues to turn powered by our over reactive imagination.

So instead of fighting your anxiety and aĺl its physical manifestations which only creates more stress and tension, do the opposite instead. Accept the symptoms of your anxiety instead for the time being, agree to co-exist with them for the moment. Let them come without resistance, they are only fake symptoms of your imagination caused by an over sensitised nervous system.

Acceptance can free you of your anxiety, your worries and your depletion (depression) caused by nervous exhaustion.

But Acceptance is another story.

[SnowWhite94 in reply to Jeff1943]

Thank you so much Jeff for your insightful response. I definitely do think it is my health anxiety as I do have it and have had it for years. I will definitely work on accepting my anxiety instead of fighting it and making it worse. Acceptance is so much easier said than done but I really want to have a good life and I feel as though that is where it starts: acceptance. I will be copying this comment and keeping it in a word document for when I start to feel super anxious about my health... thank you