Re: Advice?
Hi Andy, it sounds like you have quite a full on job & that does make it harder to know what's right to do. I'm a nurse so when I first 'got bad' I just knew in myself that I wasn't ready to face my patients and look after them. I was off for 2 months in total, while I got used to the citalopram and got in a better place mentally. Being off work made it a lot harder in some ways because I had nothing to distract me and the thought of going back used to torment me.
I stayed in touch with work by ringing them once a week to let them know what was happening - it just made me feel less alienated. Once I felt a little better I popped in to see my boss, I went in with the intention of discussing returning to work but once I got in the hospital I just felt completely overwhelmed and knew I wasn't ready - but it was helpful to see my boss and see the work place again. It might be worth doing that?
I went in again a few weeks later & this time I didn't feel scared at all, I had a cup of tea with some colleagues and told the ones I was close to what had been going on. They were all so understanding and I realised that having anxiety and needing time off was just not a big deal at all - I'd just made it one!
So I returned to work after 2 months, for the first week I did reduced hours but it was still hard. By the end of the second week I felt A LOT better, like I had a good routine again and for 8 hours of the day I didn't have time to think about anxiety or how I was feeling. Returning to work played a massive part in my recovery but I'm glad I didn't rush it and I think it's still probably a bit soon for you - give it a couple more weeks until you're a bit more settled on the medication. I went to see occupational health at work & the nurse there said she'd expect someone to be off for 6 - 8 weeks when starting a new antidepressant because that's how long they'd expect someone to become 'settled' on the medication.
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She believed she could, so she did