Working and Panic Disorder

[Mary_inthemilkyway]

To those of you suffering from panic disorder + working:
What do you work with?
How to you cope with working and panicing?
Have you told your co-workers/boss? How did you do this and what were their reaction?
I would really appreciate an answer.

[minihaha]

hiya, i manage a team of 13 full time staff and suffer from anxiety and at times panic attacks. Following a period of absence 4 years ago (i reckon i was off for about 8 weeks) i told my HR representative , my director and also the occupational health team that i was struggling with coping with my anxiety. Once i returned to work i confided in my deputy manager who covers for me in any times of absence and i also told a couple of team members - i think the word has spread to the rest of the team through time (you know what offices are like....lol) i have found that everyone has been pretty supportive and some understand more than others. In the early stages of learning how to cope with my disorder i felt a huge failing as i was there to manage staff and i always felt i was letting them down if i had to have the odd day off or was having a bad day but now i have learnt not to be so hard on myself.

My director has been quite supportive if i have needed time off but has always relied on me being honest with him - ie in the summer i felt things coming to a head again and i went to him and explained that i needed a couple of days off as i was feeling very stressed and he agreed that a couple of days rest and some time to relax was needed.

My advice would be that if you can confide in someone, whether it be a colleague or your line manager then please do it sooner rather than later, your absences from work should be managed in line with their sickness absence policy and you should be given the same support as any employee being absent for whatever reason. Once you have confided in someone you might just feel a 100 times better and most large companies have resources that could benefit you - such as staff counselling etc.

I wish you the best of luck
K x

[shortstuff]

I'm teach in a special school full time. Most of the time I manage but I tend to have bad spells where panic attacks at work are very common. To be honest, I find the kids a great distraction and being at work actually helps me out. I was up front with all of the staff from pretty early on and have had lots of support. I intially emailed my boss and have spoken to him since. I couldn't imagine trying to struggle through this AND have to hide it from the people I work with.

I hope this helps.

Nic

[Mary_inthemilkyway]

Thank you so much for your reply.
I only started working 3 months ago,at the same time as i started havingpanic attacks. I feel like a big failure to tell anyone.. I am afraid I might loose my job:(

[kath135]

I work in an office and I use to save all my shredding up for an emergency so I could escape to the shredding room without being missed. One day I had a really bad attack and one of my co-workers found me on the floor clutching my chest! AAHH He called 999 despite pleeding him not too but before I knew it I was surrouned by people then swept off to hospital....

The following day I returned to work and everyone was amazed to see me looking normal, when I explained to them what had happened to me and that it happens several times a week if not several times a day they found it quite shocking but everyone was great and it's been fantastic since. I do'nt even leave my desk when I have an attack now I just say ''I need 10 mins'' and everyone just carrys on around me, it sounds cruel but it works a treat for me. I'm glad I was found out.. I feel so much better now it's out in the open.

I do usually stay behind for ten minutes to make my time up

[Mary_inthemilkyway]

Thank you so much for your answers.
Seems like you all agree that one should tell people at work.
The problem is: I dont dare to. I am so afraid of loosing my job (working in a consultantfirm) and to disapoint people.
At the same time ,when I am at work, I am constantly afraid of getting attacks and that people will notice,esp in meetings.. I cant take it anymore..Maybe the best thing is to give upand just realise I am not able to work?

[Phill2]

Hi
I'm 55 yrs old , work in Real Estate and suffer anxiety/panic disorder.
I find I don't panic at work and am much better than I would be at home
I just told my boss I'm crazy and to keep an eye on me and he's cool
Phill

[Bill]

When I became ill with severe anxiety, I tried to keep it hidden at work but at meetings I couldn't concentrate because my insides were feeling so panicky making me just wanting to escape.

After one meeting I decided I had to talk to my boss so she took me into a private room where I told her everything that I was going through at home together with the thoughts that I was suffering from. She was shocked because I always appeared so laid back. I'll always remember the tears in her eyes when it dawned on her how much I was actually suffering and so she did all she could to help me.

The personnel department became involved and they arranged time for me to see a psychologist and therapist in my lunch breaks. They helped me to understand the causes to my problems and why I was suffering panicky feelings and actual panic attacks at times.

Through my own choice and for the sake of my own health I decided to resign to take time out to recover. Once I'd found ways to ease the stresses in my life that were causing me to feel overloaded, I then decided that I could attempt getting back into work again and I found the new job much more enjoyable than the one I had when I got ill.

Sometimes a change in career to a job we "enjoy" can actually help us get better.

[Notator]

I used to be a university lecturer, I found I could manage with the panic attacks fairly well, and had a very sympathetic faculty head. However in the end the "planning-in-case-of" all got a bit too much and I resigned. For the last three years I've run my own business and I can work around when I'm ok to do - I'm very lucky to be able to do so.