Ask the Therapist
Bipolar and Driving Big Rigs
A few years backI was diagnosed as bi polar manic and I have yet to seek treatment. Here lately my " mood swings" have been coming and going about 2 or 3 times a week. My fiancee' is pretty good at spotting the changes and helps to even warn me. I realize I need to seek treatment but I work in the oilfield and drive a truck for a living. What is the chance that the meds, if any, I have to take will make it unsafe for me to be operating an eighteen wheeler hauling hazardous cargo? I cant afford to lose my job but I cant keep living the way I'm living either.
All anti-depressants come with a warning about heavy machinery, alcohol, drowsiness, etc. But, then, again, so does cold medicine. I don't want to trivialize it, but, if everyone followed the instructions associated with anti-depressants, there would be about 40% fewer drivers on the road, the spirits industry would go belly up, and the unemployment system would probably fail.
What's most important for you is how your employer is going to react to the idea of you working while medicated. Are they aware of your diagnosis? Will they have a problem with your being medicated? Does the HR department make allowances for chronic medication situations? What state are you in?...look into the rights of the mentally ill in your state. It may be quite possible that they could not let you go because they would be discriminating. I'm thinking out loud here, but I need to learn more about the legislation regarding mental disorder diagnosis as a disability myself.
As for side effects, everyone is different. It depends on the med, how strong it is, how big you are, what your diet is like, etc. There are scores of people who function just fine on anti-depressants -- in fact, better. Like I always say to people here, you need to educate yourself. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.
