The Mental Debt Struggle...

beanielou

Well done to your DS. 

Sun_Addict

What fantastic news about your DS, well done to him 👏🥳 I bet you’re super proud 😊 

PennysIntoPounds

Ah that all sounds really productive Keedie. I'm smiling at your son doing so well- I'm sure you'll remind him not to rest on his laurels and presume he'll breeze it without putting the work in when it comes to non-mock exams! Big well done to him. You must be so pleased your decision to take on debt for him to get an education is showing rewards 😊

Obviously you know best when it comes to your medication and health needs, but I would feel like a bad mse buddy to not flag up your phrase 'it's not worth sacrificing my physical health for my mental health'.
Mental health feeds into physical health (and of course vice versa), don't sack off feeling well and capable to end up being even worse off all round, your mental health is *as* important, and is what gets you (and us all) eating, moving, washing, cleaning, paying bills, able to talk through issues, all the things you need for physical health x

Debsnewbudget

Great news, you must be so proud.

just a thought that you need to consider, changing the medication will be at the same time as starting back at work, so you need to be able to balance both xx

beanielou

It’s a really difficult one on the medication. 

I hope you can find the right balance for you. 

Cherryfudge

Congratulations to your DS - what a long way he's come! And that's doubly a reason to be proud - that he can do this and that he's fought his way back from where he was only a matter of months ago.

Great to get some tax back. Have you any idea where you'd like your next holiday to be?

I hope the doctors can find a good balance for your medication.

Crazycatlady2

Just wanted to say I'm glad your son is doing ok, it's a very hard transition for them at that age 

Keedie

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. I'm so so proud of my son, he's slowly coming into is own. And repaying my mum for his school fees, I know that I tried my best and he got more out of it than he thought he did. His business course is taught face to face but around 90% of their work is done online, including the text books and it's all computer based and he's thriving. He hated online learning with a passion when he was doing it, but he picked up a lot of learning strategies that are helping him. I have definitely warned him that if he wants the same type of results for the real exam, he needs to keep pushing on as mocks mean nothing if he doesn't bring his A Game to the actual exams.

You're very right @PennysIntoPounds that good mental health is key and as important as physical health. I've prioritised my mental health this year and I've tried to get my physical health into a better position, but the medication caused such bad side effects the last time that I became very physically unwell. It's actually the best medication I've ever been on for my bipolar, but it has the worst impact physically. So I know that if I prioritise how it allows me to function and keep pushing on with life, I won't physically be able to do a lot as it'll cause more issues than I already have. So hopefully the next medication is better.

I've drafted an email to my manager, assistant director and HR Advisor to give them an update on the situation with my fit note and work support. I heard back from Maximus the Access to Work section that gives you a work coach for 9 months to help you return to or stay in work when you have a mental health condition. They're doing an assessment on 03/01/2024 to see what support I need. So that should help with going back to work. My draft email also mentioned the change in medication and that me returning to work in January is dependent on having a clear outline of my duties, the support from Maximus and the side effects of a medication change being tolerable. If it's too much for me, or one of those 3 factors really isn't where it needs to be, then I can't go back just yet. I need to have balance before I reintroduce work, and it's not quite there just yet. 

Going back to having tins for my spare change is working a lot better now. I've been chucking all my spare change in their respective money jars and cat tin, and declaring them on the Payment a Day thread, but not crossing them off my savings trackers. I'll then be able to have whatever I've saved this month act as a nice bonus when I open the tins at the end of 2024. 

~FlowerPot~

well done to your son, Im so pleased hes doing so well at college. It sounds like all the online learning has helped him no end with the courses now. Well done mumma!! Getting our kids through the school years is tough, especially when school doesnt work out!

My DD is managing the home ed sessions and learning how to work at home too. Shes coping amazingly. After a bit of a fight I think the school (then county) will actually pay for her sessions as an alternative provision. I have everything crossed for that to work out. It seesm to be the only benefit of keeping her on role at the school even though shes not attended full time ever since year 7 (now yr 11).

FIngers crossed you new meds will be much better for you

Flowers x

Keedie

Thanks @~FlowerPot~, he is really coming into his own. I'm really happy to hear that your daughter is thriving with her home learning and even better that you'll get funding for it too. She must be very relieved to have a structure that is now working for her.

I paid another £50 to the Argos Card, so that's £89.99 in total so far. Got £40 left to pay and that'll be me done with the PS5 and my son will then raise the remaining £360 by October 2024. He's hung onto the PS4 as he had nothing to play with, but I've told him that the market is ripe for second hand goods as it's Christmas so he needs to get a wriggle on. So he's off to get it cleaned this week as the fan is very noisy and he said he doesn't want someone to return it or give him a bad review, as it works, but it's dusty inside 🤷🏾‍♀️.

He's got his business exam in mid-January and then he's going to be job hunting and he wants a retail job. That's my personal nightmare as I couldn't stand for long or walk around, even when I was much younger before I became disabled, so I always applied for admin jobs so that I was sitting down. Back then it was laziness, but now it's necessity 😂. 

Still not finished my draft of my email to my managers 😬. I had a nap instead as I was worn out from the weekend. But I must get on top of things tomorrow.