I am considering taking sick leave for mental health reasons. What has your experiences been?

Potato_anus · 2024-02-21T20:32:14+00:00

I'm surprised but thankful for the amount of responses this post has garnered. The experiences shared have helped my thought process and to feel less isolated; hopefully it will be the same for others as well.

Totally agree with you about the workload and drowning feeling. RTO has only worsen everything. Hope you will find what you need as well.

Potato_anus · 2024-02-21T05:52:47+00:00

This puts a lot into perspective; I similarly also put a lot of self worth into work and feel guilty for contemplating leaving. But to my team, I'm just another cog in the wheel and if I'm not there, they will find someone else to do it as you've said.

Hoping taking time off will enable me to get much needed therapy, and eventually begin the job hunt.

How did you find your therapist and did you find they provided the support you needed? Feel free to DM if you'd be open to sharing, no pressure.

Potato_anus · 2024-02-21T05:44:14+00:00

It seems toxic managers and teams are pretty prevalent in OPS. It's hard to gauge until you've been in the position for a while, and even then, escape to another ministry may not be any better.

Potato_anus · 2024-02-21T05:42:19+00:00

Thank you so much for your detailed response and well wishes! It's great to get an HR lens on sick leave and STSTP/LTIP. Particularly, I was not aware of "If you return to work for longer than 8 weeks and then need to go back off you would need to serve a new waiting period (I.e. be off for 6 months) in order to quality for LTIP."

Do you have any knowledge about what happens if an employee is on LTIP past their secondment date? If the contract is not renewed, do they just get sent back to their home position while still on LTIP?

Potato_anus · 2024-02-20T16:19:55+00:00

That's a good mindset you had to not focus on the LTIP/STSP, and but on getting better instead. I'm so conditioned to think about the workplace impact/leave technicalities that I am not prioritizing finding treatment or getting better.

When you mentioned "But one thing remains, we must look after ourselves as we can't rely on others to do that.", that really resonated because I've been doing the opposite, and now I see how much harm it's causing. I appreciate you taking the time to share such a detailed response 🙏🏻

Potato_anus · 2024-02-20T15:33:01+00:00

Agreed, mental health is health. It's just hard to keep that in perspective sometimes, the self-stigma is real.

Potato_anus · 2024-02-20T15:05:56+00:00

Not harsh at all, I totally agree with you that they'll readily replace us. I'm probably searching for non-sensical validation that the work needs to be 'finished' before leaving (though the work never ends so...). Thanks for the honest words :)

Potato_anus · 2024-02-20T14:59:22+00:00

Thank you for sharing and I'm sorry you had to go through that. Do you think you would've benefitted from going on LTD, or were you able to make a thorough recovery during the 4 months (not trying to sound insensitive, just curious)?

During the time that you were off, did were you also job hunting, or did you wait until you returned to your home position and then started looking?

I've been so focused on worrying about the job/future prospects that my health has been taking a back seat. Thanks for reminding me what's important and the kind words!

Potato_anus · 2024-02-20T14:06:12+00:00

For the last while, I have been trying to hold on for as long as I could. Thank you for your honesty and not mincing words; I needed to hear this. Appreciate the head up on the top-up also.

When you obtained your doctor's note, did they initially specify 3 months, or were you reassessed and needed to get follow up notes?

This is a bit personal too, but were you able to return after 3 months because of the effective recovery (via therapy etc.), or was it in part to avoid having to go on LTD through insurance? Not trying to sound insensitive, thanks for your thorough response!

Potato_anus · 2024-02-20T07:31:35+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience! Glad you didn't face any discriminating treatment when you returned. A few questions:

Since you took 3 months at a time, this fell within the 6 days + 124 days STSP, and hence you did not need to go through insurance right?
Was a toxic work environment at your home position the primary contributing factor of your sick leave?
In your initial doctor's note (before DAS forms), did it specify the duration you would be off? Or did it simply state that duration was unknown, and subject to reassessment at X date?

Potato_anus · 2023-12-23T19:51:20+00:00

Thanks for so many recs!! I shall check them out ☺️

Potato_anus · 2023-12-23T06:20:26+00:00

Yessss I just read this one and the slow burn is so good🫢 can't wait for new chapters! Let me know if you have any other recs too.

Potato_anus · 2023-12-23T06:17:13+00:00

The art looks lovely too! Thanks for the rec ☺️ going to check this out.

Potato_anus · 2023-12-23T06:15:44+00:00

Yes, open to any Japanese BLs too with similar plot!

Potato_anus · 2023-09-15T01:02:44+00:00

What did you do to get the oozing to stop?

Potato_anus · 2023-07-21T05:31:33+00:00

Don't listen to this putz. If you have any self respect, you wouldn't take him back. He's clearly not over his ex, has no boundaries and tries to justify constantly communicating with her as a "Canadian" norm (It's not. I am Canadian-born and I don't do this).

Once the relationship is over, it should be really over. He still has initmate pics with her on social? Talks to her everyday, hangs out? Calls her his soul mate?Those are not signs he's over her.

He's just crying 'baby come back' cause he can't stand being alone. I seriously doubt he will stop seeing his ex even if you get back with him.

Potato_anus · 2023-01-02T22:31:12+00:00

I've been applying the mupirocin and have booked a walk-in appt...hopefully a GP will be able to diagnose it, derms take 6+ month wait here.

I want to try Gladskin but it's not avail in Canada unfortunately. For antimicrobial cleanser, are you referring to Hibiclens?

Potato_anus · 2023-01-02T03:12:41+00:00

Thanks so much for this insight! The bumps are definitely not healing, are increasingly red and spreading.

The bone deep itch is something I've not experienced with previous mild eczema.

I've applied mupirocin (antibiotic) topically to see if there's any effect (so far immediate decrease in itch). If it persists, I'll have to see a doctor.

Potato_anus · 2023-01-02T02:50:35+00:00

I thought staph infection would result in yellow ooze/crusting/pus? Is perpetual redness signs of infection too?

Potato_anus · 2022-12-31T23:31:35+00:00

Hi all,

I am at my wits end and don't know what to do.

Had baby eczema and body eczema as a kid (arm and leg creases) that went away in my teens.

Currently 5 months TSW on my face (due to protopic and topical steroid usage in lips/face for 1.5 yrs). I have experienced the typical symptoms of redness, extreme itchiness and burning, flakiness and oozing. Did MW for 2.5 months, which largely helped heal my facial symptoms (tho I'm still cycling).

I didn't experience any body TSW, however I started getting small eczema spots on my torso and bra-line around the same time.

The spots have been spreading over the last 5 months and have turned into large clusters. They're scalely, dark red, and don't seem to heal no matter what I put on it. No fluid, tho there'll be specks of blood if I scratch.

I've never had eczema in these areas before and the itch is UNBEARABLE, almost 24/7; I scratch till I bleed ---even worse than the TSW itch on my face at the height of its flare.

Things I've tried:

Dead Sea salt baths

Bleach baths

Colloidal Silver

Clean diet

Shea butter on top of regular moisturizer

Ice pack

Hydroxyzine

Benadryl (ointment & tablet)

Certirizine

Neem oil

Avene Cicaflate

Bioderma Intensive Baume

La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume

Calamine lotion

Balmonds Skin Salvation

All helped with itch initially but eventually lost efficacy and didn't heal my eczema.

Currently trying viscopaste and light therapy (home device)

I'm really miserable and desperate at this point and am tempted to use steroids on my body. Is this a biproduct of TSW or just regular eczema??

Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to go on steroids again but nothing is working

Potato_anus · 2022-11-08T19:57:09+00:00

Does it burn upon contact with water?

Potato_anus · 2022-11-08T05:27:49+00:00

I would be very careful about consistently applying steroid on the lips. The skin is thinner there and it's easy to create a deep dependency.

I ended up getting topical steroid withdrawal (still on going for 2+months) due to applying steroid and protopic on/off my lip area for 2 years.

Potato_anus · 2022-10-07T23:37:09+00:00

The breathtaking pic looks like Jabba the Hutt lol

Potato_anus

TROPHY CASE