After being signed off by Occ Health and GP for 5 months, I had my back to work meeting with my boss and HR this morning. It was really positive and they all seemed to want to help me back to work. I took my union rep in as suggested and her feedback was that it was really positive. I had good advice from friends who work in employment law and coaching and they told me to prepare, which I did and Im so glad I did. People on this blog also advised me and I took the advise. Like going in to have coffee and lunch with colleagues, walking into work just to re-connect with the place and generally working on a positive mindset. It has been a tough journey for me - work has been a massive obsession for me my whole adult life - but I have had to just accept what has been happening to me and find ways of dealing with it. HRT and AD meds have playing a big part in my recovery from what presented itself as depression and anxiety. Hard to know what was what but it doesn't matter - I don't think we really know the half of what hormones do to our bodies and minds-hopefully we are getting closer to it all the time. It sounds strange but knowing that other women are going through the same really helps me and this blog has been and continues to be a lifeline. My colleagues at work are all female and 10 years older than me, but don't seem to have suffered that much - or are not letting on. I just wish people talked about it more. It would have helped me to prepare for it - and I tell everyone who will listen to me about it so that they can do just that. All I know is I have tried everything to raise my mood from HRT, meditation, prayer, food changes, CBT, counselling and it has worked. I just want to keep going forward in my recovery. Thanks everyone.
Sallyx