My first day of work next week and I'm freaking out

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Okay I am seriously freaked out now. For one thing, on the first day of school they are having my supervisor work in late registration, which means I am going to be the only one making the calls to find the missing students. That means aprroximately 200 phone calls for me!

The second and main reason why I'm so freaked out is that he is now, as we speak, meeting with my supervisor to discuss my new duties. I am not invited to this meeting! At the last school my boss worked at, he made the assistant do ALL the absence phone calls every single day all year long!

Normally my supervisor and I split it up half and half, but he had the assistant doing everything at the last school. I am terrified. NO way could I handle calling 100 people day every single day all year long. NO WAY! But till I find another job I am stuck here so I will have to do it. I am anxiously awaiting for my supervisor to get back and let me know what happened in the meeting. I am super scared!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
CB... are you in a union? (you would be here) If so... contact them pronto. If not, do you have a labour relations board or similar?
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I am in a union InsaneCdn. My supervisor just got out of the meeting and so far my boss has only discussed our duties for the first week of school. I still have no idea what I will be doing for the rest of the year, but I have a strong feeling he is changing things up. This year for the first week of school besides making all the calls to locate the missing students, we are also creating spreadsheets of the head counts and emailing the list to the district office.

For the last nine years I've been working here, the principals have been in charge of the head counts and emailing. Now my boss had this great idea to start making the attendance department do it. If he is already increasing my responsibilities for the first week of school, I have a feeling there's more to come for the rest of the year. I do not like this new boss. I am going to start looking hard for other jobs in other near by school districts. There's a lot of changes this year that don't sit well with me.
 

FlowerGarden

Active Member
CB have you always inputted the missing student as absent on the computer or is that something new? Our district has a master list of the students on the computer. They mark them absent and the spreadsheet figures are automatically computed as to how many children absent in each class. There might be the same solution by you. It's very easy. Hope you find out it's the same by you. As for phone calls, do you have a basic script you read for everyone? Just repeating the same thing over and over might help you if you don't do it that way now. I'd try to give the new boss a chance. You might find out he is different than what others have said. Good Luck with everything!
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Flowergarden the teachers each have a sheet and they mark the kids absent or present on the paper. They then give the sheets to the attendance department and we make a list on Excel and send it to the district office. Today wasn't bad with phone calls. We were only counting the number of students who were present. Tomorrow we start counting the absent kids, and that's when I will start making all of the calls. I just wanted to get it over with today. I didn't want to have to drag this out. Ugh! At least my birthday didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Seems to me that it's a waste of a principal's time to actually do head counts and emailings.

That's the sort of things that SHOULD be done by the attendance office personnel.

A principal's job is to manage teachers. The attendance office's job is to manage attendance related issues which are then reported back to the principal in the form of processed data.

I don't see anything wrong with you being expected to do the mailings and head counts, etc.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I realize that the phone calls are a huge stressor for you; but they are part of an attendance clerk's job, and since no-one likes doing them, they are the sort of thing that is going to fall on the most subordinate member of the team to do.

I did just realize something though, looking at your profile info on your post: You are not properly medicated for your bipolar. You are only on an antidepressant and an antipsychotic.

Why haven't they tried a traditional mood stabilizer with you? And why are you not in therapy to work on the anxiety. This anxiety has been crippling you to a greater or lesser degree ever since you've been on the board and its a damned shame for anyone to have to live like that.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
In a similar note to what Gone North is saying, are you aware that there is a protocol for treating bipolar and your psychiatrist is not following it? without one, and possibly two, mood stabilizers, it is probably going to be incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to control your bipolar. Antidepressants should be added ONLY if symptoms are still there after the mood stabilizer(s) and an antipsychotic are working well. Antidepressants are highly likely to make things much worse for patients with bipolar, esp if mood stabilizers are not already working well. The antidepressants appear to work well at first because they trigger mania and a feeling of well being, but they don't deal with the real issues and can make mood swings far worse as well as making anxiety much worse. I really think you need to sit down with your doctor and ask about this. Write down the questions ahead of time and insist the doctor go through them one at a time until you really understand the reasons for the medications you are on and for not following the protocol approved by the board of psychiatrists.

As for work, give it some time - it may not be as bad as you think. Look into techniques to deal with anxiety and work with a therapist to help you conquer it until you can find a job you like better.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Well here's what's happening with my medications. My old doctor retired about six months ago so I am seeing somebody new. At my very first appointment with this new doctor, he told me, and I quote, my current medications "stink." My previous medications were Tegretol, Saphris, and Lexapro. He took me off the Lexapro because it was no longer working for my anxiety. He also took me off the Tegretol because he says it does bad things to the liver, or something like that. He ended up putting me on Brintellix and Neurontin for the anxiety, and doubled up my Saphris for my bipolar. He says the extra Saphris dose will make up for not having a mood stabilizer.

So far these medications are crap. For one thing, without a mood stabilizer I am now rapid cycling. I explained this to him about a month into my treatment. He then cut down the Brintellix, saying he may have started me out at too high of a dose. He then gradually increased the Brintellix saying it would do "wonders" for my anxiety, along with the Neurontin. So far no good. And this rapid cycling is exhausting. It's mild, but still makes me feel like crap.

In other words, the cycling is mild due to the fact I can actually hide it from people for the most part. So far it's just an internal feeling that I can't stand. One hour I am happy and on top of the world, and the next minute I am down in the dumps, near tears, and extra anxious. If you followed me on Facebook, you would know what I mean. My posts are all over the place. I hate not knowing how I feel from one minute to the next.

Last month I had an appointment with my doctor but I never got the chance to see him to explain what is going on. He kept me in the waiting room for two whole hours. Finally, when it reached 5:30 p.m, I asked the receptionist if he was going to be able to see me that day, and she said he was still in the office with a new patient. I left without seeing him. Easy child had been home by himself for quite some time, and I needed to go home and start dinner. Now I am going to have to reschedule. I don't know if I will continue to see him. So far I'm not impressed. He has cancelled two visits on me already and the last visit he kept me waiting so long I had to leave. So that's where I'm at right now. On medications I don't like and miserable.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
OK, first of all, FIRE YOUR SHRINK! Not only that, file a complaint against him with the regulatory body.

You need to be tapered off your medications, ie: medication wash, and started on proper medications for your condition. This may require a short hospitalization, which in all honesty, might be a good idea in general, if just to get a baseline.

Your children are old enough to do without you for a few days. You MUST be on at least one mood stabilizer, on a good antipsychotic (Saphris might not be it for you), and ONLY when you are stable on that cocktail, should introducing a low dose of an antidepressant be considered.

With your tendency to run manic, an AD might not be a good idea at all. In fact, properly medicated, you might not NEED an antidepressant, or might do better on an older tricyclic antidepressant.

Get a new doctor and get feeling better. You HAVE to take control of your health and your illness.

Did this shrink run a liver panel to determine if Tegretol was harming your liver? Pulling you off of it because of "mights" was irresponsible. He should be running routine blood tests, and pulling someone who is as floridly BPI as you are off of mood stabilizers entirely is flat out malpractice.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
GoingNorth, he did not run any blood panels, which had me confused too.Yes, I know Tegretol can potentially affect the liver, but how does he know? And there are other safer mood stabilizers out there that do not harm the liver. Difficult child is on Trileptal and I know that one does not affect the body organs. I agree I need to see somebody else. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing. The fact that he's a neuropsychologist had me thinking he would be a good fit, but turns out not so much.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
If your daughter is on Trileptal, make certain her sodium levels are monitored.

My psychiatrist was lax about that, and I found out the hard way that Trileptal can cause dangerously low sodium levels.

I was lucky that my PCP found it on routine bloodwork when I was just having some odd neurological symptoms and before brain swelling set in. I still take Trileptal, but at a much reduced dose, and my sodium levels are closely watched.

In many cases, even with a drug known to carry the risk of being "rough" on an organ system, it make take years for symptoms of problems to occur.

For example; I was on Depakote for many years. Depakote can be hard on the liver. My liver function was monitored every 3 months. When my blood work showed a slight increase in liver enzymes, i was switched to Trileptal, which I also did well on for several years before my sodium whacked out.

The moral of the story is that ALL of these medications have side effects. It is the responsiblity of the doctor and patient to be informed and to make sure they are monitored.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
I don't know if I will continue to see him. So far I'm not impressed. He has cancelled two visits on me already and the last visit he kept me waiting so long I had to leave.
He kept me in the waiting room for two whole hours. Finally, when it reached 5:30 p.m, I asked the receptionist if he was going to be able to see me that day,
GoingNorth, he did not run any blood panels, which had me confused too.
This guy needs to go. I agree with GoingNorth.

Can you contact your old doctor who retired to see if he can give you referrals to other people? Even if this new guy took over his practice, your old doctor should be made aware of the problems.
I agree I need to see somebody else. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing. The fact that he's a neuropsychologist had me thinking he would be a good fit,
This alone would not prepare him or license him to prescribe medications. Is he a psychiatrist, a medical doctor, too?

I would be very hesitant to see somebody for medication management in whom I do not have confidence. You deserve to feel you are being treated in a way that gives you security, stability and respect, that you are being listened to. Minimum. This guy is doing none of that, it sounds like to me.

These are some ideas to get referrals to other people, that I can think of:

Your Internist or GP. Your old doctor. Friends that may be satisfied with their psychiatrists. An inpatient facility in your community (and then, find that person in private practice. A community health group in your community (and then find that person's private practice.)

Maybe there will be a consensus. And the same names will come up. I have found that googling names online is a way to start and looking at their ratings.

You deserve to feel safe and cared for by a doctor. We all do. You know you, better than he does. You deserve somebody who takes your knowledge and experience into account.

COPA
 
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Copabanana

Well-Known Member
If he is already increasing my responsibilities for the first week of school, I have a feeling there's more to come for the rest of the year. I do not like this new boss. I am going to start looking hard for other jobs in other near by school districts. There's a lot of changes this year that don't sit well with me.
Good to be proactive, but not if you will be hurt by the changes, I think. Would you be losing benefits or seniority by shifting to another school district? Better that you not suffer, because this new boss is going overboard? How do your fellow employees feel about these changes? Is there any grumbling? I hate changes in the workplace, over which I have little or no control. Take care, CB.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
My supervisor isn't happy about the changes, either. She complains about it daily. The security guards are also not happy. I am currently looking at a couple different school district websites for new job openings. Good news is I will still keep my benefits and retirement if I switch districts. Unfortunately as of right now there isn't anything out there that I would be qualified for. There is an opening for a job coach that I thought sounded great, but then I read that it's only a part time position with no medical benefits. Drats! But I am going to keep on looking.
 
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