HELP Bipolar 2, hiding from responsibilities. Tax, insurance, household duties.

[Adz0h]

Hi friends, this is my first post.

I've recently been diagnosed bipolar 2 after years of depression treatment. Had a bit of a breakdown after a close family death and a family member with an ice addiction.

I'm a subcontractor snake catcher and don't earn alot due to physical injury. In the middle of adjusting the bipolar meds and I'm a mess. But can't afford to see a psychiatrist at the moment. Just don't have the mental energy.

I'm worried because I haven't put last years tax earnings in due to mental breakdown and falling off a roof and breaking a few ribs. Has anyone had a similar experience with their tax etc?

Trying so hard not to just sit around and do nothing with my life, but all these things business owners have to do are closing in on me and I'm starting to panic. Psychologists I've seen have no idea what to do about this, so who do I see for help? I'm trying so hard to keep it together.

Thankyou very much for reading

[white knight]

Hi, welcome

The very best thing you can do is just be upfront with the tax department.

Also, you might want to consider applying for a disability support pension.

All the best

Tony WK

[Kazzl]

Hi AdzOh, a very warm welcome to the forum.

Firstly Tony is right about the tax - as soon as you are able, you need to contact the Tax Office and explain. Believe it or not they are there to help and give advice. I expect this will be a hard thing for you to do right now, so if I can today I will do a bit of research and see if I can find out the process for contacting them to make it a bit easier.

Secondly, I am also bipolar 2, diagnosed early this year after being treated for depression for 15 years. The process of getting off antidepressants and onto a mood stabiliser, then gradually increasing the mood stabiliser until it became effective was long and awful. I was a mess for quite a while too mate. I have only recently stabilised, maybe a couple of months ago and, for me at least, the good news is that once the drugs were right I improved heaps.

I'm going through a difficult thing at the moment, having just been made redundant, so I'm not entirely great yet, but I believe I will be once this is over. I have stopped rapid cycling, and the lows are not as low as they used to be. I also used to get raging angry 'highs', anxiety and a constantly racing mind, but that has settled down too.

It's a matter of time mate, but I do believe you will come through it and be much better again. In the meantime, hard as it might be, please try to be easy on yourself. If you need to rest, rest. Try to maintain a regular pattern of sleep, eat well, stay hydrated (especially if you're on a mood stabiliser), get some exercise and generally look after yourself physically.

Make sure you see your doctor regularly, if you're on lithium have the blood tests according to what your doctor requires to check your levels etc.

There is a thread on the Staying Well board on the forum called This Bipolar Life - perhaps have a read, and of course you are very welcome to join us there. There's a few people on the forum with bipolar, perhaps our experiences might be useful to you, especially as you're recently diagnosed.

Very best to you AdzOh - I'll come back to you later if I learn something useful about the tax situation.

Cheers

Kaz

[Kazzl]

Ooops, sorry AdzOh - the This Bipolar Life thread is on this board, Depression, not Staying Well. 😄

Kaz

[Kazzl]

Hi again AdzOh

It seems the best ways to contact the Australian Taxation Office about your situation are to either post a question on their Facebook page (which an ATO officer will respond to) or call a customer service officer on 132866 (that's the number for business owners).

Their website says they encourage people to engage with them through social media, so maybe give the Facebook page a try? There is a lot of info on the ATO website if you can wade through it. Hope that helps mate.

Kaz