the easy part first..i never had a weird taste from lithium
the hard part...when I was a child psychologist I was overworked and told them to cut down on my work load...they didn't. my resistence kept getting lower and lower and when kids came in with the flu etc I would catch them. finally i was absent so much they had the audacity to tell me that they would rather me be there than at home sick so they cut my work load. All my talk and sabotaging myself by keeping up with the work when I was there did nothing to remediate the situation. The only thing that worked were absences.
It was that simple. That is what I am recommending to you. Later in life my mother was pushing and pushing me (my father had a stroke and they still lived in connecticut while I lived in New York) and my job was hideous and my bosses kept on pushing and pushing me although finally moved me from a noisy and cold air conditioner where I started to get frequent sinus infections and started being absent...then I finally just broke down totally and couldn't find the where withall to keep it together and quit the job which at that point I couldn't do anyways...I was too burnt out...and was NEVER ABLE TO GET MYSELF TOGETHER TO GET ANOTHER JOB...
DON'T PUSH YOURSELF TO WHERE I PUSHED MYSELF -THE RECOVERY IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE..unlike me you also have children. If I were you I would find a doctor who would agree that you definitely need to go on disability.
Disability isn't welfare but insurance that you have been paying for. You finally have a chance to heal from your childhood-I almost wrote a freudian slip-childhold-YOU NEED TO ALLEVIATE AS MUCH STRESS IN YOUR LIFE AS POSSIBLE even if it means less money to spend. Disability entitles you to medicare...your iron superego has got to go and it is past time that you learn to start nurturing yourself. Your childhood was stolen...you can't recapture that but you certainly can have a very rich adulthood....more rich than most people. I believe being bipolar makes us better people...we tend to be more appreciative, more empathetic and truly value what is important and discard what is superficial. Geez, if you go on disability maybe you can get yourself a puppy or two....
well I certainly talked myself into your going on disability...can you afford to go on disability? Geez...what a rambling post
Bobby