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I worked with a colleague who is in her 60's who seems has a lot of energy. She said she loves to work and would not want to take days off if she could. I asked her what makes her motivated to work everyday. She said jokingly if you see your bills that gets you kicked out of bed. She is hyperactive at work and she could work 12 hours all week without taking days off. I can get exhausted at the end of the day just like everybody else and working long hours is not my cup of tea. Is there something wrong with her? Is that an indication that she may be manic or ADD?
We just had a nurse in her early 70s just retire. You'd never know by looking at her, speaking to her, OR watching her run circles around people 1/2 her age that she was in her early 70s! She worked full time, never called out and only took vaction time when the NM pretty much forced her too. Nothing wrong with her at all..no ADD, not manic. She was just a person with what seemed like limitless energy. Good for her! She's my idol. She had worked full time since the day she graduated from nursing school 48 years ago! I hope in 25 yrs I have the energy she did.
So, b/c this nurse you are describing has so much energy you think she's manic...would that mean you (the OP) are in a depressive state of bipolar disorder because you are tired and can't keep up??
I would also like to caution you against diagnosing coworkers with symptoms such as mania and ADHD. If you're doing it to an open forum of strangers, chances are you've talked about this at work.
Mania would be indicative of bipolar. It doesn't sound like she's also having periods of depression interspersed with the mania, so that diagnosis failed out of the gate.
Work ethic. Learn from it.
Exactly.
And 60 is the new 40 . . . . . I'm almost there and truly I look back at my parents and grandparents and they were all hard workers well into their 80's and even 90's. Especially those raised on farms who got up at 5 a.m. to milk cows and help with lambing and drive a tractor before school.
I also have a tiny issue with people diagnosing folks with ADD/ADHD . . . . . . .
Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN
893 Posts
I'm sure she's fine. Send her to my workplace.