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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by no hope in sight on September 9, 2002, at 23:46:31
Longtime lurker, first time poster here. :-)
I am a 32 year-old male living in Olympia, WA. I have suffered from extreme depression for 8 years and fairly severe anxiety for 4.
I used to live in southern California; there I was receiving medication from a county program, because I have no income or insurance. I do have a small savings account that I use to live on. I don't know what I'll do when that runs out.
I take 40 mg of celexa and 200 mg of Seroquel each day.
I was living with my parents, but three weeks ago, they kicked me out. My entire family is mentally ill, and it just didn't work out with me living there. My parents aren't able to provide any financial support.
Anyway, I am no longer a resident of Orange County, CA, so I'm not eligible for their program. I've been here in Olympia, WA for almost three weeks and can't get anyone to help me! There are a few programs here for the medically indigent, but there are waiting periods of two to three months to see a regular doctor, and the mental health program isn't even accepting new patients. I explained to them that I was in crisis, but they still wouldn't help me. This clinic that's not accepting new patients is the one I was referred to by the local crisis phone center. Everybody I call wants to give me somebody else's number! I literally have an entire page of phone numbers that resulted from following this first referral. I have told each and every one of them that I am in crisis.
I was told that I won't wualify for Medicaid because I have more than $2,000 in savings. It doesn;t even matter to them that that money is all I have to live on. I have so much anxiety over what's going to happen when that money's gone. My stomach is constantly in knots. It costs me, even just eating twice a day, over $800 to live, so I can't understand why I'm supposed to delete that $2,500 that I have before anyone will even help me. Once that happens, I will be homeless!
I know that there are programs where I can get medicine directly from the manufacturers, but I don't even have a doctor to examine me and authorize the forms. Not to mention, it will take a month or more for the medicine to arrive.
I have been through withdrawal before, and it is awful for me. I was also quite suicidal before starting the Celexa.
I'm just hoping that one of you will know of something in my area that I haven't thought of.
I don't know a single soul here in Olympia, and returning home isn't an option either. My anxiety and depression have kept me from applying for disability. Just the thought of filling out the forms and the certainty that I'll be denied makes me not want to get out of bed. I know I can't get approved if I don't apply, but I'm sure many of you can identify with the certainty of failure and inability to function that I'm referring to.
Anyway, I'm sorry to go on and on and on. I'm just hoping that somebody here can help me.
Dave
Posted by SusanG on September 10, 2002, at 10:46:41
In reply to Don't know where to turn. (Washington), posted by no hope in sight on September 9, 2002, at 23:46:31
Dave, I know Olympia pretty well (Orange County too, what a coincidence) and I agree the support services there are pretty minimal. If you will give me your email address, I'll see what if I can find a resource you may not have tried. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Sue
Posted by no hope in sight on September 10, 2002, at 12:54:42
In reply to Re: Don't know where to turn. (Washington), posted by SusanG on September 10, 2002, at 10:46:41
Thank you SO much, Sue! My email address is:anonymr at earthlink dot net
> Dave, I know Olympia pretty well (Orange County too, what a coincidence) and I agree the support services there are pretty minimal. If you will give me your email address, I'll see what if I can find a resource you may not have tried. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
>
> Sue
Posted by SusanG on September 10, 2002, at 15:28:04
In reply to Re: Don't know where to turn. (Washington) » SusanG, posted by no hope in sight on September 10, 2002, at 12:54:42
I don't have much to tell you yet Dave, but I've sent a message to you and I'll work on other options. I hope it helps. Take care
Sue
Posted by ShelliR on September 11, 2002, at 23:55:51
In reply to Don't know where to turn. (Washington), posted by no hope in sight on September 9, 2002, at 23:46:31
Dave,
Just get yourself to a social security office. If you feel too overwhelmed to fill out the disability forms, social security will provide you with help. It's often a long term process though, sometimes involving an appeal, but I think from reading your post that you would eventually win. If you do a search on disability on Psychosocial Babble, (2001?) you should come up with a thread that has a bunch of information.
It's not an immediate financial help since it can take over eight months to receive the money if you are accepted. But they do send you all the money from the time you applied (or just subtract the first couple of months), so if you can hold out you'll get a substantial amount.
When you spend your next $501.00 dollars, you will be eligible for benefits, right? If you have a dearly trusted friend (not your mentally ill family who kicked you out), you might just transfer what you need over to your friend. (You're not really supposed to do that, but it's a pretty minor amount of money and you could write it up as a repayment of money you borrowed from your friend).
Anyway, good luck to you; you're in a pretty tough spot, but I think you could get the disability and your money could tide you over until then.
Shelli
Posted by SusanG on September 12, 2002, at 11:41:12
In reply to Don't know where to turn. (Washington), posted by no hope in sight on September 9, 2002, at 23:46:31
Hi Dave,
I got a call back from one of the agencies I mentioned to you and I think it may be a really good resource for you. I sent the details to you in an email. Good luck to you. Let us know how things are going.
Take care,
Sue
Posted by micky301 on September 12, 2002, at 12:21:16
In reply to Don't know where to turn. (Washington), posted by no hope in sight on September 9, 2002, at 23:46:31
hi dave,
wondering if you could give us an update on your condition and situation. I was going to suggest maybe taking your money out of your savings for the time being, they might take taxes out, but you will still get it and keep it in cash until you stabilize and get the help you need.
mike
This is the end of the thread.
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