Posted by Annie on December 27, 1998, at 13:40:54
In reply to Hey, Doctors, can you suggest? (Toby? Please?), posted by racer on December 26, 1998, at 21:28:23
Racer, I am not a doctor, just another depressive, who would like to help. I do not know what all your circumstances are or where you are located, but I would be happy to try and find information for you if you would let me. I have been unable to work for four years and I am on Social Security Disabilty because of the depression. I receive Medicare that pays for most of my therapist and psychiatrist bills. I don't know if you are eligible for these services, or if you are eligible for Medicaid. I am lucky enough to have a prescription plan from my former employer, but I am aware of low cost/no cost options in some areas or from some drug companies. Because I am treatment resistant and have tried most existing drugs and combinations, I have taken part in several clinical studies trying to find relief. While doing so, I have been given free treatment and received free follow-up care when I had to drop from one study. In my vicinity, there are many teaching hospitals, so studies are frequent and varied. I am even aware of a few studies that offered free counseling. Maybe these are also possibilities where you are located. CenterWatch on the web lists many of the studies looking for volunteers and how to apply. The URL is: http://www.centerwatch.com/studies/LISTING.HTM#Section17
The Hospital Psychiatry departments listed among Dr. Bob's links provided me with additional study information.
I also go twice a week to a support group for depressives which is one of the 275 chapters of National DMDA (Depressive Manic Depressive Association). Our chapter is very well run and of tremendous help to me. Maybe there is a chapter near you. They are listed by state on the web. The url is: http://www.ndmda.org/chapdir.htm
For other support groups there is also a Mental Health Self-Help ClearingHouse on the web, it's URL is: http://www.mhselfhelp.org/
I know you are looking for help from the Docs, so I hope I haven't offended you by jumping in here.
I resonated not just to the feeling of weary hopelessness in your posts, but to your wry humor in talking of the heaven for atheists and the Hindu concept of the god within the charging elephant. Maybe I could do some legwork for you while you are feeling so badly. Please email me if I can help you in any way. It would help me to feel useful for a change. I hope the Docs come through for you.> Hi, a couple of you have read some things I've posted here in the past, so I'll give the short version today.
> I'm not working. At this point, I'm pretty incapacitated by major depression. My community has no resources for me: the county has one dr to see adult psych patients, the children's dr won't see me, I have less than no rapport with the dr I can see. There is no counseling program available, the lowest fee for the low fee sliding scale program is $34 per hour, pay as you go. The county recognises this. I've called the Psych Emerency hotline, and the only thing they say is that they can hospitalize me. (No thanks. Still no therapy, but lots of other s__t.) I have no insurance, so can't go to a private dr. The county medical plan covers only meds or hospitalisation. None of this is perception, by the way. They all admit it's a sucky situation.
> The meds can't work without talk cure, I've been through this before (though every time it seems as though it's much worse this time, you know what I mean?). This drug doesn't seem very effective for me at all. The dr keeps telling me that the drug is working fine, but I'm not responding right to it (!!). My sleeping is disturbed, my eating is disturbed, my mood is disturbed, and I'm more hopeless now than ever. Today is the first day I've gotten out of bed for a week. This is not working, and I'm not coping.
> Here's what I need: medication, talk therapy, and someone to give me some talk therapy about the medication. It's not made available to me. So, is there anything I can do to make it available? It's hard for me to sustain any sort of effort right now, because of the depression, but there are moments, like now, when I can try. There must be something I've overlooked. Is there a national depression group run like AA? Is there an organization like the lion's club that will assist in finding treatment options in communities like mine? Is there something I'm just overlooking, like instant therapy in the supermarket? Just add water? Please, I can't do much right now, but I can do something, but I don't know what to try.
> This situation reminds me of that joke about there being a heaven for atheists: it's empty, because no one knows it's there. There's got to be something, it's just well hidden.
> Thanks for listening, and thanks for any (non-commercial) suggestions you can make.
poster:Annie
thread:1762
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19981201/msgs/1777.html