Posted by zonked on June 19, 2011, at 22:35:53
In reply to Re: Self-stigma, leaving disability rolls...SLS? » zonked, posted by larryhoover on June 18, 2011, at 19:22:18
> First and foremost is my heartbroken awareness of how the richest country on Earth cannot/will not provide health care to each person, indiscriminately of anything but need. The idea that your insurance status might have any bearing on the quality of your treatment/support is beyond my ken.Since I've began responding to Nardil, I feel much much more fortunate and am somewhat embarassed. My drugs cost me either $0 or $1.10 or $3.30 - without having to apply for patient assistance programs. Americans without any coverage who make too much money to qualify for patient assistance programs (generally, you have to be DIRT poor) must pay out of pocket, and often just can't afford the care they need - psychiatric or otherwise.
My choice of physicians is limited because Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements are very low, but it's more than some people have. And I feel better about those I'm seeing now that my head isn't clouded with intense, dysphoric depression and anxiety.
Still, that we don't have universal coverage is an embarassment. I don't know exactly what Obama's health care bill did or will do, but I *do* know it's a step in the right direction.
The republicans are trying to destroy Medicare (they've been trying to destroy Medicare and Social Security for decades) but they won't succeed...
> Yes.
>
> I have been on provincial/federal disability supports from 1995 until this year. Technically, I required evidence of income to leave disability status, insofar as it represents financial support, and I met the test for independence this last tax year. I am told I have permanent elegibility for future supports, but that is a safety net for me, should I require it down the road.Actually I have more or less the same option. :-) The SSA is very generous about trial work periods, and gives you a _LONG_ time of "stable work history" before they make you reapply from scratch, should you need federal disability again. This is good.
> It took me learning to take measure of myself. One of the biggest challenges I faced was my own memory of who I once was, what I once was able to do.Tell me about it!
>
I simply never lost hope. I refused to give up hope. And the teachers I needed came to me, and I learned what I needed to learn.I truly believe I've begun the same process. It won't be easy, but few things in life really worth having come easily. And the harder you have to work for something, the more you appreciate it. At least, that's true for me.
> So, stop imagining a lifetime of it.I'm trying. :D
> I am med free for six years, apart from what I need for sleep. I learned that sleep is my most critical variable. Unless I have restorative sleep, all the rest cannot follow.Good to know. At some point, when I get around to it, I may ask for a sleep study. (My insurance covers this.)
>
I know that, since you wrote this message, you have begun a new med therapy. Has your worldview changed? If so, I ask you this.....why did you not have that worldview all along?
<It has began to. I didn't have it because in depression I'm not *capable* of having it.
Depression is so, so, SO weird. But I'm glad I'm getting out of it. The pills provide the foundation, it is up to me now to do the work required for a fulfilling life.
Thank you so much for your kind words. It's meant a lot to me.
-z
> Lar
poster:zonked
thread:987235
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20110617/msgs/988842.html