My Depression Connection Question of the Week!

Hi Merely me, all,  firstly there is now a 2tier system here, so, if youre lucky enough to have been well enough to work in a well paid job and have paid alot of health insurance it will help towards the very high cost of seeing a psychiatrist for an hour and being hospitalised in a lovely person friendly hospital . If like me, on like the majority and go 'Public' then you will go to the Psychiatric Dept of a Hospital, have an apt. for say 2 oclock, be lucky if you only have to wait and hour, sometimes 2 or 3 and then be seen by a Psychiatrist [they change every 5 to 6months], so you get 10 mins and if youre v lucky 15. [recently it was suggested that I was agitated because I was speaking very quickly.. I simply replied that I was trying to squeeze in as much as I could withing the public framework of 10 to 15mins max].  Having a rotating door of psychiatrists is nonproductive and upsetting for the patient, you get to like, to trust a Doctor and she/he may be good, then theyre  moved and you get a totally different personality sometimes cold, clinical coming from their own psycology and you cant relate that well to them. Personally, I find alot of them have little life experience and are very young.   I dont think its possible to get a real grasp of a persons problems and isues within the framework of a quick 5min read thru their notes and then a 10 minute chat. the question is always the same 'How is your mood'. I write down things in order. Im articulate, I ask questions, I recently said I was worried regarding the awful withdrawals Id read and heard about Efexor, I said Id like to be titrated and crossed over with another ie.Lexapro.  He said 'yes later, later, then said youre fine. I wasnt, Ive been very low, have a constant churning stomach and phobias on top of a depression. I believe because I look after my hair and appearance and wear some make up that they go on this. Its not an effective system.  Im lucky to live in Dublin the capital city of Ireland because in some of the smaller Country hospitals, its evenworse. especially the psychiatric hospitals, theyre outdated, depressing and arcaic. The Health Board has fancy hand outs in Doctors Surgeries about Mental health and diet and exercise but the coal face is that you dont get the proper Counselling facilities, ie Cognitive Behavioural etc unless u can pay.   At the moment Im attending a Day hospital where we do relaxation etc.,  I was given this Counsellor, I actually did a 2yr Diploma course in Counselling and many other workshops myself years ago.  this counsellor is free, To say she is cold and antiseptic is an understatment, as a human being, shes a nice lady, but, she has no congruence,no empathy or understanding of what its like to be poor, have no family support and live alone on a welfare payment. I had a session with her and it was like talking to the Refridgeator [excuse spelling] ; Icame out stressed as I just couldnt relate to her coldness, shes full of fear.  This is widespread in the public sector.  I hope this has answered you question Merely Me. Sorry for being longwinded. Its just, that if we had therapists, good ones, good group support systems, training programes for isolated people like myself, if we had say a half an hour with a psychiatrist, we probably wouldnt be such a burden on the Health care system, so its pennywise and pound foolish again.    So I go along with it, coz somethings better than nothing !!

I have had good luck with Drs in the mental health field. I never had to be hospitalized, and I did work in a Psychiatric Hospital as a Rec. Therapist. That was an eye opener for me. If you have money or health insurance you were able to stay, otherwise you were sent to the state hospital.

I think some of these patients were some of the harder ones to help. Usually, they are kept in ICU, after the police take them down. It takes several policemen to do so. 

Other patients stay, get on some meds, and have group therapy. I don't know how they are paying. 

This hospital keeps adding to their building, a field of nice grass, turns into Residential Building for teens, and stay 6 months.

My insurance is high cost due to us owning our own business and the need for me having to take antidepressants. We have a $5.000.00 deductible, so it is good for catastrophic  illness.

I am not pleased with the government interfering with health care. Too much paperwork, uneducated people not in the medical field making the rules. The way we have it now, is people do get treated and apply for financial aid. Otherwise, they cut the cost of the surgery, since the Drs. will add 50% more if you have insurance and if  you don't then the bill is less. Many Drs will not take a patient with medicaid due to the paperwork that goes with it. 

We did have a calamity while my husband was building our business. He came down with a horrible headache. At three in the morning after regular aspirin didn't do the trick. He asked me to take him to a friend of ours to get a stronger pain killer.

I drove because he was in excrutiating pain. The pain killer didn't help at all. Then we called a Dr and he told me to take him to the ER. Since there is nothing he could do.

I took him to the ER at one of our fine hospitals, and we had to wait until 7:00AM for a Dr to see him.  I took him in at 3:00AM on a Friday night. We didn't have insurance at

the time. Since bleeding patients were more critical.They put us in a dark room and had my husband lie down. Then finally they got a room for him with a hospital bed that raises. This was after 3 hours of waiting and I would stand in the hallway and see Drs talking to eachother and was making myself known that we are here and to get down here. 

Finally someone came, asked questions, I finally told him to just give him some antibiotics, painkillers, and a morphine shot. As normally we thought it was a sinus infection that was really bad.

So we arrived home at 7:00AM, I got ready to get the prescriptions turned in so that they can be taken and do their job. Well, the day went on, I went about my business working in the garden beds as our house was new to us, but not new. I was quite content doing this work and not being bothered by my husband. He slept all day and

then during the night he was breathing funny, he didn't seem to be in any pain, just very different.

So in the morning, I noticed our waterbed was wet. I asked my husband about this and he was out of it. It wasn't water from the waterbed that was leaking, it was my husband. So I called the ER and talked to a nurse and asked if his medicine be so strong that my husband couldn't get up and go to the bathroom. And she said, "No, you better bring him in." I said, "How can I do that if he won't even get up to use the bathroom?" Then she said for me, to get an ambulance. I wasn't happy about that as DH would not be happy to pay for an ambulance bill for a sinus infection.  Then I called my Sister in Law, and she asked what did the nurse say, I told her, and she said well you better do it.

Then she offered her husband, DH's brother, who is taller than my husband and came over to pick him up. He brought another man that we knew. During this time I had my eldest son help me dress my husband. As I changed the bedding and cleaned him up, and redressed him.  I washed his hair while he was laying down. One time he did rush over to the bathroom sink while I was in front of it and threw up. He even apologized, I was surprised but not upset.  Then I told him that he needed to go to the hospital and he said,"Okay, I'll get up and use the bathroom." Then he sat up and then laid right back down again.

Well, finally my brother in law and our friend came, I was in the process of changing him again.  Before they came he asked me for a "peecup" and I kept asking him a Pick Up, no he would repeat it and I still asked about a Pick up.  Then I understood as I don't use the word 'pee' in my vocabulary.

Well they had to help him out of the bedroom and get him into the jeep. I stayed behind as I had sent my two older children to church and I stayed with the younger ones. I felt that day that I needed to stay home, one child was sick and my husband wasn't right. When they got home, I headed to the hospital. This time he was in the emergency room bed with curtains around him as well as 5 Drs surrounding him.

What a difference from the morning before. Then they told me that he needed a cat scan, so they left me alone. They came back and told me that he was bleeding in the head. A possible aneurism and that they were going to prep him to get a shunt put in  his head, so then a lightbulb went on and I told the nurse, then he must have been in the beginning stages of a coma and that explained the way he was breathing, talking, losing control of his bodily functions.

So then I went to see him and was weeping over the railing on his bed, and he asked, "Why are you crying?" and I said, "You are bleeding in your head." He said, "I'll be bleeding from my pocket book before this is over." I laughed as it would be something his Grandfather would say.

They took him to surgery and got him into a room. Then the Dr came out and told me that he has a 30% chance of living through the night and that it was recommended to have him life flighted to Seattle, as they don't do the kind of surgery for his aneurism. Well, the next day he had an MRI and it showed a brain tumor the size of a grape dangling from a thin piece of brain tissue. And it was blocking his spinal fluid from leaving the brain, causing pressure on his brain stem.

He then had the surgery and the wonderful brain surgeon, cut up the cyst and retrieved it bit by bit to take it out. This hospital is well known for taking care of head injuries.

So then it was time to pay up, we met with a person probably with the hospital and she basically wrote off the $30,000.00 bill. I think the money came from a fund that the hospital dismisses. I didn't ask questions as this was good news.

My husband is doing great for the last 16 years, but does have an indentation in his head where they cut his skull to put in the shunt and do surgery. So we were so happy. They explained that the cyst was growing for a long time since he was a kid and finally got so big that it was blocking the spinal fluid from leaving the brain. How he coped with it was when his head hurt, he would lie down and the cyst was attached to some thin skin tissue It would flop down when he stood up, then relax and flop back away from the brain stem when he laid down. That explained his headaches and that he is a man that knows what PMS feels like.

So I think we have a pretty good system going on in the USA and wouldn't change it.

It would be better to help people to have a job, pay for insurance, and have regular check ups to catch health problems before they start. We do get donations for  certain causes, volunteers that help out. I do believe that not all can be helped,

or cured. As eventually we will die and our bodies weren't meant to live forever, by divine design they break down bit by bit, and one can only delay death by reducing health risks and being responsible the best they can in achieving optimal health.

Minnesota sometimes has been jokingly referred to as the "Land of 10,000 Rehab Centers" so if your problem is chemical dependency, this is the place to be.  I know we have a shortage of child psychiatrists, as that's what I was told by our insurance company when my son was a teenager and severely depressed and receiving state Medical Assistance because of his developmental disability (a wonderful combination to deal with!).  We had to see a new psychiatrist because, of course, there is high turnover where he goes.  The dr. first starts talking to him like he's going to college and obviously hadn't even read his chart.  I mentioned that his brother had attempted suicide and later on during the appointment, he said he thought we should all be participating in family therapy and told my son that if his father wouldn't participate, that he should threaten to kill himself!!!  After recovering from the shock of that, I contacted this guy's supervisor who had me write a letter of complaint, after which I got some lame apologetic letter.  The insurance company, down the road, called me one day to ask my opinion about the care we got there and I told them the story, they were appalled and said they would lodge a complaint and get back to me.  Well, they got back to me and said that, unfortunately, because of the shortage of child psychiatrists, they really couldn't do anything about him.  This man has a wide reputation and has bounced from clinic to clinic and still, he's in practice.  Anyway, since my son has gotten assistance from Medicare and the state, I can't complain too much - at least he's been able to get help.  But it does get tiresome when you have to keep looking and looking for the right person.  The doctor my son has now is just a hair better than that one - at least he does no harm.  I am still looking for someone else; we've had the good fortune to have had really good doctors in the past, so it's hard to settle for less.

If you have the right insurance, you can do okay.  I still have insurance from my employer but because I'm retired (for some reason), they put a limit on the number of psychotherapy visits I can have; so far, requests for more than that have been accommodated, so really can't complain there, either.  My husband is on Medicare and they won't cover a therapist at all unless it's a Ph.D.  I think that's silly because being a Ph.D. doesn't mean you're any better of a therapist than someone with a Master's.

I do know people who have limited coverage for mental health and I think that's so short-sighted because we know how far-reaching the effects of mental illness are.  There's supposedly a mental health parity act that's been passed (initiated by the late Senator Paul Wellstone) but is not actually in effect right now, but that will probably only be enforced on coverage from large employers.  It's a start.  I do feel fortunate to have the coverage I do have, knowing that others aren't so lucky.

Is the health care that you receive for your mental health adequate for your needs? 

I truelly believe that our HealthCare system needs improving to meet the needs of the patient.

If you feel it is not adequate what changes or provisions do you feel should be enacted?

DANG(Doctors are not Gods) act. This act makes it the responsibility of the patient or a third party to decide what is best for the patient in the way of treatment.

Healthy

Eating

Allows

Little

Toxic

Habituation.

Doctors need to prescribe healthy eating habits to prevent further decline in the well being of society. Imagine a world where doctors were paid by the amount of patients they didnt see.

Please tell us where you are from and a little about how your health care system works. 

Eugene, Or. Just another health care system driven by big bucks.

Do you feel that mental health is looked upon as high priority in your country?

Take care of the body and it will take care of the mind .

Think about all the chemicals that have penetrated your body thru digestion of food. Its no wonder we live in a prozac world. Organic foods need to become a top priority or we will keep suffering.

Just like saying that fossil fuels don't hurt the environment.

Pat

I do not think we get enough health care--its just the opposite..

I am sitting here on my laptop--dreading to go to work because of the anxiety it causes me.  I won my first EEOC case last week for myself.  My appraisal went from a 59 up to 67---and all negative notes in my file were destroyed. 

but that doesn't stop them--my first line supervisor is a jerk--my second line--worse jerk and pro management all the way--

They know of my condition and they don't care.  I know I have to go to work today and I am fixing to go...but I have been dreading it all morning....

Afraid of what he has written me for again...they pull stuff out of the air---

take care all..

I have suffered from major depression and PTSD since I was in my teens so it's been an on going battle. When using public insurance I think the health care choices are extremely poor. The Doctors change on a regular basis and the counselors change every few months, it's hard to make progress when you have to constantly start over. The wait time is horrible and if you need a lot of help and don't "look like" you need help, you're turned down for certain services. I've been turned down for case management services because I'v been told I have more resources than most people who need it (example: a place to lie, transportation, internet access) I was told most people are homeless so I was wondering if that made my mental inless any less severe than someone who is homeless. I absolutely hate community mental health centers and always use them as a last resort, they make me feel worse for having a mental illness and having to go there. I'm always at a point where things are life threatening. I think this is a reason why a lot of people turn to alternative methods to numb their pain sometimes it's nothing short of humiliating to go to some agaencies for help you're treated poorly and a lot of peopl do have the feeling that beggars can't be choosers but when it comes to health care I think that's a very sorry excuse. Untreatd or under treated mental illness can lead to crime or drug use or suicide. Prisons are filling up with people with mental illness and in prison they get a lot of mental health treatment but if things were a little better on the outside i might save a lot of people from entering the prison system. It's so hard to need help andbe too afraid or ashamed to get it, it's sad when going for help is like a last resort. I don't mean to sound so negative against community mental centers but this is just my personal experience and opinion. I have been abl to go to a few private places and the level of care and treatment was very different. I just wish there was more for those who truly want to be emotionally stable and function normally so they can contribut to society and not just take from it and there should also be more help for people who ar trying to parent with a mental illness. It's just my opinion... 

hello merely me

My health deteriorated when I was on th inpatient unit.

I recieved leg numbness and hand numbness when I got out after the third time.

My mania has increased, I got out of the hospital with high blood pressure and near diabetic status.

I didn't recover too well, now I have a plantar inflamation, and now thats spread to my other foot.

The first foot is worse.

Rotten health care.

My friends almost left me, because I was unbearably obnoxious.

I feel all alone and lonely.

Jon ward

I have fairly good health care benefits as I work for a large corporation.  Although, when I've sought out mental health care they've always seemed so weary that I felt I should be helping them.  I went to a psychiatrist and he, in a matter of minutes, told me I was bi bolar and gave me pills.  I didn't like the effect the pills had on me and I didn't have the energy to go back. I found out later, due to extreme symptoms,  that I had MS.  I was lucky and desperate enough to go to clinic once when I was at the bottom rung of depression and found a compassionate nurse who led me to a psychologist and prozac.  My medical plan allowed 12 visits a year and an expensive co pay. A free 12 step program at my church has helped me the most.  I don't have substance abuse issues but the program is good for resolving personal issues and taking your own responsibilty for your part in them.  Anyway, in summary, I would say I have suppossedly one of the best care systems and I have found it not so helpful.  Partly, because when you need help, you are too tired to fight the system to get to it.  It seems designed to whisk you through and make you come back multiple times before they take you seriously.  That takes time, money and energy.  All which are in short supply when you are depressed. 

Because I have a pre-existing condition, I can't really shop around for new plans and my insurance is insanely expensive.  Medicare D is a nightmare, I can't figure it out and I'm afraid to switch.  But very soon, I'll be forced to do something.  I'm going to lose my house because my insurance payment is so high.