[calculated_delusion]

looking for suggestions....

I really think I should go back and get back on meds and the therapy, but I just don't have the money, nor will I for quite awhile. Is there anything I can do or anyone I can talk to? .... I just need to get things out of my head, and I really can't talk to people I know IRL about most of it. I'm becoming more and more frustrated by everything...

so yeah, any help would be GREATLY appreciated. thanks.

-bipolarmomma

[AAAAA]

Hmm, doesn't wal-mart have a program that enables you to get your generic meds for $4? I see a commercial for it all the time. Another thing you can do is have your doctor give you samples of the meds. When my mom was trasitioning between insurance companies, her doctor gave her samples for 3 months.

Also do a search for the company that makes your meds, there are programs out there through the med company to give you meds at free or reduced rates.

[calculated_delusion]

that sounds good, except I don't have insurance and all the doctor's offices I've called in my area won't see me without insurance. I'm on the waiting list for the MHMR here in town, but that takes around 5 yrs., which is insane... *grrr*

thanks so much for your input. I'll check out what you're talking about some more. hopefully something will come of it. if you know of any sites affiliated, please let me know?

[AAAAA]

http://www.astrazeneca-us.com/conten...ap-landing.asp

I don't know what meds you're on, but this company makes a lot of them.

[AAAAA]

Also, look in the phone book. The Catholic church has mental health services in most areas as does th Lutheran Church. You do not have to be a member of either church, services are on a sliding scale.

Also, I recall a friend telling me that Goodwill and St. Vinnie's helped her out. Not sure what help they can give, but it's worth a call. If they can't help, they may be able to tell you who can.

Ew, and I just remember seeing something about Montel Williams helping with meds etc. Check out his web site.

[youOme]

In WV we have a "clinic" styled type mental health facility and the meds are not prescribed through a pharmacy. Basically the "low/no" income patients who aren't insured are given sample packs of medication that companies send them. The only thing about it is you have to go back once a month for more samples. I've even gotten old bottles of other patients medication and stuff like that...not expired, just given back for medication change. It all sounds kind of "cheap" but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I'm not sure if your location has something like this but to find out call your local DHHR and ask. It's better then nothing or suffering and when I went they were always pretty good to me and did what they could to help me out.

old bottles of other peoples meds?

I dont think thats entirely safe or legal eek!

What if someone had tampered with them in some way?

[perpetuallysad]

I completely understand where you are coming from. When I finally decided that I needed therapy (actually, a friend told me that I needed to go when I was having a complete breakdown at work one day), I visited my regular doc and he tried to understand, but felt he wasn't capable of really doing what needed to be done to help me. (At this time I was working and had Blue cross/blue shield insurance) So, he referred me to the only pdoc in the area. I went to the first visit, thinking that my insurance would pay for some of the cost...come to find out ins. only covers psychiatric illnesses after a $1000 yearly deductible (on top of the $500 gen medical deductible). So my visit ended up costing over $200, because it was the initial get to know you visit. Anyhow, I paid, got in the car and FREAKED OUT!!! I was a single mom at the time and barely made enough to cover the bills as it was. The pdoc office tells me it will cost about $70-$110 per visit (depending on length), so I decide I cannot possibly go back. (Sorry, I know this is long) ANyhow, they call to remind me of my next visit and I convince myself I should go, even though it is expensive. Again, the visit costs about $110...on the third visit, I explain to the pdoc (whom is a wonderful guy) that I am poor and cannot afford to come to his office for therapy. He suggests community counseling, so I make an appointment. The "therapist" was a jerk, seemed extremely bored talking with me, our personalities did not mesh, but I made a second appointment with him to give it another try. The T DIDN"T show up for the 2nd appointment. TOOK THE DAY OFF, didn't call me to reschedule or anything!!!!!!!!! So I quit all of it, I quit the pdoc, I quit the T, I quit my meds (450 effexor ex) and basically went on a HUGE downward spiral for nearly a year. When I did finally decide I had to go back (by this time I had quit my job because of freaking out). When I went back to the Pdoc he wanted to know why I had abandoned therapy. I explained about the T and about the costs of the visits and the general anxiety of having to spend so much on my self and he now offers me psychotherapy as well as med management for $10 a visit. He gives me all the free samples he can get his hands on and recently helped me enroll in this program called "Bridges to access" that is going to pay for my Wellbutrin sr script for at least the next year.

I guess my long ramble was to give you hope that somehow you can work it out. My pdoc told me that if I was willing to work on getting better, he was willing to help me in anyway he could.

Believe me, I know what it feels like to not have insurance and not have piles of cash lying around to pay for extra things with (like therapy and meds), my best suggestion is to call a pdoc and explain your situation. It may take a few tries, but I bet there is someone who will treat you for little or nothing. (Also, if you are freaked out by calling--I AM--maybe a friend or family member could call and plead your case for you.)

[Perna]

Contact your local community mental health department and see what they suggest; they can at least steer you locally to what is available in your area:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mentalhealth.shtm

[AAAAA]

I'm with you Rain, getting bottles of other peoples meds wouldn't fly in my neck of the woods either. When I worked in the nursing home, meds were purchased in individually packed bubble packs so that if a patient expired, unused medication could be returned to the pharmacy and reused. The cost of the drugs was higher this way, but it could be recycled because each dose was individually packed.

I can't believe with all of the contamination/imposter problems that anyone would take on the responsibility of recycling meds even if it was legal. Dateline had a show about the fake meds and some of the fake ones were so good, that they only way for the experts to tell the real ones from the fakes where chemical analysis.