greenidentity

Some of you may remember me. Yes I am back!

I think that treatment could benefit me. So now that's done, here's a question....

I work, pay my own bills and rent. How can I find inpatient treatment without losing all that? I don't have the benefit of people supporting me.

Any advice?

nandm

Welcome back to SR!

I did not go through treatment, I just went to AA. So I have no experience to share with you in that respect.

I do wish you the best of luck with it. I am sure someone will be along soon to share their experience with you.

Tazman53

I went through inpatient detox, but it was only for 5 days so I had nothing to really worry about, I just took a weeks vacation and went.

If your job will give you the time off you may want to contact all your utilities and let them know what is going to be going on and contact a neighbor to watch out for you place. I wish I could be more help, but I did over 90 AA meetings in 90 days and got a sponsor like they suggested in detox. Detox got me sober, but the program of AA is what kept me sober and saved my life.

findingout

Hey greenidentiy, welcome back!

If you do not require medically supervised detox, intensive outpatient treatment is an option you may want to explore. It is what I used to get started. The program I went through was six weeks long with four hour sessions three times a week and the sessions all started after working hours. It was strongly suggested that we supplement the treatment by attending A.A. and/or N.A. meetings on the other days.

After six weeks I was still sober, certain that I was an alcoholic, and convinced that I needed a long term solution more than a quick fix. A.A. and N.A. have been that long term solution for me. I suspect I could have just gone to A.A. and N.A. and skipped the treatment except that until I went through treatment, there was no way I was going anywhere near an A.A. or N.A. meeting because I just knew that they were not for me. I was wrong.

Signal30

If you are an alcoholic and/or addict the chances are pretty certain that you will lose everything if you do nothing at all.

Alcoholism/drug addiction is a disease. If you were getting chemotherapy for cancer, they couldn't fire you for that. That same law applies for you. They must offer you help before they can fire you.

Now, you REALLY need to check that law for the details of how it applies. I know my job would have to offer me help before they canned me for being an alcoholic.

Never the less, not doing anything will lead to losing your life if gone ignored. This disease is fatal if gone untreated.



Tom

CarolD

I did not go to a treatment center....
simply began AA.

Welcome back to SR!

sugErspun

I believe what signal is referring to is the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - if you are worried about losing your job - talk to your human resources department at work, they cannot terminate you because you are seeking medical treatment (inpatient rehab often falls into this category) and they are not allowed to divulge the nature of your 'problem' to your co-workers or anyone else for that matter (usually the HR rep will ask for nothing more than documentation from your doctor that you have a condition which temporarily leaves you unable to go to work each day) - any detailed information will only be provided to your insurance carrier if they are going to be covering or supplementing the cost of treatment.

justanothrdrunk

I was in treatment for 5 months and my employer held my job for me. I think I'm probably one of the lucky few though.

I qualified under FMLA for 12 weeks and when that ran out, under medical disability.

I would inquire with your HR people and initially advise you are planning for a medical absense (without being specific) for however many days, and go from there.

greenidentity

Wow, thank you all very much! I do think the medical leave law is the same here at my job. I could have the optin of talking to HR about it, but I do not have the option of not being able to pay rent and bills. I have a roomate, so I can't shut my home down...

However, there is a good outpatient program here that my roomate went through awhile ago. I have pondered it on and off over the months, but now I am going to call them and ask how to sign up.

I don't fear for my life or anything. My biggest deal here is that drinking is controlling me more than I am controlling it. Plus,. I always told myself "If it ever stops being fun, I'm putting it down." It's not nearly as much fun as it used to be.

I'm also curious how it feels to be sober on a consistent basis. Would I be a better person? I'm a functional alcoholic, so I meet my standards pretty well regardless of my drinking. But I have a lot of negatives caused by drinking, like smoking (i smoke like crazy when I drink), weight gain, eating (i eat really bad when drunk and especially when hungover....man I need grease to sop up all the booze!), and laziness. I'm also very lonely, and I know my drinking needs to stop in order for me to properly address why and try to resolve it.

I feel like this has become one nasty habit. I need to break out of the habit in order to think more clearly about what I need to be doing with myself. Going to work, coming home and relaxing (drinking) isn't working anymore. I need to do something else.

Sorry for my little rant.

Signal30

Thanks sugErspun. I couldn't remember if it was under FEMA or under the disabilities act.



Tom

FightingIrish

I would ask your doctor about whether a medical detox is necessary for you. Chances are, if you are drinking enough to want to seek treatment, then it is probably necessary or at least a very good idea.

Regardless, if you work a job that pays for your insurance, you are almost certain to have a detox covered, and probably at 100% if you use an in-network provider.

Detox from alcohol is very very dangerous, and there's no telling who is going to react badly based on the amount they drank, their age, etc. The burden of proof for medical necessity is vastly in your favor for a detox. AN insurance can't risk denying you and then you go have a seizure or something doing it on your own.

But, when it comes to insurance for rehab treatment beyond the detox, that's when things get really difficult. It's almost impossible to get coverage approved for an inpatient treatment (beyond the detox period) unless you have a documented failure with an outpatient program.

Thankfully I had an employer that was willing to go to bat for me, handle all the paperwork, and essentially strong-arm the insurance company on my behalf. Even so, I felt like jumping out the window a few times while I was trying to negotiate through the uncertainty.

It's really a horrible system.

Juju54

Hi, Green.

I don't know what your job situation is, but I can tell you that my own employer has been nothing but supportive. Fortunately, I have good insurance, and will be able to utilize Short Term Disability (already approved) for whatever time I'm in rehab. So far, everyone seems to be pretty well informed about addictions and treatment, so my own circumstances are no big surprise to them. (I'm checking in tomorrow...long story...if you're interested you can see my other post under Alcoholism). And my boss has been incredible. We both cried when I told her I was going into rehab, and she told me she was very proud of my decision. She'd lost two siblings as a result of alcoholism.

What I can tell you from the experience I've had in sobriety, is that what others say is very true: my worst day sober is better than my best day drunk. I just wasted a whole frekin' beautiful summer because I came home and "drank my dinner".

Like you, for many years I never really feared that alcohol would kill me. I never before had the desperation I heard in the stories of many others. I just knew that my life worked SO MUCH BETTER when I wasn't drinking. And y'know what? At the time, that was all I needed to know. And it kept me sober. Friends never wondered why I wasn't drinking (frankly, most of them were sober, too). My observation was that when you're not drinking, you realize that there's a LOT of people who just don't drink. Weird, huh?

Anyway, since I'm in the middle of getting help myself, I really relate to where you are. And I wish you all the best. My prediction...for what it's worth...is that once you make the decision to make your life better, you'll be amazed at how the universe will open doors and clear your path for you.

Best of luck to you, my friend. I'll be looking for your posts when I get outta "da joint".

Juju54

greenidentity

Thank you so much.

Tazman53

Green I can only share with you my experience, when I first quit drinking physically things got better for me, but mentally I was a mess, I was angry and anxious a lot because all I initially did after I got out of detox was not drink and go to AA meetings.

The meetings were a tremendous help, they did give me hope and support, the folks in the rooms shared with me that if I wanted to stay sober and to be happy that the way they did it was by change, they changed by working the steps with thier sponsor. Well after about 3 months sober I finally listened to thier suggestions and started to work the steps with my sponsor. I was willing to do what ever it took to stay sober.

I changed by working the steps, my life is beyond my wildest dreams today, I am not talking about anything material, I am talking about how I feel about myself and how family and friends view me today.

There is a saying in the rooms which since working the steps I have to say fits me, "Change I must, or die I will."

Things improve greatly the longer one is sober and working on changing them selfs for the better in what ever manner they choose that works for them, for me it was the 12 steps of AA.