CarolD

Elisabeth888........Welcome to our SR Alcoholism Forum

Congratulations on your new sobriety...

CarolD

just......sorry to know of this difficult situation..I have no similar expereince to share about.

Zencat

Nandm I understand where your coming from. Not everybody dose or is even willing to suspend their opinion to consider the validity of your view or others in the same situation ay yours.

True there people that malinger in order to take advantage of a social system like SSDI. However the judgement to make that kind of call is up to the medical profession and those in SSDI management. Even then those professionals get it wrong and deny rightfully severe mental illness applicants. No system is perfect. People fall through the cracks wile other get in through the holes of the system. IMO no one outside SSDI and related professionals are qualified to make that judgment.

Can I work or not? That is up to me, my medical providers and SSDI. Everybody else, I keep them totally out of the loop. Its just simpler that way. I will advocate for those that need help with mental illness to seek help from all available resources and do my best to defend those that that need mental health help.

Justfor1

Nandm, thank you for the post. You seem to understand and it has helped me. Everyone has their own opinion on Disability and it is a hot topic. Supercrew, perhaps I can get a job as a used car salesmen deceiving people into buying cars? I suppose thats what I do when I panhandle or pretend I'm the "stranded traveler" with no money at the airports. I'm bi-polar and cycle quickly so my moods are all over the place. I'm still sober so I'm doing something right.

Zencat

Hi Elisabeth888, welcome to SR.

I'm a "dual" too. Glad you were able to get SSDI. I know with the medical benefits, treatments and medication I would be in bad shape.

Zencat

Justfor1, hang in there. There is always something that can be done even when you think you have exhausted every possible angle.

Are there any non-profit groups that cater to those with a mental illness? They can offer free services.

Please remain sober so that you don't exasperate you mental illness condition with drinking. And if things get really bad seek psych medical attention ASAP.

I'm hoping things can still work out for you and the services you need to be well.

Zencat

Ack....

nandm

You are an insensitive, rude, and judgmental individual. I do hope that one day you have to deal with mental illness and I pray that it is so severe that you find it debilitating. Then maybe you will have some compassion for others who are sick.

It is people like you that keep people hiding their mental illness and drive the shame associated with them.

You talk about people can accomplish miracles, a miracle would be that you find compassion one day because I think it will take a miracle to do that.

I refuse to respond to such a hateful individual anymore as it is obvious that you are incapable of compassion or seeing anyone else's point of view but your own.

Maybe you should head down to our mental health forum and share your hatefulness and judgement there

Supercrew

I was crying for you. What is insensitive about that? I wish you and Justfor1 all the best in your recovery. I hope some day both of you can lead enjoyable productive lives.

Life is what YOU make of it. It all starts inside of YOU. If you believe you have all of these mental issues and they are incurable, then no one will ever be able to disagree until you believe otherwise. I hope you both find your solutions some day, and I hope you don't stop looking.

susanlauren

Supercrew: Life is what YOU make of it. It all starts inside of YOU. If you believe you have all of these mental issues and they are incurable, then no one will ever be able to disagree until you believe otherwise.

Sigh. I suspect you were trying in a bumbling way to apologize and offer support, Supercrew. As an outsider looking in, unfortunately, you went from putting one foot into your mouth to putting two feet into your mouth.

Life is not an even playing field for everyone. Some people have challenges and struggles that others could not even begin to understand. Severe mental illness is one of those things. It is easy to judge from the outside. It is much harder to live it.

"Life is what you make it", "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" and "we are only limited by our beliefs" only go so far in certain circumstances. I suspect that you will only understand this truth when you, yourself, face a life hurdle that you cannot overcome.
Susan

Terminally Unique

As someone who has had paralyzing depression for a long time, and has previously lived with an un-medicated bipolar for years, I do emphasize somewhat with the OP.

Some of these conditions you just need to find the right meds for, and no amount of willpower is going to fix it.

Though he may not understand entirely, I don't think Supercrew is one of those "there is no bi-poloar disorder because some blog on the Internet says so and all psychiatric meds-are-evil" conspiracy theorists, either.

I will say this - if you have depression or other mental illness, alcohol and other recreational drugs are going to take you for a loop, and will exasperate your problems.

Every time I tried medicating the depression or (dare I say lack of sociability?) with alcohol, it made everything worse. Sure, perhaps not initially for a few hours - I did get some "relief" for a little bit - but over time, the depression reached unimaginable proportions, and I sure wasn't very sociable by the end.

Thinking you are "doomed" forever also does not help. It is a **** to see beyond it, but you have to at least try to find the solution.

Terminally Unique

Justfor1,

I hope you find some solution other than drinking or using - that will not help you, neither in the short term, nor in the long term to possibly get some other form of assistance.

I am curious, though, as your story may serve as a cautionary tale for others. I always advise never admitting to being "an alcoholic" or "an addict" to anyone, under any circumstances, ever, since there is a risk that someone, somewhere, will use that admission against you.

Your story may be a good case in point. How is it that Social Security knew about your alcoholism? Did you tell on yourself? Did someone else tell them?

My family is still trying to get me to "admit it" - even though I no longer drink, and I suspect that they are waiting for me to "relapse" since I haven't yet told on myself.

Hell will freeze over first before I do either, though (drink or confess).

BackToSquareOne

It's important to remember that we're still pretty much in the dark ages as far as understanding how the human brain works. It wasn't all that long ago that lobotomies were done routinely for mental illness. On autopsy there is no pathology for most mental illness, the brains of severly depressed people look the same as any other. Who knows, in another 100 years our current treatments might be considered archaic.

blackstrat6

Ok.. Here is what I learned through the twisted process.
Rule 1 Make it very difficult and time consuming to go through the process. If you give up or die, they win.
2 age is held against you.
3 A paper trail goes a long way as far as diagnosis.

Do you take meds? Do they have side effects?
I was told by the ssdi doctor they sent me to that I was disabled but would be turned down just because I was in my early 30's
I won my appeals on the side effects of my meds not my disability.
Never admit addiction when in this system, I know it seems wrong but this is the one time you need to not be honest.
When I did my claim I had to have worked 7 of the last 10 years but at the same time demonstrate I am not a good employee in the normal sense. My work history showed that. Lotsa jobs! lol
If your on meds then show med compliance, like I said I didn't win because I am disabled but because of the side effects of my meds. Pretty messed up.
Good luck, I hope you win! It is do-able!
I never had to use an attorney but it was close and it did take 3 years more or less. I also had the benefit of family and friends who helped me through the tough times. Oh and I am ultra-cyclic bipolar as well, I can relate very much.

BackToSquareOne

My cousin works in the local Social Security office, she said that since the economy went south applications for SSDI have gone through the roof. You can be a multi-millionaire and still get SSDI, in other words many people on SSDI don't really need the money. It is not a needs based program, SSI on the other hand is.

CarolD

Hi Everyone.....
Let's get back to our mission of helping each other recover from addiction and leave outside adgendas alone.
This includes whatever decidsion the legal and government agencies do or don't do. Some posts been have been removed.

2. Outside Agendas: No posts of an overtly political or religious nature OR posts promoting advocacy of particular personal, medical, legal, religious, political, or non-profit causes. The forums are intended for offering mutual personal support related to recovery from addiction or recovery for family and friends. This is our primary purpose.



Thanks

Justfor1

AVRT, I go to a dual diagnose program and that is how they knew about the addiction. It's best for me to move on. Some people have hinted that I was trying to "scam" the social security system in my real life. I believe there is a stigma towards addiction AND mental illness. Life is not fair sometimes and it has certainly never been fair to me. However, I have been homeless, shot at, robbed, jailed ect.... in my addiction. So in some ways I guess I'm lucky to be alive. My experience has been that society hates alcoholics and to this day it is just as stigmitized as it was back in the 20's and 30's. It really hasn't changed. Doctors and police seem to especially dislike the disease concept. I have had many bad encounters with those professions. I know many of you have experienced differently but perhaps you weren't as low of a bottom drunk as I was. While people here at SR are usually very nice I get the sense that many haven't experienced complete & total loss due to addiction. I have and it's a horrible life. I will continue to try to stay sober. However, I feel the relapse coming around the corner.

susanlauren

JustFor1: While people here at SR are usually very nice I get the sense that many haven't experienced complete & total loss due to addiction. I have and it's a horrible life.
I will continue to try to stay sober. However, I feel the relapse coming around the corner.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous was written by and for low bottom drunks. Many of the first 100 were hopeless, doctors had pronounced them incurable and society was on the verge of locking many of them up (in asylums). They could not keep themselves sober -- that was their problem, lack of power. That was why they followed a practical program of action (the twelve steps) which lead to a spiritual awakening and to a power greater than themselves which solved their problem for them. Did it ever occur to you that, try as you might, you cannot keep yourself sober? I know, for myself, that I do not have the power to keep myself sober. That is why the 12 steps of AA and finding a power greater than myself was critical to my continued permanent contented sobriety.
Susan

Zencat

I did intend to imply that you Just were doing that in my post. I can not judge people as to the legitimacy of their SSDI appeal to benefits. I know it happens, people "scam" the system. But I have bad habit
(poor judgment problem) of saying the wrong things at the wrong time. Pointing out that stuff on your thread was wrong of me and I'm sorry that I may have caused you additional stress.

Justfor1

No Zen not you. I wasn't even talking about people here on SR. Just some folks that I interact with in real life.