Need urgent advice

[matt]

I have a case of treatment resistant depression. Lately its been horrendous  where I lost the plot and considered self harm the other day. I contacted lifeline and they recommended I call an ambulance. I didn't, mostly because of the cost (I have no health insurance). Right now I feel numbness but I dont know how long  before I have a  severe attack again.

I need extreme treatment as in transcranial magnetic stimulation and if I have no success with that then Electroconvulsive therapy. Ive tried every anti-depressant. The problem is I am currently out of work and have  no insurance. I can afford insurance but Id to wait 2 months before I can use it. Do you know if its possible to start treatment immediately under these circumstances? I really dont think Ive got 2 months in me.

Thanks.

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[Beltane]

I strongly urge you to contact beyondblue by phone immediately. I also urge you to call 000 or call a taxi to drive you to emergency if you feel you may harm yourself.

you don't need insurance for an ambulance- you can just join up with your states ambulance service. Its much more affordable. i know in my state (victoria) your membership is effective within 24 hours of joining for an emergency, and for non-emergency its like 2 months. Ambulance membership costs next to nothing, i think i pay like $40 a year.

in the meantime, call a taxi and get yourself to emergency if you feel in need of immediate help. there are public health psychiatric wards you can stay at if it comes to that, and there are crisis psychiatric teams that work out of hospitals who can help you regardless of whether you've been admitted.

i want you to try to hang on to a shred of hope. now i know you feel there is no hope now, that youve tried every antidepressant and now you're up to these treatments which i'm sure you're finding frightening.

please try to hang on to hope. i too thought my severe depression had no cure. I'd tried 7 antidepressants and numerous anxiety medications, i'd been to several therapists, doctors and psychiatrists. each ot he 7 antidepressants had made me so ill, and given me no respite from the terrible depression, mood swings and anxiety.

i decided to get a 2nd opinion after my previous doctor recommended the 8th antidepressant, so i walked into another clinic completely depressed, suicidal, in a lot of trouble as i'd given up any hope of getting better.

in the end i didnt have "treatment resistant depression". i had bipolar. i also had severe anxiety, which was a part of the bipolar and had actually masked it- what my previous doctors had thought was severe anxiety was actually hypomanic episodes. anywho long story short, got on to a bipolar med and my depression lifted within a week. couldnt believe it. i walked around for weeks expecting it to come back- i was terrified. the anxiety and depression dissappeared so fast, i was like "no way, this is just a temporary thing. i'ev had these feelings for as logn as i can remember, over a decade, theres no way they're just GONE".

its been 6 months and they're still gone. i still feel amazing, stable, healthy, well.

there IS an answer somewhere, and i know it seems you'll never find it but somewhere, a clever doctor has the answer for you. please get some urgent help.

[geoff]

dear Matt, Beltane has provided some good points, and can I say if you take out health insurance it will cover your ambulance but if you feel as though you may need it straight away the cover is cheap and pretty well starts straight away.

If you are receiving any benefits from centrelink and have a health care card then it's free.

I was the same as Beltane and tried so many different antidepressants, which none of them worked plus the side-effects were terrible, but finally found one which worked.

I also tried psychologists and psychiatrists plus various counsellors and I didn't get on with them, but finally found a psychologist who I ended up seeing for about 20 years.

I know it's a pain in the neck but when you find someone it means the world to you.

If you go to your doctor they can organise a medical plan for you which means this provides you with 10 free visits to see a psych, because medicare pay for these, so this will then cover you you for the 2 months while you wait until your health insurance kicks in.

Before you have Electroconvulsive therapy I would be asking plenty of questions first and looking it up on the net before you rush into it, because it's not the 'be all good all', as I have known a person who didn't achieve much, just a lost of some memory. Geoff.