Getting help if you’re not insured | ADHD Information
Hello.I am a 22 year old recent college graduate. I am a miserable unemloyed loser with no health insurance. I am almost positive I have adhd. Some of my friends and professors have expressed concern and suggested that I get tested. I think my life would be so much better if I got tested and got the proper help and guidance. The problem is I have no health insurance. I'm in a catch 22. I don't have the attention span to get a freaking job but I need a full time job so I can get some f-ing health insurance and get tested. It takes me days to write just one cover letter. So I don't know what to do. Can I by my own insurance? How do I do that? I really really need help but my family isn't doing anything to help.
College was miserable for me. I've never read a book unless you count kid books. I have boxes of books that I've bought but never read. I think I've read about 4-10 pages of a million different books. I go to book stores all the time hoping that, "This time I will be able to read a book" but nothing ever gets better. I want soooooooo badly to enjoy a book but I can sit there for hours and hours and read only two pages. It's really frustrating that my brother who hates reading can read a required book for class. My brother can read a book he doesn't even want to read and I can't even read a book that I want to read. It's so unfair. I know I would have LOVED college if I had just had an attention span. Even after years of failure I still have a love for learning. I'm interested in politics and history. I wish I could pursue my love of learning but I can't so I am miserable and BORED. I have all this energy that's being stifled.
I hate my mother. I have spent my whole life listening to my mother yelling at me about how lazy and apathetic I am but I am the total opposite. I'm interested in so many things but I can't focus myself. I am ambitious and energetic but I can't seem to focus my energy. My aunt thinks I'm not the brightest crayon in the box. She tried to comfort me by saying, "You're not cut out to be a career woman but it's okay." I used to think I was stupid but now I'm beginning to think that maybe I am not so dumb. I managed to make it through college at least. That's not so bad for someone who can't concentrate on anything. However, I probably wouldn't have made it through college without the kindness of my professors. They were the ones who let me turn in my papers late. I always turned in my papers several weeks late. No matter how hard I tried I was always daydreaming in class, even when I was very interested in the material. Taking notes was always a disaster. My classmates would always have pages of notes while I only had a few lines. One of my profs described me as "going in eight different directions at once." Oddly enough, a lot of my professors absolutely loved me despite my terrible academic habits. I like to think it's maybe because they saw something in me. Maybe my professors loved my enthusiasm or maybe they saw some potential in me. I don't want to keep believing that I am stupid. I know I could have done a lot better in school if I had had an attention span. I feel like I was ripped off. I could have been happy but it was robbed from me.
So is there any way I can buy my own insurance? I'm thinking once I get tested and get help I will be able to find a job more easily. I can't afford the testing and medication on my own. I can't concentrate on anything. Even writing this simple message was a hard task. My mind was drifting when I was writing this. I have low self-esteem and I am very unhappy. Can someone please give me advice on health insurance, getting tested, coping with these problems, etc.? I am desperate and it would be nice to talk to someone who is in or has been in a similar situation.
Maybe see what mental health services are available through your State Department of Health. That is what I did when I had no insurance, no money, and was feeling desperate. I just needed guidance and some one to talk to. It helped me get by until I could get coverage.
Also, you can get medical insurance on your own. Just do an internet search on health insurance. You can find websites that give quotes and compare different plans.
Once you have health ins. you can find good doctors and get diagnosed and treated.
Once things start coming togther, one thing at a time, you will start to feel better about yourself. Sometimes its just hard to figure out where to begin.
Well I have to say, I am quite impressed with your comprehension skills, you wrote very well and longer than a lot of us others too.
You sound depressed! And overwhelmed.
You need to stop looking at ALL your problems and focus on one at a time. I would start with the depression.
I think Lisa gave you some really good advice. I would go to a mental health facility and firstly get treated for depression. Usually this is taken very seriously, and you are likely to get treated for it.
Once you have your depression under control, do something just for you. You say you have many interests etc, perhaps you could suggest one and maybe there could be a way to become active in that interest and this would build up your self esteem.
I am an encyclopedia on unnessessary knowledge, simply because when something interests me - I research it. I can grow Australian native trees from seed and I am proud of it. (small but rewarding)
Life is not just about succeeding in society, this is important of course, but if you cannot find peace in who you are - when you become successful you will still be miserable.
any silly little thing that really interests you - try to get involved in it. For instance, if you like psychics - join a spiritual church, if you like plants, start a garden, even if it is just one pot with a flower in it. If you like animals, go to the pet shop and just enjoy saying hello to the poor little beggers (but dont buy one, not yet anyway too much responsibility)
You know what I mean
Pull your problem to pieces, focus on one thing at a time. Depression first, then ADHD. Try to get some free counselling from churches, government etc.
And tell your mother, that she is lucky to have you. I have reminded my mother how much I have loved her over the years and how that alone should be a blessing in her life. You dont owe your mother anything. If that was my mum, I would write her a letter telling her who I am and what I feel and how I do have lots of good things to offer the world, and how she should be proud.
Not everyone thinks like your mum, some of us see value in people, even if they arnt financially successful. Success is a personal thing. I am successful and I am the one of the poorest people I know. Why - because I am mostly happy and my cup is half full. My kids are happy, bit bedraggled but happy. I have a computer and the internet is connected and paid for - some poor bastards dont even have this.
If you are walking along a beach and there are star fish washed ashore and you threw some back - didnt you make a difference! Didnt you matter to at least that Star Fish.
Start small, matter! Because I see the value in what you are, simply through your desire to improve who you are. That is an admirable quality and one that good people constantly work on throughout their entire lives.
My daughter has the same problems. Twenty four years old and very bright but depressed, inattentive, unmotivated, etc. We were finally able to get help through MHMR (Mental Health Mental Retardation). They then had her admitted to the state hospital when we told them she was spending most of her day trying to decide how to kill herself and mentally writing suicide notes to her son and I. They base their fees on income. Most of the drug companies have prescription programs for people with low incomes and MHMR took care of getting her medication provided through one of these programs. She was getting Wellbutrin and Ritalin but is now getting Zoloft and Straterra. They are probably going to add a mood stabalizer, which will also be provided through the drug program. hey, i'm a miserable, unemployed, loser too luckily my parents have been helping out with my insurance though, and i really hope you have found something. your post just caught my attention because i went through college with the ADD and didn't get diagnosed till just recently at 24. i struggled in every aspect; i spent hundreds on textbooks but didn't read a single one, and i wanted to sooo badly, but it was just not possible to get past the first sentence. basically everything you said i can relate to, soooooooooo much; college was miserable, but today i am not dwelling on what could have been. tomorrow most likely will be different. but anyway, it sound like you definitely do have ADD, maybe not ADHD, but you surely have depression in conjunction with it. make sure you don't overlook that or else the ADD will be impossible to treat. i'm just going through all this sh*t right now too, so its not like i am a success story, both ADD and depression are both very present right now, but i have been working with some great doctors. so i really hope you have found some support...financial and emotional. good luck[QUOTE=lisa b]Maybe see what mental health services are available through your State Department of Health. That is what I did when I had no insurance, no money, and was feeling desperate. I just needed guidance and some one to talk to. It helped me get by until I could get coverage.
Also, you can get medical insurance on your own. Just do an internet search on health insurance. You can find websites that give quotes and compare different plans.
Once you have health ins. you can find good doctors and get diagnosed and treated.
Once things start coming togther, one thing at a time, you will start to feel better about yourself. Sometimes its just hard to figure out where to begin. [/QUOTE]
When I was still in college I went to see some guy from the state department health services but he wouldn't help me. He asked me what my GPA was and since my GPA was not that bad (2.9 out of a 4.0) he was like, "Okay then, you're fine. You don't have ADD." What the %$^#!!!!!! 
He wouldn't listen to the problems I was having in school. Never mind that half way through the semester, I was still struggling to read the assignments from the first week of class. He didn't care that I had never read a book before. He didn't care that it took me hours just to read a page. He didn't give a damn about my problems because my GPA said that I was doing fine. Basically, some lazy slacker who's partying and not even making an effort to study could walk in there with a 1.00 GPA and say, "Boo hoo! I have ADD! Please help me!" and he would probably get help. I don't like the emphasis on numbers. They don't tell the whole story about the person. My GPA wasn't terrible but I was and still am struggling with many issues.
I was thinking of purchasing my own health insurance and I tried searching online but it was sooooooooooooooooooooooo CONFUSING. What exactly should I look for in an insurance plan? Which insurace company do you recommend? What kind of plan is best? Please reply Lisa. Thanks.
scarygreengiant38342.5604513889Most states have free mental health services or at a prorated fee.Hey funkychic. It's nice to know there's people like me out there. 
Thanks for your support. I will need the good luck.