20 years since last hospitalization (Knock on wood.... )

If I am not mistaken, I think my last psychiatric hospitalization was in November 1994. I did some day treatment and went back on disability since then and had a lot of symptoms, but things never got so bad that I had to go back inpatient. I have been extremely fortunate especially since many of my local friends have had a much tougher time. I hope I can keep my streak going and am trying to challenge myself a little more each year hopefully without getting in over my head.

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very good for you. itll be a year for me next month. hopefully one day ill get to your status after 6 hospitalizations from july 2010-january 2014

edit: taking my meds now makes me hopeful I can

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Hope it works out for you too… I had my six hospitalizations between 1992 and 1994 (and one of those was during a trip to Italy.) Things got much better for me after I stopped trying to work full time. Immediately after I quit my job I gave up smoking and started volunteering where I met my wife. I also had a really great friend and mentor who stuck with me all these years. My family was really kind to me too. Risperdal also helped. I can’t say talking therapy was a huge help for me because for quite a few years I didn’t really have much of it since my insurance wouldn’t cover it.

when you say smoking do you mean weed or tobacco? I’m guessing weed but I may be wrong. I just recently received disability and going to Social services to help get a part time job. I don’t think Im receiving enough disability though. They gave me barely anything. I’m not sure how well I could hold a job. Thanks.

I quit all drugs and drinking in 1990. Not coincidentally it was the last time I was hospitalized.

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No just regular tobacco… but 2 to 4 packs a day…

I managed on disability with some help from my family… mostly they give me money for driving them or getting groceries. I started tracking my finances using Quicken on my computer in 1994. I made some stupid mistakes but I generally kept myself solvent by tracking my income and expenses each month and figuring out a budget and having only a few credit cards. I never accumulated much savings, but at least I broke out even.

Probably most significantly, I was able to work long enough to qualify for SSD. That made a huge difference. SSI is awful… Also, my physical health wasn’t too bad… Just had a back injury that didn’t need surgery.

Fortunately my rent was never more than 25% of my income. Once I gave up smoking and nicotine replacement I got back $1,500 a year that I was throwing away. (of course I started spending a lot of that on a new addiction – music CDs :slight_smile: ) The nicotine did seem to help with the paranoia and auditory hallucinations but the symptoms also got better when I didn’t have as many responsibilities to contend with.

We also have free heat included with our apartment… it makes a big difference and is one of the main reasons we rent instead of owning a home.

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Great achievement. I’ve been out since March and counting. I hope the experience does not get repeated.

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and its been about 20 since my last time in the hospital…im looking into brain training since im a hunt and peck typist and on top of it have dyslexia