Brighter days for Lydia
Donation protected
My daughter, Lydia, suffers from mental illness.
Last year, she began seeing a psychiatrist and therapist for what has now been diagnosed as major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. She also has OCD tendencies with rigidity and they suspect she may have borderline personality disorder, though they have never confirmed it. The cause of the depression and anxiety is unknown. She continues to treat on a weekly basis, but is making only very slow progress.
I withdrew her from high school because she was emotionally unable to return to school. Her guidance counselor recommended placing her in community college as an alternative due to her grades and overall maturity and intelligence.
She has been hospitalized several times due to suicidal thoughts and ideation. She has attempted twice. Thankfully, she was unsuccessful. The hospitalizations kept her safe for 10 days to 3 weeks at a time. I visited her every single day she was in the hospital. Visiting is permitted for 1 hour a day, but I made sure she knew I was always there for her.
Over the summer and through the fall, doctors tried her on battery of medications (13 in total), hoping one would have a positive effect. Change after change after change - it was awful. It was only when I put my foot down that they settled on specific medications and stopped treating her like a guinea pig. She now takes 4 different medications every day.
Treating mental illness isn't like treating a cold. The process is extremely slow and long. It isn't just one or two trips to the doctor, take some antibiotics and you're all better. It's weekly or sometimes twice weekly trips to see a therapist, monthly visits to see the psychiatrist to discuss medication, countless trips to the pharmacy, an overnight ER stay for a psych consult to be admitted to a crisis unit, ambulance transport to the crisis unit, daily visits to the crisis unit when she's in the hospital, follow up visits after discharge, partial hospitalization programs, and intensive outpatient programs after discharge, and even in home therapists. It just goes on and on, at a painstakingly slow pace.
Why I need your help... As you can imagine, the medical costs associated with Lydia's treatment are increasing day by day. Insurance helps, but it only covers a fraction of the total cost. One outstanding hospital bill alone is over $5,000. Payment of copays, coinsurance, and deductibles is necessary for her to receive ongoing care. I am respectfully asking for your help to continue to get Lydia the mental health treatment she so desperately needs. Her life truly depends on it. Please consider a donation and help me to be the one to be there for my baby girl. Thank you.
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Last year, she began seeing a psychiatrist and therapist for what has now been diagnosed as major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. She also has OCD tendencies with rigidity and they suspect she may have borderline personality disorder, though they have never confirmed it. The cause of the depression and anxiety is unknown. She continues to treat on a weekly basis, but is making only very slow progress.
I withdrew her from high school because she was emotionally unable to return to school. Her guidance counselor recommended placing her in community college as an alternative due to her grades and overall maturity and intelligence.
She has been hospitalized several times due to suicidal thoughts and ideation. She has attempted twice. Thankfully, she was unsuccessful. The hospitalizations kept her safe for 10 days to 3 weeks at a time. I visited her every single day she was in the hospital. Visiting is permitted for 1 hour a day, but I made sure she knew I was always there for her.
Over the summer and through the fall, doctors tried her on battery of medications (13 in total), hoping one would have a positive effect. Change after change after change - it was awful. It was only when I put my foot down that they settled on specific medications and stopped treating her like a guinea pig. She now takes 4 different medications every day.
Treating mental illness isn't like treating a cold. The process is extremely slow and long. It isn't just one or two trips to the doctor, take some antibiotics and you're all better. It's weekly or sometimes twice weekly trips to see a therapist, monthly visits to see the psychiatrist to discuss medication, countless trips to the pharmacy, an overnight ER stay for a psych consult to be admitted to a crisis unit, ambulance transport to the crisis unit, daily visits to the crisis unit when she's in the hospital, follow up visits after discharge, partial hospitalization programs, and intensive outpatient programs after discharge, and even in home therapists. It just goes on and on, at a painstakingly slow pace.
Why I need your help... As you can imagine, the medical costs associated with Lydia's treatment are increasing day by day. Insurance helps, but it only covers a fraction of the total cost. One outstanding hospital bill alone is over $5,000. Payment of copays, coinsurance, and deductibles is necessary for her to receive ongoing care. I am respectfully asking for your help to continue to get Lydia the mental health treatment she so desperately needs. Her life truly depends on it. Please consider a donation and help me to be the one to be there for my baby girl. Thank you.
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Organizer
Kerri Zakar
Organizer
Bayville, NJ
