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So I receive SSI for Schizo-effective disorder here in California. What if I stop taking my medication, would I still receive SSI? I would like to lower my medications to the lowest allowed, if nothing bad happens, then get off meds all together.
The problem is finding a job. All I gotten are those jobs that only hire part time with very little hours and fall from Friday to Sunday night shift. With SSI I make about the same as I would working. A full time job would be ideal to me.
I want to get off meds because they make me sleep too much. I tested myself here and there by skipping medication, and those days I slept better, I actually remember my dreams, and could feel more alert as I slept, something I lose completely once I take my night medication, that causes sleep.
But I need this SSI money to pay my rent, food, internet, phone, SCHOOL and the list goes on. Also I am on default for a student loan; I am working with them to get in good standing to receive Financial aid again, maybe even student loans. I just hate medication overall.
My history is I been in and out of mental institutions since 2010. I finally discharged this last time in December 2017. I think I was just on drugs and took me forever to understand what was real from fake. I was very delusional for long periods, and I think that was all me; I did not know how to deal with life, I was very innocent, and delusions were a coping mechanism. So I would like to get off meds, but how I said need them to pay rent, and I am scared.
With some of the behavioral disorders, you just need a good slap and a warning "Shape up! Tough it out, wimp!"
But you have apparently some form of schizophrenia-- a genetically specified alteration of brain chemistry. It may come and go in bouts over time-- kinda like rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis flare up and give you trouble for a few weeks, then settle down for a while before they repeat flare-ups. It's not your fault and there's nothing you can do but get it treated properly.
It's nothing to mess with and you need the supervision of an experienced doc to adjust your meds to hopefully give you maximum benefits with minimum of side effects.
SSI is a welfare program awarded to people with little or no assets and a physical or psychiatric condition that prevents them from engaging in "substancial gainful activity" (working for wages). This condition(s) must be expected to last a continuous year (or more) or result in death.
SSI does not factor in your need for rent, food, internet, phone or tuition. It also does not consider scarcity of employment in your area.
A lot of people with schizophrenia function very well with their meds. and if they are gainfully employed would not be eligible for SSI.
Seriously, talk to your psychiatrist about decreasing your meds so that your behaviour can be monitored and your need for meds be determined.
You menton taking "drugs" differently from your meds, where you taking unprescribed "drugs"? They can cause delusional thinking and schizophrenia type symptoms.
Using unprescribed "drugs" is not a condition that is SSI eligible.
In my experience in the mental health world, these celebrated meds not only don't work, but do terrible harm. In 2008 it was revealed that the antidepressants since Prozac had an equal amount of negative studies as positive ones, and were hidden by the FDA from Doctors, but those same Doctors, like to pretend that didn't happen.
What ever you do with your drug situation, do what you feel is best, and be happy in the knowledge that your SSI has nothing to do with your treatment, all you need is a diagnosis and to never have over $2000 in the bank account. If someone is your payee, change it so you get the check, or direct deposit, yourself; it is your right. It's up to you to say what works, and what doesn't, not a pharmaceutical ad, or a Doctor taking payoffs from pharmaceutical companies.
You need to work this out with your Doctors. DO NOT adjust your meds yourself. You can talk to the doctors and see if a different medication that won't make you so sleepy will work, also things like the sleepiness tend to get better with time as the body adjusts to it.
It is a very bad idea to make these decisions for yourself and you could end up back in those mental institutions.
Schizoaffective disorder is a life-long condition, kind of like having bipolar and schizophrenia. If you go off your meds you will crash and burn eventually. Don't do it! Talk to your doctor.
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I don't live in Cal, but meds suck.
