[Debbie D]

I have a meeting with a psychologist next Wednesday to help determine my disability (insert word I can't remember here-thingy?).
I wonder why I have one with a psychologist? Maybe cause I have had emotional issues?
I'm nervous, but on one hand I don't care if I get SSDI or not. But it would help financially, since I definitely can't work any longer. My DH has to help me more and more with ordering his parents' meds, and he has to do all financial stuff for them and us now. I also feel more and more as if I need a cane, but I won't give in, at least not yet.
One weird thing I have to do is bring every bottle of medicine that I take. I'm going to have 2 large ziploc bags full!! I wonder also if they do a drug test.

New territory for me...

[ewizabeth]

Just tell them like it is Debbie. keep us posted.

[agate]

Hi DebbieD,
Years ago Social Security sent me to a psychologist, and the session took many hours.

I was tested and tested. I found out later that I was given an IQ test and a number of other tests.

The psychologist was very nice though. Good luck.

[Debbie D]

I hope it's not going to be too long...have to take MIL for her pacemaker test in the afternoon.
My neuro said it's pretty routine, shouldn't take too long, esp since all of the med. reports were sent from his office, including the neuropsych. evaluation.

[PolarExpress]

SSDI sent me to a psychiatrist . He was really nice, had dealt with MS patients many times in the past. The whole thing just took maybe a half hour. I think they just wanted to make sure I wasn't just some nut-job looking for an easy way out of having to work. I may be a nut-job, but I've worked since I was 16, and went thru every avenue possible to keep working before applying for disability.
It was only a week or two after I saw him that I was approved. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not ..

[SandyC]

Jim didn't have to see a psych but that was 22 years ago. I am sure it's to clarify cognition and how it relates to your ms. You'll be fine.

[agate]

Some people get sent to both a psychiatrist and a psychologist. I was, and that was back in the early 1980s.

I must have looked like a particularly suspicious character. People assume that if you have lots of education, you'll always be able to support yourself. It's just not true.

It may be true for someone with an established academic position but it wasn't true for me.

I had worked since I was 16 too and had kept on working at my stay-at-home job as a freelance translator/editor for several years after symptoms became incapacitating. I was no longer able to get to the post office to mail my work off to my employers. I took taxis and later got a postal scale to weigh the packages and send them myself from the nearest mailbox. Then it was hard to get to the nearest mailbox. I knew something was wrong but had no idea what.

One big question in my mind at that time was what on earth I would do if I couldn't keep earning enough to get by on. I didn't know Social Security would be available. I thought it was strictly for folks over 65.

People must have been more ignorant back then. I certainly was.

Anyway, Debbie D, I'm sure you'll do fine. And if for some reason you don't, you can always hire your own psychologist and submit that person's report.

The reason you're asked to bring in the actual medicine bottles is to ensure accuracy. If you brought in a list, mistakes might creep in, they think. People get information wrong from looking at medicine bottles and copying down what they see. It's really easy to make a mistake.

[Debbie D]

I'm going to need a grocery cart for all of the bottles of meds!! Seriously! I think I have around 14 different pills and 3 vitamin supplements...sheesh!

I just hope and pray that I don't cry at the interview...I am on such an emotional roller coaster lately...my DH never knows who's going to meet him at the door when he comes home

I hate when I break down and cry!!

[agate]

If the psychologist is any good at all, people who cry are all in a day's work.

The whole session could be just a battery of tests.

It's just another hurdle in your application for SSDI, and it will be over soon enough, and behind you. You may never have to go through another such interview, and if you do, at least you'll know what to expect.

You might enjoy taking the tests if there are tests.

[Judy2]

Good luck at your appointment, Debbie! I'm sure you'll do just fine, and if you happen to cry, don't worry or feel embarrassed. Just another part of MS. Think it was in '92 when I went on SSD and even though I was seeing a psychologist regularly, I had to see a second one.......more red tape!!

Let us know how things go!