Mental health lawyer, poker player, and gay schizophrenic
Hi all,
For those of you not familiar with my poker blog here, 1/3 Grinding and Bankroll, I started as a drunk tourist player the regs salivated over, playing sporadically for fun. Then life hit me with a baseball bat across the face and I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but not before I had gotten my law license and started practicing criminal and post-conviction law. Poker gave me a way to pass the time and not give up on life, and eventually the hobby turned into a job and I went pro or semi-pro for several years. I did very well, playing in the biggest games in my room up to 100/200 occasionally but much more often the big live PLO5 games.
I just started my most recent full time law job as a mental health lawyer defending people like me, those with psychiatric disabilities, and I am starting another cool chapter in my life. Now that my poker volume has decreased by a lot again I thought it was a good time for this thread.
Ask away!
DT
Does your family monitor you to make sure you take your meds? Do you ever accidentally skip a dose or a few and notice symptoms coming back? If yes what was it like?
Does your family monitor you to make sure you take your meds? Do you ever accidentally skip a dose or a few and notice symptoms coming back? If yes what was it like?
No, I live independently with a friend/roommate now. No one really monitors me. I never intentionally skip a dose. I rarely miss one here and there, maybe a few times a year. Typically I feel a little more depressed the next day, but nothing major. The medication builds up over time in my fatty tissue so even if I miss one pill I don’t immediately feel symptomatic.
When I was on a lower subtherapeutic dose I had some paranoia but nothing more than that. Once I thought a client was going to put a hit on me if I didn’t get him out of prison. I knew it was just a symptom of my illness though and was able to ignore it as annoying as it was.
You are basically very lucky and it could go downstairs ... One antipsychotic is good. Mostly it is enough.
Most of the schizophrenic guys are on disability money? You are poker pro? how much do you pay for health care? Where i life, you have to pay like 400 euros each month for health care only. Thats a state with very good health care system ...
You are basically very lucky and it could go downstairs ... One antipsychotic is good. Mostly it is enough.
Most of the schizophrenic guys are on disability money? You are poker pro? how much do you pay for health care? Where i life, you have to pay like 400 euros each month for health care only. Thats a state with very good health care system ...
I have insurance through my employer. I recently started a law job again. I pay $125 a month.
