File For Increase ?

[gp747]

I am 50% bipolar, my wife is my representative payee for my retirement from social security. She was my represenative payee when i was on ssi and they said i had to have a payee for my retirement at 62 social security. I opted for retirement at 62 and lost ssi when i got my retirement. I havent worked in many many years.

I was recently hospitalized for my condition and they changed me from depakote to lithium. I got my records when i was in the v.a. hosp. through advice from a friend.

on admission they gave me a gaf around 30-40 on discharge they gave me a gaf of 60.

Now my psychiatrist said the last time i saw him they wanted a follow up ,new gaf but he said it was too soon . He said i had not had enough time for the lithium to get in my system properly.

So should i pay any attention to the discharge gaf ,does it matter ? And should i go ahead and file for an in crease?

[navydoc2]

If your condition has worsened by evidence of hospitalization, I would file for the increase. There seems to be a debate on here about what a good gaf is and what a bad one is I'll just simply state that if your gaf was low enough to require hospitalization and you regularly have to have someone manage your affairs then that goes a long way in my opinion.

[gp747]

skunk, next time u hav appointment with PCP get a copy of all your upcoming appointments, I just notice this up top it will have an * sign by your MH appointments and it says NEW GAF Required on all my appointments which is once a month.ALSO get copies of progress notes it helps could hav GAF score on them thats how i found out mines.Good lock

AH HA ! Thanks old joe now i understand ,same on mine * new gaf required. thanks a lot.