00:00Like, I have PTSD for sure, and about all the medical stuff, about Bravo stuff, about certain people, I'm a mess.
00:10Like, I'm broken right now, so I need to get some good therapy, and I need to talk to someone that gets it.
00:17Tell me a little bit, if you don't mind, about that low moment you had last week.
00:21So, yeah, this is the lowest point I've ever felt suicidal before.
00:28Like, I didn't want to be here.
00:29And if it wasn't for my kids, I don't know that I would be here, but I was sleeping until 5 p.m.
00:35My body couldn't move.
00:38I couldn't get out of bed.
00:39Like, everything ached.
00:42It was just like, and I would say it's moving down my body, you know, and at one point I couldn't move my neck.
00:47I couldn't get out of bed for four hours.
00:50And I'm just like, this is not in existence.
00:52You know, this is not, I stay in this house every day.
00:55I'm paying crazy amounts of rent.
00:56I'm worrying about money all day long.
00:58I have brain fog.
01:00I can get, I get one thing done a day, and I'm just frazzled.
01:04And I don't, why am I here, you know?
01:08And so I just called my mom.
01:10I go, mom, I know you have grandma.
01:12I know you have dad.
01:12I know you have your plate full, but I need you to come.
01:17And so she, like, dropped everything and came for a couple days.
01:20You said last year you spent over $70,000 trying to get to the bottom of this.
01:24Do you know what your total is at now?
01:25It's well over $130,000.
01:28I mean, that's, I have more bills.
01:32We were driving here and, like, I'm getting text bills.
01:35So I'm just, like, paying the minimum on everything.
01:38My credit cards, like, I've exhausted my savings, which is so, at my age, I feel like such a loser in a way.
01:47Because I, you know, I was taking care of every, I was, I was together, like, and I was an adult, and I didn't have to worry, and I wasn't paying minimum payments or getting, you know, like, you credit things.
02:00I might have great credit.
02:01I go to $700 and something.
02:03And now I'm just, like, I'm scared about every little thing.
02:07We mentioned medical bills, the incredible amount of medical bills that you're facing.
02:11You're not alone in that, from my understanding.
02:14What have you learned about this crisis?
02:15Well, I mean, medical bills aren't just medical bills.
02:18Like, you're sick already, right?
02:20And they're piling up, and that causes stress.
02:24So it makes your medical issues worse.
02:27And honestly, like, medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy because they don't, we don't know how to handle dealing with the hospitals.
02:35And we're not in the right frame of mind and, like, physical health, and we don't know.
02:40And for so long, there was no advocates to help us.
02:43So we just, you know, called it a day and worked on our credit for so long and then went bankrupt.
02:50And now with the PBM princess, Rachel Strauss, reaching out, I never knew these people existed.
02:57And so it's not just me.
02:59Like, I remember my dad has been in and out of the hospital since I was little, and that was our number one fight between my parents was the bills.
03:08Like, his medical bills were insane.
03:09And he had insurance and everything.
03:11But, yeah, like, that is such a stressor on top of just being sick is the money part of it.
03:21And now that we have someone that can advocate for us, maybe we won't get taken as advantage of.
03:26What is the biggest thing you've learned through all of this about yourself, about life?
03:31That I'm stronger than I thought.
03:33I really, I did not think I would last this long.
03:37And, like, every time I thought it was rock bottom, then I had lawyers that quit me after a year.
03:41Then it was, like, something else that happened.
03:43That, you know, financial thing happened.
03:47And then something happens with, you know, my ex-husband or something.
03:50It's, like, I can handle more than I thought, but I also have to take care of up here.
03:56And I'm not, it's just a juggling act.
04:00And I'm trying, I'm finally talking to you, talking to people about it, because I finally feel like I'm in good hands with Dr. Michael Skoma, because he's treating me not for him.
04:10He didn't even want notoriety.
04:12I'm like, you're getting it.
04:13He just wants to help, because, you know, he saw my story.
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