Social Security

I just wondered how hard/easy it was to get social security with this disease.  I am still able to work full time right now but sometimes feel so much pressure to cope and "suck it up" as my boss says that I wonder how much longer I will be able to.  My mom and best friend say I should start the process of social security but I don't even know where to start.  I watched my mom fight for it with a back injury and that took almost 5 years with a lawyer.  Since this is not an injury but an illness I don't know how to get started.  Any advice?

You would need to be out on disability first... I feel like I was in the same boat that you are until I was hospitalized in January. I have been on short-term disability ever since. I was going to apply for SSI but you have to be planning on being disabled for at least 12 months. I'm going to try to stay out of work, but I need to discuss it with my doctor first. A friend of mine told me to start the SSI process now because you always get denied the first time. I have yet to apply....
You may want to talk to your doctor about taking you out on short-term disability for now. You legally have 26 weeks of it without repercussions from your employer. I had actually spoken with my doctor about it on a Thursday, made an appt to see her and bring the paperwork with me for the following Tuesday, when that Saturday my flare got so bad that I was brought by ambulance to the ER on Saturday...
Good luck and I hope this helps..

Paragraph from the list.

E. How do we evaluate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)?

1. Inflammatory bowel disease (5.06) includes, but is not limited to, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. These disorders, while distinct entities, share many clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings, as well as similar treatment regimens. Remissions and exacerbations of variable duration are the hallmark of IBD. Crohn’s disease may involve the entire alimentary tract from the mouth to the anus in a segmental, asymmetric fashion. Obstruction, stenosis, fistulization, perineal involvement, and extraintestinal manifestations are common. Crohn’s disease is rarely curable and recurrence may be a lifelong problem, even after surgical resection. In contrast, ulcerative colitis only affects the colon. The inflammatory process may be limited to the rectum, extend proximally to include any contiguous segment, or involve the entire colon. Ulcerative colitis may be cured by total colectomy.

I am one of those on SS disability but I also have the dibilitating arthritis due to Crohn's and I'm sure thats why they gave me the greenlight on the program. I hadnt worked in a year because I could barely walk. I couldnt even get my own socks and shoes on. It was humiliating and depressing but thank God they approved me. I wish it was easier but so many people try to abuse the system that it makes it very difficult for those in real need to get it. I hope, if you get to that point, that you do have family to help you until you get approved. It's a slow process. I'm doing much better since I started Remicade and have a good quality of life again. I was concerned that I might lose my SS because I was doing so much better but my doc explained that the Remicade is why and if I lose my medicare which is through SS then I would lose my Remicaid treatments so they wont cancel me. This time red tape worked in my favor. LOL. Best wishes, Tony

While you're on disability, short-term anyway, you are still employed, so you will still have health coverage as long as you had it when you were actively working.

From my experience, I do know that my coverage for disability insurance and life insurance would have been reviewed a bit closer and possibly denied had I not already been working at my job before being diagnosed. Since then, I have been rejected for any new life insurance and just barely got disability coverage for things such as my mortgage.