Disability Benefits

There are a few people here who are on it...I should be too...I just have to get over my own psych block...so, no, not a waste of time..

I was wondering about this as well.... I work in a day care (lol my docs like to call it the "petri dish"), and because of the remicade, I'm getting sick every couple of weeks. I started looking into the disability, but what I keep finding is that you need to be unemployed. My docs say I need another job , but it's slim pickings. (As the whole country knows D:)

my math said...
no job = no insurance = no meds = sick me
where as...
current job = sick me

Are you in Canada or the US? I'm on disability in Canada.

If you are in the U.S., they are very strict about approving someone with Crohn's disease for disability and to put it bluntly you must not be able to work. If they can prove that you can work, you will be denied. If you have had the disease for quite a while and have not be able to achieve remission then your odds of approval are greatly improved. Having past surgeries helps but there are people like myself that have not had a bowel resection(except when they removed my appendix and 4 inches of bowel) that have been approved.
As for the lawyer situation, I did have a lawyer and it was really nice to let them handle everything but mine was paid for by my employer because I had been on long term disability for so long. If you are able to afford one I would recommend it but there have been a couple on here that were approved and did everything by themselves. Make sure that you talk to all your doctors first and let them know what your plan is. Their reports are the most crucial thing to your approval. If they are onboard then you will want to start the process asap. Be prepared for a long process but there is the chance of a quick approval depending on your circumstances. Make sure that you copy everything that you send in and write down the names and dates of people you talk to on the phone. Answer all of the questions on the application honestly and do not exaggerate your symptoms to make them think that you are worse off. They go off of your doctor's notes and need actual test results to back up any of your claims so honesty is an easy thing. On the same note, don't hold back in letting them know how bad you are suffering if you are. This is not the time to hide anything and to have pride, but make sure again that you claims are back by actual data and test results. Make sure that all of your medical records are in line and at your disposal if you need them. I would make a folder just for this process and have everything all together.
The majority of applicants are denied multiple times. Please do not be hurt or offended when you are denied the first couple of time because this is pretty much standard procedure.They make this process hard to sort out those that are trying to work over the system and filter out the hypocondriacs. You have to stay positive and know that your first denial will be pretty harsh in the wording. My denial was terrible and they even went on to insinuate that my test results were not positive for Crohn's disease despite my having been on Remicade for 4 years at the time. Then on my first appeal i was approved within 3 weeks and not only given the title of completely disabled but also given full medicare prescription and medical benefits on day 1. They were so much nicer and more helpful after the approval but I understand why they make it so hard.
Are you already off work? If you are, they will reimburse you all the way back to the time that you stopped working and should have been on SSDI. If you have any other questions, I will be here for you all the way. There is a ton more information that I could give you but I will let you stew over what I have already written. I hope you don't take it as harsh but I just want to be honest with the process. If you are really sick and need this help please know that you have paid into the system your whole working life and it is not charity. You deserve this just like someone who retires. I put off applying for it because I felt like I was going on welfare but my employer's disability insurance company forced me to apply and I was not happy. My doctor explained to me that I deserved SSDI and that it is people like us that this program was designed for and that there is a reason that we pay into Social Security out of each paycheck. It was reassuring to hear that coming from my doctor and to know that he was in agreement with my applying. This is why I recommend that you talk to your primary care doc and your G.I. before.

With Canada Pension Disability you need to prove 2 things. A prolonged and severe condition. Other than that I'm not to sure, but thats how it was for me.

I always assumed that a person had to be in randy's shoes to qualify. I'm somewhat stunned that someone who has never had surgery would get approved since this puts a lot of people into remission at least for a while.

I started on it young. An attorney was the key.

You should expect to get denied the first couple of attempts, then when you go before an admin law judge(about one year later), that is when most people get approved.
You get backpay which starts on the date of your application, so the sooner you apply, the better.

They have it setup now where you can apply online. www.ssa.gov

However...

If you perfect your application, and really know what you are doing, then by all means yes, you can get approved on the first try.

Good Luck

In Canada they also consider that a person is unable to work if they cannot commit to a job regularly. Since crohn's is unpredictable, it makes us crohnies unreliable, especially if we are frequently ill.

When you apply, don't sugar coat your symptoms, think about your sick days and how frequent they are.

please listen to tsitodawg, he helped me tremdously, make copies of every paper or form you fill out, because they will have you fill out the same form again and it better say the same thing unless you have gotten worse, i had to fill out what my day was like for the past 15 years at my job, I have had 2 in the last 15 years, you get a lawyer when you get denied, i have a good chance because my dr's agree with me, they need to be on the same page as you are. I'm 59 so my working days are over for trying to work in a atmosphere where I can't use br when needed, like instantly. and i was constantly calling in sick. when you fill out forms let someone that is on ssdi go over it a make corrections, thats what I did. i applied march 3rd of this year, 2 months later they sent me work related forms, what I did at work, I had a copy of my form and sent it back in. also my gi wanted a copy of my paper work so he can fill out similar.