Do you consider yourself to be disabled?

I'm right there with you. I can do somethings but I can't do what I used to do.

The first time I sat down on a scooter at a store I felt so embarressed. I felt I was taking a cart someone else needed more, but I knew if I walked all over that store I'd be so sore before leaving that someone would have to carry me out.

So, yes, I'm partially disabled.

Your post title strikes up a question. Do I apply for disability or not? Please read on......

I've been experiencing most all the symptoms of Fibromyalgia for about 2 and a half years now but haven't been officially diagnosed. I'm currently seeing a Rheumatologist and I think we're almost there. He’s done all his testing only to find nothing. I've also had Hypothyroidism for 20+ years which has a lot of the same symptoms and I think that's hindering the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. I've seen many other specialty doctors as well and all their test came out normal too. None of the doctors that I've seen can explain the mountain of symptoms that I'm having.

I’m extremely fatigued and don’t have the energy to do much of anything. I go out once a week for maybe 4 hours to do grocery shopping, pick up medicine, etc. and by the time I get home I immediately hit the couch. Then the next day or two I’m almost bedridden. It's this way with anything that I do if I over exert myself.

I haven’t worked in 18 months. I closed my business because I was working 70 hours/6 days a week and I just could not do it anymore. I literally worked 12 hours a day, came home and took my shower and went straight to bed. I had absolutely ‘No Life’. Twice since then I agreed to help a friend out at her restaurant when someone called in and I really wanted to help her. On both occasions I worked about 4 hours and then the next two or three days I could barely function at home to get anything done. I explained to her that I just couldn't do it anymore.

I've been withdrawing money from my retirement account from a prior job that I lost in 2009 in order to help my husband pay our bills because we’ve always had two incomes. But I’m getting worried because unless I get better I don’t see myself being able to work and my savings is going to run out soon.

I don't like to think of myself as disabled but I sure do feel like it most of the time. I have friends that advise me to file for disability if indeed I am diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I know that people may say I'm putting the cart before the horse since I haven't even been diagnosed yet but I have bills to pay, a child in college and the other starting college in the fall so I can't help but think ahead to how I'm going to be able to afford their education. I don't won't them to suffer for my illness. I suppose that if push comes to shove I will have to try and work again.

Your post speaks to me in ways I find hard to describe. I quit my job in August. Most of my co-workers believed it was to take care of our baby (I had been back on the job for 8 months after maternity leave) but the real reason was that I could no longer do my job because of the fibro. Reading 100+ page legal agreements, supervising others, juggling priorities and putting out fires used to be my specialty. No more, thanks to fibro fog!
Now I'm a "stay-at-home-mom" (and believe me I am grateful we can afford to live on my husband's income). BUT I can no longer do the type of job I trained for, lived for. And even staying at home is difficult; some days if a migraine or flare gets hold of me I need my husband to stay home and take care of our son. So am I disabled? Partially?
I certainly can't do the things I used to do. Push and flare, push and flare, that's the cycle I am trying hard to break. I can't use a scooter at the store if I'm doing a big load of groceries so why bother? Would the stress and anxiety if someone confronted me for using one cause more pain than the physical work? Sure I can leave the shopping for my husband but I really like getting out and doing it on my own. Decisions, decisions.
I will never again judge someone with a handicap placard that "appears" to not need it, nor will I judge dozens of other scenarios because I now know how it feels on the other side. Invisible illnesses suck. Sometimes I wish I had a big sign around my neck that says "I'm acting this way because of fibromyalgia."

Interesting post. I absolutely consider myself partially disabled. And I care less and less what people think.

I'm grateful for what I can do - as you said, Booklvr, walking is a biggie, of course - but there are so many things I can't, that someone looking at me would never guess....like lifting a 2-lb can from the counter to the cupboard without inflaming my whole left side for days, opening heavy doors, sitting on the floor (or even getting down to it.) And the fog - - I won't even go there!   

That eliminates most jobs. I've managed to keep subbing in elementary schools (marginally) but even then, there are things I have to ask someone else to do...such as moving "heavy" books...

I doubt I could get disability, because I probably haven't made enough....Catch-22....at least, that's what the one lawyer I ran it by said. One of these days I'll have to pursue it, but as you said, it's quite the process. My SIL got full disability the first time she applied - without a lawyer - (but then, she'd worked a ton during her lifetime and was a proficient saleswoman, so this kind of thing was like falling off a log to her.)

It is painful to admit to ourselves that we can't do the things we used to! But there comes a point when pushing too hard robs us of what vitality we CAN still have, and that's what's so difficult to gauge.

All this is hard enough without worrying about what others think....and I've found that most of the time, they really don't care anyway, they're too busy with their own lives and will forget us momentarily...strangers, anyway....family and friends who refuse to accept us as we are is another matter.

Sweet dreamies to all.

Debbie