need help

Hey there- Wow- you have a lot on your plate!  Just a word about disability- I used to work doing the paperwork for those claims where I live.  Make sure you talk to your MD's about it and have them on board.   With their support (it sounds silly but some MD's never know that their pt.'s are filing for disability and just send sparse notes, or nothing at all which are no help at all- and often times leads to a denial) you stand a much better chance of being awarded.  Good luck.  You know, if Western medicine has failed you, I suggest at least trying (if you haven't already) Eastern medicine- homeopathic meds or acupuncture, massage, gentle exerise and rest of course.  I know this costs money that most of us don't have. . . However, I always say check with your MD's first before trying any of that as some people do have adverse reactions, etc.  I wish I had more to offer.  Hopefully others will.  Have a good night.   

My Great uncle Bill was diagnosed with Crohn's back in the late 40's or early 50's when they first identified it (he had his first flare back in 1943 or '44). He had joined up with the Navy right before it hit, but he never made it to combat; he ended up getting sick aboard a ship heading for the Pacific and spent the next year on a hospital ship and then at a hospital at a base in Texas. They didn't know what was causing his problems at the time, but they gave him a medical discharge and military disability. He ended up never being able to work because of his frequent flares (of course they didn't have any medicines at all to help treat it) and stayed on disability the rest of his life. He died back the first of this year at the age of 81 or 82.

So I would think that it is possible to get disability for the Crohn's (not counting everything else you have). I have heard that if you are denied the first time, reapply and you're likely to get it. Something about they deny a certain number at random, regardless of your condition. The husband of a lady I worked with had heart problems, terminal prostate cancer, breathing problems, back and hip and knee pain and he was denied SS disability the first time they applied. They ended up not applying again, though, since the company he had worked for for years decided to just keep giving him long-term disability payments, even though he had technically exhausted his allotment by that point.