Working vs. disability?

I have a question about working vs. disability....

Right now I'm working a 40 hour week in 4 days (teaching).

I'm worried about my career in teaching. My boss is fairly understanding about my limits and I've filed a ADA with him.

My problem is my system will be closing two of the schools in the district and consolidating the two schools into the remaining three. My school is on the chopping block. I'm scared of my job security and that they will be increasing my class size and taking away my para-pro.

I need extra help in the classroom. There are days I'm so fatigued I teach from my chair and she is my legs. Some days my mind is fuzzy and I forget things.

I don't want to stop teaching but it's scary to see me trying to function under more stress. I'll probably have a new boss and I'll have to go through getting adjusted to them which is more stressful.

Are most of you able to work full time?

My heart goes out to you.  I am also a teacher and can really relate to your experiences with your health in your work situation.  Up until 4 years ago I was working a full 40+ week for my district and finding myself exhausted and often in full flare by Friday.  The week-end was not enough time to recover and I found all of my symptoms getting worse and worse.  I finally went to my principal and later, the superintendent, who supported my cutting back to four days a week.  It helped immensely.  I found that the state of my health was much more important than the money.  I pay a bit more for health insurance, but it's been worth it to me.  For the most part, I am able to work, taking the occassional sick days when I need them.  Hopefully, I can keep doing this for 6 more years....the magic day of retirement.

Thank you for your support. How do you fill out a FMLA? I've only heard them mentioned in passing and I don't know where to start. Who do you see first?

SSD takes some determination and time, but if you are sick and cannot work and have your doctors support it will work out in the end.

The first application is almost always denied, then you get a disability attorney (they work on commission for gov't mandated %) to help you get a hearing in front of them - the attny goes with you and the hearings usually work out.

Mine took over 3 years as my state, GA, is so far behind in processing but most states work much more rapidly.

I think it is all a game of chance. I don't think anyone, anywhere, with any condition can be guaranteed of a timely approval. I have seen people get it fairly quick with little effort and I have seen people wait and wait. Unfortunetly, most cannot afford that waiting process. This is why I havent tried although many tell me with my age (51) and my conditions (fibro, RA, sjogrens, and absorption issues), I should be approved fairly quickly.

But, because of what happened to my sister, I am not a believer. Nor can I afford my meds and bills while I wait 1,2,3 years for that approval. I know someday I may not have a choice but, for now, I think its easier to work.

It is possible to get SSDI the first time. My wife got it. She is only 35 without any major organ involvement. She has "only" been sick 10 months and was approved about 2 months ago. At the time she wasn't even diagnosed with lupus yet, they were calling it Inflammatory Arthritis. She is still pretty much bed ridden from this horrible disease and so far no meds are helping, even the 35 mg of Pred doesn't help much. I don't think her doctors really had much to do with it. SSDI looks at her chart but I don't think they talked to the dr's. It isn't a permanent thing, she gets reviewed in 5-7 years. I'm hoping she is at least functional by then. It's such a two edged sword, I want her back even if she isn't good enough to work but it would mean losing her SSDI.

I tried twice for SS & was denied bc my Rheum believes if u can possibly work 2 - 3 hrs a day then that's better than SS - she says if a person gets SS there is no motivation to do anything! Ha! If I could work I would be working! If not for my husband's income, I'd be in the gutter, ...homeless. He has kept us somehow from going bellyup (well, him & credit cards!) Now we have a stack of bills & I'm still unable to work!
I hope u have better luck than I did. The key is whether your Dr will support you. Had we not moved, ithink I would've been approved but I gave up & shouldn't have!

I had to attend a training class today on teaching math lessons. If you ask me what we discussed today I could not tell you anything. At the end of the lesson they wanted us to recall what we had learned and to tell the person next to us what we had learned. My mind went totally blanked! I fudged my way through something I had read the night before.
This is getting frustrating!

If you do have measurable cognitive impairment, see a Neuropsychologist to get the impairment measured. In my case, it showed a significant loss of function, including motor skill, that that played a MAJOR role in getting my disability approved.

In fact, this was something my disability attorney suggested, not my doctor!

Hi Couchtater,

I have RA and some belly issues and I currently work an overnight shift 4 nights per week and by the time the 4th night rolls around, I feel so horrid, as if I have been hit by a truck and it literally takes me the next three days that I have off to recover. My rheumy has no idea I am even working this shift the way I am, and I am afraid to tell him. The place that I work at has those awful flurecent lights, so working an evening/night shift is out of the question. I tried that shift and had co-workers asking me what was wrong with my face, when I arrived home, I had a terrible red rash, and I didn't feel very well.  I guess the question is when do you throw in the towel? It is a difficult question sometimes..for me, I absolutely need the money from my job, and would not know what to do with myself if I had to sit at home everyday with nothing to do.  I'm 40 and my youngest daughter is in her first year of highschool. You asked if many of us are able to do it? I am able to work for the simple fact that my husband and family are a huge support as far as housework and meal prep and understanding that I have RA. My husband is not happy that I am working four overnights shifts because of the lack of sleep/flares. If I didn't have the support at home, then no I wouldn't be able to work the way that I do. On Friday nights there is no expectation that I will be preparing a gourmet meal! My family fends for themselves!

Having worked as a florist for many years a job i loved and had my own shop for many years i began to struggle to the point of giving it up for a less physical job which was 9 -5 in a hospital lab! I thought i might manage the lighter work,not having yet been diagnosed at the time with anything other than psratic arthritis which seemed bad enough as it was i actually had sle it was descovered but not for four yrs after suffering in the flourecent lights with a multitude of symptoms i coul'nt control and after a long fight to get it under contrrol my employment was terminated!

I was so depressed,so ill,and so lonely for the following two years before i got some real help to control things but i've never been able to go to work again as yet and suffer a range of cognetive and arthritic symptoms which fluctuate and make daily life unpredictable however some days and weeks you would be unaware there was anything wrong with me if you did'nt know me!

I do what i can when i can and make the most of the good days now but i felt ashamed when i could no longer work and avoided people because i found it hard to acept. I tried to do a course at college three days a week for a 3 hour session and narrowed it down to 1 session a week very quickly which i only managed as i asked to sit with the light out above the whole area where i was seated near a very large windowed area with lots of natural light! I still had problems and i think they got sick of accomadating me,i still fount it difficult to work in the lighting and usually worked at home and attended the class for instruction....i was unable to do another term as i was told the class was full....people say they will accomadate people with dissability but in my experience if they cant see your dissability they just dont get it and it wares you out trying!

Hi Joy..teaching is a tough job and requires so much energy! There was a time when I taught preschool and it came to a hault when I developed the RA. In fact, that is where my nightmare started.  I cannot imagine trying to keep up with children on a daily basis now, I simply can't. I understand your need to possibly re-think your options. I completely switched careers and that helped some, but I think for me it is the daily grind of children, well at least I just have one left to go and she is easy to manage.  It is the commuting that I do daily to get her to school and me to work of excess 100 miles per day.  We have job options here, but live way out from them and must travel in to reach them.  We chose our house pre-RA.  My job would be easy peasy if I could come home and sleep, but by the time I reach home, it is only a few hours until I have to hop back into the car and drive back to pick my daughter up from school.

If your disability pension etc would cover your costs, maybe go that route and then consider volunteering to keep busy? That is what I would fear most, boredom of being at home all day with nothing to do. However, volunteering is a wonderful way to stay in the loop.

I can sincerely sympathize with you ladies, I work a 40 hour week in a dishroom of a 200 bed nursing home.
It's a lot of lifting, twisting and turning. I thought about going for SSD as it's getting hard to do the job anymore.
I've been there 13 years and they've finally got the insurance so it's almost affordable. $40 co-pay and most
diagnostics are covered so I don't know what to do. My maladies consist of RA, fibro, lupus, sciatica, scoliosis,
two trashed out knees, the hips are going, degenerative arthritis and bone spurs on my spine, nodes growing
on my fingers and my heart is upside-down. The only meds I do are hydrocordone, skelaxin and once in a while
a sleeping pill. Mostly I do herbals.
I have an appointment with a spine place that does acupuncture and herbals. The rhuemie wanted me on either
methroxerate or pacquenil...No Thanks!!!