cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
Does your company have short term disability.
The FMLA act will protect your job for 12 weeks....see how your company handles this also.
my employer ran the FMLA at the same time as the short term disability......im assuming most do.
The first step is finding out the process to go out on short term.
My first claim was for migraines...obviously thats not what i had....
As long as your dr submits the required documentation on why you cannot work you will be OK.
Im out now under lyme disease based on my LLMD's notes.
PM me if you need more info.
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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BostonLyme2005
Unregistered
posted
My work is ULTRA Liberal and have thousands of employess and I am in a union as well.
My H/R Dept is also very understanding....
I guess I need to find some excuse for not working...Maybe fatigue....Chronic that is...
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Monica
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 224
posted
My company is too small to fall under FMLA and they also do not have their own short term disability plan, so my claim is being handled through the state.
I don't know how things work in your state. You might want to check with your HR dept. and/or union rep.
My claim through NJ was approved based on my doctor's diagnosis of Lyme Disease.
Posts: 1757 | From Somerset County, NJ | Registered: Oct 2000
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cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
In my opinion you have lyme disease and do not need an excuse
Its both physically and mentally draining.
Check with your union too.
you want to make sure you have all the facts before you go out.
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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BostonLyme2005
Unregistered
posted
I pay into both short/long term and we have the FMLA too....
18 months of going to work while ill, I need an F-ing break!
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cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
i hear ya Rob.......take the break....you know you atleast get 12 weeks of job protection take it.
I tried to go back to work, was forced back and i do not know how i made it thru. Work puts such a strain on our bodies.
i dont know how you did the 18 months!!!!
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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BostonLyme2005
Unregistered
posted
A wing and a huge prayer! I want to be paid for being out though.
I pay into this insurance both short and long and I want to be sure I will get paid for being out of work.
My rent will decrease as well and I can get other benefits as well...
Just need the $$$$$....Dont want to live on savings...
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Good for you! You paid for the benefits, you should use them. I wish I had done so earlier... I got much much worse by continuing to work when I was sick.
I finally applied for and received part-time, short-term disability two years ago for having Fibromyalgia. But as soon as I applied for full-time, long-term disability, the insurance company denied me.
I got a good lawyer, wrote up a wonderful appeal, and finally won. Huge hassel, but we can still pay the rent.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have seen a really good lawyer who specializes in private disability insurance companies long *before* I applied.
If I had done so, I would have known to make sure my doctor made *really* clear notes of what I was telling her every visit, and that I was not holding back with the detail of my symptoms and pain levels.
Instead, I was trying to be a "good patient" and have a "good attitude", so my doc wrote down a lot of things like, "doing a little better this week," when I said I'd had only three migraines instead of five. From the notes she made, it really did look like I was getting better!
I also made the mistake of thinking that, since my employer was so helpful, and since I paid for the policy out of my paycheck, that it would be simple to apply for and get.
Ha! It is an incredibly adversarial set-up, where the burden to prove your disability lies completely on *you*. Your company no longer has anything to do with it. Don't be fooled: It is the job of the insurance company to deny you.
The only proof that works are really complete doctor's notes and records, in which one or more doctors state all of the symptoms that keep you from working. You also need your doctor(s) to really clearly state, over and over in your file that you are "unable to work for the foreseeable future."
I found a lot of good information on this topic at www.fmaware.org, particularly articles by a lawyer named Scott E. Davis, Esq. Much of the CFIDS/FMS info applies to Lymies.
PS: My disability insurance company is currently doing their annual review of my case -- the first since my Lyme diagnosis. I made sure my LLMD noted my Fibro diagnosis along with Lyme, which is absolutely true. Rather than saying I was misdiagnosed with FMS, my position is that I have FMS. Lyme is only a potential cause. Lyme or no Lyme, I meet the FMS criteria. I'm keeping both as medical diagnoses.
Good luck. You can PM me if you want to chat about this more.
posted
I know my last post was long, but there's one more thing!
Find out how long your short-term disability will pay you. This is important because your company may fire you if you switch to long-term, full-time disability.
Mine did, and I understand now that this may be standard operating procedure for most large (and maybe even small) companies these days. What that means is that I now need to pay for my own health insurance.
Don't get me started on the insanity of making really ill people deal with all this insurance unpleasantness, to be topped by taking away their health insurance just when they need it most...
I don't know what your company's policy is, but most companies only pay 55% - 70% of your salary while on short or long term disability. Some pay out at 100%, but usually that's based on some formula your company sets, like 1 week at 100% for every year you've worked. After you burn through the 100% weeks, it drops to a lower coverage (see above). If you're married or have a big chunk of savings, then maybe that won't be such a big bite out of the paycheck. But for those like me who are sole supporters, I can't afford to stay out of work. I did utilize the short term disability to take 2 weeks off to recover from a huge cavitation surgery. That was nice. In the past, I'd gone back to work only 2 days post surgery. Talk about draining!
I see the work issue from both sides. As someone who has worked continuously through extreme illness (I tested positive to every co-infection, the worst my doctor has ever seen), I sure can relate to needing time off to HEAL. No doubt about that! But I also agree with my doctor in that going to work every day forces us to not dwell on our illness but instead be in the land of the living, so to speak. I know several friends who went on short term disability "just temporarily" but now haven't worked in years. They are also still sick! They are both able to work, but are afraid to go back to work (their words, not my assumption). For some people (I'm not saying everyone), disability can reinforce/reward one for being sick, or prohibit one from getting better. Strange but true.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Jun 2005
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cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
I disagree......i dont think disability rewards us for being sick.
I know everyone is different and i dont want to stir up a debate. But i pray every day that i can go back to work. I have a lot of friends at the office. I want to go back but my body will not allow it.
I dont like sleeping until 12 becaused the meds i took the nite before were so strong, looking like a skeleton and laying in bed all day.
I tried working for 2 months and almost passed out cold at work in the restroom. Not to mention the month in Sept that i worked not knowing what i had.
I have worked thru some really really bad health issues as well, sat in pain at work.
Im sorry but lyme disease is different then other health issues......it just is.
the only thing that prohibited me from getting better was being forced back to work too soon.
Paige, im glad that you are able to work, keep on keeping on.
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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How wonderful for you that you can still work! I'm so glad, jealous even, that you find it good thing for you.
And you bring up a good question: When is it a good thing to file a disability claim?
I, too, worked continuously while I was extremely ill because I had a good creative job with lots of responsibility, and enjoyed my work friendships immensely. I was also the main breadwinner and carried our health insurance.
But eventually, pain levels were so high and unpredictable that I was forced to work part time. I was unable to walk very far or carry my briefcase, even the one with wheels. I tried every accommodation possible, including working from home.
And when my cognitive abilities nose-dived so that I could not remember instructions my boss gave me long enough to walk twelve steps to my desk to write them down, I realized I was no longer able to perform the basic responsibilities of my job.
Inability to do the job was the only reason I stopped working.
Of course I don't know why your friends are "afraid" to go back to work, but I can tell you that the disability insurance system is set up to make people afraid.
Once you start working, your disability insurance ends. If you've been terminated from your job while on disability -- which most people are -- then you no longer have disability insurance. So if you relapse, you're screwed.
Or, if you are covered at your new job and manage to work the length of time required for the insurance coverage to kick in, you must start a new claim all over again with a new insurance company. Now that i know how hard it is, I hope I never have to file a disability insurance claim ever again, thank you!
Don't be misled by glib statements from docs who say "it's good to keep working." I have met doctors who insisted that broad statement was true for me, even when I would cry in pain all day at my desk.
The reality is, I think, that it is good to keep working only if 1) you are still *able* to do the job, and 2) as long as the benefits of work outweigh the costs to your health.
The bottom line is that, like in most things around this crazy disease, we must decide for ourselves if those two criteria are being met. No doctor, no glib statement, no research can dictate what is right for any single individual, especially with an illness that can vary in experience from slight discomfort to full body paralysis to extreme memory loss.
Finally, work is not the only activity a chronically ill person can do to stay "connected with the land of the living". Art, reading, conversation, hobbies, and spiritual practice can serve the same purpose without allowing the chronically ill person to risk their health further.
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