Very glad to hear some good news for ya!  I had no idea they would help any of us.  Good to know if it comes to that in the future.  Best of luck!

Chris: Pleased for you.

We regularly, but not too often, receive messages asking for infro/assistance in obtaining disability benefits.

If you had some "professional" advice, learned what kinds of information to supply or points to emphasize, etc.--any info which would help others file an application--you might consider writing  that infro up and ask DJ to consider making it a permanent posting in the "Important Messages" section.

Most folks here really have little to offer on this project and your experience could be very helpful.

You certainly seem lucid and intelligent while you're posting on this board. Are there not jobs that would require only your lucidity and intelligence?

Sorry, but I can't support welfare when you obviously have some very marketable skills.

And yes, I realize that I only see one facet of your persona. But I'm willing to bet that you are more helpful, intelligent, and able to solve problems than about 90% of the American workforce.

Yes, it's a good thing you don't need my approval. Just my continuing contributions.

So, tell me - are you glad you have gotten disability, or would you rather be working? These things (disability approval) don't tend to be temporary.

Well, they say that when God shuts a door, he opens a window. Here's hoping that you'll find an open window somewhere.

Chris that's great news. As mentioned earlier, we get a lot of people trying to wend their way thru the disability maze. We are in the process of developing a "hall of fame" board for topics like this that have such a broad appeal. Please condense what you went thru, when you're able. We'll be hitting you up for details soon! ;)

Joe

I'm glad you were able to get approved, and really hope for your sake you don't need it long. 

No disrespect intended at all, and it is surely not a jibe, but I have to agree with Brew that your lucidity and ability to express yourself writing should be marketable.  I'd suggest you consider ways you can use that ability from home until you are able to be out and about.  That will do a lot for your self-esteem and will do a lot to stave off depression.  If nothing else, find a charity that could use someone to do some pro bono writing.  You never know where that might lead.

Jerry

Good job on airing your opinions respectfully and carefully, guys. It shows the strength of this Board and the level of compassion we have for one another. Just curious, though. I'd be interested to know what market or job is available for a stay-at-home lucid and intelligent person? Not arguing, really wondering. Can one get paid for being able to write, apart from cranking out the newest thang in fiction? Blessings! lance

Start a sponsored blog.

The pay will be shit at first.

Ears pricked up across the board to see what the answer is to Lance's question! We're about to FLOOD that marketplace, methinks!

Or like my Dad used to say "Cowboy up or lay there and bleed"

              Potter

Hi Chris,
In the 25 year I have had CH I have had so many jobs between cycles that I no longer seem employable, I have not tried to find work with an employer since I was diagnosed last year, as I am trying my own venture first so I don't have to let others down again.

Here in the UK, being registered disabled would at least mean that if I disclosed my condition at the interview they would be obliged to keep my job open for me during the cycle. This could be some kind of precedent for my case, I thank you for sharing this with us.

Blessings
Tony

Chris H wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2010 at 4:06pm:

Bob, That's a good idea, will do. I'll post on here for some peer review when I get it done. -Chris

         Waiting.

        Potter

Chris, I know next to nothing about Disability, so humor me here.

     Are you recieving disability for CH and CH alone?  How is it that each of your college-age daughters are eligable for $1000.00 a month then?  Can you enlighten me?   

I get a few questions almost every month about disability in my Family Service e-mail and usually send them the links that I have found, but I've never really educated myself as to the rules & eligability requirements.

Quote:

I'd be interested to know what market or job is available for a stay-at-home lucid and intelligent person?

:D :D ;D Bwhaaaaaa.ahhhaaaa ;D ;D ;D ;D

What alot of cheese for being on SSI. Are we that rich as a country? I recently helped a friend that had a stroke get SSI. She got hardly enough to subsist from month to month. Which is what I understand most on SSI get. That is from my state senators office. You must quite different than others. :-?
Good for you I quess. ;)
the bb

Quote:

TheBBZ, SSI is completely different from SSA disability. SSI is supplemental income from the government (not from social security tax). It is cash to help those with little to no income meet basic needs.

Yes there is SSI,SSDI,SSA,START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE I used SSI for example, still alot of cheese under any government relief program. You dont know me so I will not take offense, I am fairly well versed on each of these programs. I am glad for you. I just question, as a society can we afford this.Dont get me started on medicare/medicaid. I have been researching these programs as an advocate for others for a while now.   
  I found that if you contact your Senator for help with any of these programs, they have staff in place just to handle inquiries regarding SSDI,SSI,SSR and others for medicare/medicaid. That tells me there is a problem. When standard agency protocol is to deny the applicant for resubmittal regardless of the situation,something is wrong. Dealing with the SSA is like working with the Gestapo. They give no information that is helpful and just want you to answer questions,with no explanation on their end, throw in a threat or two regarding truthful statements, and sign zee papers. Then they hit the regs with the intent of minimizing the impact of the claim financially to the government, regardless of the real situation.
Others seemingly are blessed with thousands of dollars from these programs, after little review,with minimal loss of functional capacity.   
  Linda these programs are individually intricate and have been revised legislatively over the years to the extent it takes a degree is human services to wade through them. :o  of course you know that. I hate it for you, handling all of those requests for infomation.
the bb

Well what seems to have been a KUDOS to Chris for prevailing now seems a quagmire of sorts. 

SSI/SSA amounts are determined by how much you have worked prior to claiming a disability.  I get a notice for the SSA every year telling me how much I would get if I were disabled as well as how much each one of my kids would collect. 

That being said - we have a 15 year old daughter with inherited idiopathic progressive scolisis (not releated to CH, but still SSD related).    She has a rod from the nap of her neck to almost the tip of her tailbone.  She has been denied social security.  I applied as she needs certain things - special shoes for instance - that we can't afford. 

On the other hand, CH can and are disabling especially if you hold a job that requires your immediate attention.  A machine operator, tool & dye, a mechanic.  Or as in my husband's prior profession a truck driver. 

Back in about 2000,  I received a call.  "Your husband is in the ER"  Immediate panic!  He had a CH while driving a big truck - not only was his life in jeopardy at that time, but a lot of other peoples lives also on I-75 in Detroit.  Luckily he was able to pull over and call dispatch before anything bad happened. 

He quite his vocation as a truck driver right after that, becoming "Mr. Mom"  However, had I known then what I know now, definitely would have had him file for SSI/SSD and maybe get into a re-education/re-entry program. 

Hindsight is perfect and now if they could just find a cure for this ... but in a perfect world!

Quote:

He had a CH while driving a big truck

You're new here so you probabably don't know our good friend Johnny who posts quite often.  He's a truck driver also.  I can't speak for him but he has mentioned several times his routine when he gets hit while on the road.  There's almost always a small window of time to pull over.

Hopefully Johnny will see this and weigh in and maybe help explain through his own experience, how he coped.

ALSO... 
Quote:

Yes, I'm receiving disability for CH. Disability covers children up to 18 or while still in high school. My daughters are 15 and 18, the oldest graduating this year.

    O.k., I am still not understanding why because you have CH, your daughters get paid 1000.00 each per month.  If you were totally disabled by, lets say...a stroke where you could not work at all, I understand where you, could recieve SSI or SSA to help you out.  But your children also?  And for CH?

  BTW...are you chronic or episodic?

I am truly hoping you or John BB can 'splain' this to me.  I mean no disrespect here.  I really want to know this stuff.  Maybe I can help others with this info.

[smiley=confused.gif]

Linda, I just read your post and you know what, fuck it. I'm going to another site and deleting everything here. -Chris

Just Wow.

And I would have trouble blaming you Chris, I've been really taken aback by the ferocity of opinions stated by members of this board, somehow trying to portray you as a leech on society, for taking advantage of a benefit YOU paid for. I am speaking as a CH board member, NOT as a moderator. For heavens sake people, this is the type of stuff you should take up on PM. Let's uncircle the wagons, stow the muskets, and get back to supporting each other.

Joe

I was just asking,  because like I said...I do not understand things like this. I was trying to understand because  ...I get questions all the time which I don't know the answers to.  I had hoped to get informed.

If you want to delete everything you said, that's your perogative of course, but it does beg a question of why you'd want to do that.

Maybe because he was attacked and made to feel like a leech on society? (not talking about you Linda if you were not attacking him.)

Don't worry about it Chris. I feel like leaving from time to time myself. It's halftime at the Kentucky game. I shouldn't even have checked the board. Going back to the game.

Thanks Joe and Jimi, it's been a pleasure. -Chris

[quoteI mean no disrespect here.  I really want to know this stuff.  Maybe I can help others with this info.
][/quote]

I don't know how I could have made myself clearer. 

He got slammed from the get go Linda. He should have just taken a minimum wage job at burger king, let the bank repo the house and his cars, put him his wife and 2 kids on the street, all that would be preferable to taking a benefit he had paid for.

The worse thing is, it's from fellow CH'ers who really should understand how disabling these things can be, especially at the onset before you develop a treatment program. I had so hoped this board had progressed past the, "do it my way or your stupid" mentality.

Joe

Just wanted to say any help a person can get with CH I am all for--I've had to quit jobs over CH before and also had to go down from full time to part time in college (even though it was the last thing I wanted to do--graduated summa cum laude--wasn't lazy or stupid--just couldn't function too well from pain and no sleep).  It certainly can be a disabling condition so it would make sense if someone could get disability I would think??

Quote:

It certainly can be a disabling condition...

That it can.


Quote:

...so it would make sense if someone could get disability I would think??

The most positive thing I can say about that is that it should be determined on a case by case basis. I've been disabled by it for over 20 years (many of those chronic) and I'd never even think about applying for disability. Different strokes for different folks.

I thought this was a discussion regarding social security?
Quote:

She has a rod from the nap of her neck to almost the tip of her tailbone.  She has been denied social security.

That's what I'm talking about.
They did the same thing to my friend, despite obvious impairments and handicap,rejected for resubmittal. Redundant idiocy.
If I offended or "slammed",anyone it was unintentional, promise. :-?  cept for Joe. ;) and the SSA of course.
the bb

I am sad to see Chris go, I thought he was an asset to the board.

I too have been taken aback by not the opinions here (everyone is entitled to those) but by the way they were expressed. Do we all not realize that everyone here is even closer to the edge than even a normal message board? Most are sleep deprived and in pain and coming here for support. Everything we do here is either a hand out to pull someone back from the cliff or a push over the edge. Chris just got pushed over the edge. As well as countless lurkers and newbies who just saw that happen and went with him. Lets remember all of our conversations are viewed by many other folks than just the folks doing the talking.

Lauren17 wrote on Dec 1^st, 2010 at 9:06am:

Chris just got pushed over the edge.

Or did he go of his own free will?

What you're saying is that other people are responsible for how Chris reacts to external stimuli. I'm having a problem wrapping my head around that.

what was chis' original post? looks like alot of stuff has been deleted in this thread.

one thing i can say about driving a truck with CH is that it it the most terrifying experience i have had behind the wheel bar none. the fear you have when an attack arises while driving down the road in an 80'000 # vehicle is hard to explain but im sure most of you can imagine. trying to get parked is a bitch. some people might have the balls to push thru something like that and keep driving but not me. i dont care if im in downtown chicago. im stopping. best you can do is keep your o2 within reach and huff on it until you can pull over and deal with the problem at hard. if their are any truck drivers reading this and want to talk pm me with your # id be glad to talk with you.
as far as ssi goes i have never collected it but i have fought a previous employer over unemployment. i worked there 5 years sacrificed alot of time away from and put up with alot of shit and the bastard fired me in high cycle. had to take him to court but i won. im still holding a grudge >:(

His original post explained how he had succesfully gotten SSA to get him through a tough CH period.  I was in the process of getting details of how he had accomplished that for a future "hall of fame posting" section we're working on. This type of ionformation would be incedibly valuable to a lot of people.

Due to several of the responses, he has elected to delete the posts. I for one, am hoping he sticks around. He has a lot to offer the board.

Joe

He hasn't gone anywhere - as Joe said, he just deleted his posts in this thread. His profile is still active.

I'm hoping that continues! ;)

Joe

:'( Dammit Joe your makin me cry.
I think it was just one big understanding the understanding thing.
Grope hug [smiley=hewey.gif] [smiley=hewey.gif] [smiley=me&mb.gif] [smiley=lick.gif] [smiley=hug.gif] [smiley=hug.gif] [smiley=guyflash.gif]

I just read this thread and I have to say that this has been one of the most hateful discusssions I've read on the board.  In the depths of the horrible episode I had this past summer, I nearly lost my job because I was getting hit over 10 times a day and misses nearly a month's work and nearly lost my job (which, by the way, depends on lucidity that was deeply eroded by dealing with the constant pain). I recall that at the OUCH conference this summer the subject came up and there wasn't nearly this much of a mean reaction.  Is it easier to judge from cyberspace what anyone's true situation is and judge from afar who might be disabled long-term by something we've all suffered.  Electronic communication makes us say things that we might not say to someone's face. Where is empathy, folks? Kicking someone when they're down isn't cool. Chris did what he had to do and I applaud the fact that he shared his story.  To bully him into retreating/retracting kind of sucks.  Jim

Quote:

I just read this thread...

No, you were only allowed to read half of it. The other half was deleted by the originator. That should tell you something.

Hi Chris,
Some people still don't understand that every case and every individual that suffers from CH's is different. during about six months a year I suffer with an average of 120 "hits" per month. I am very sad that after 15 years of CH's they continue to get worse each year.  I have not only a neurologist from UCLA but a headache specialist also at UCLA. I have undergone spinal blocks and even an Occipital Nerve Stimulator with no positive results.
In Feb. 2009 I was finally forced to resign my position as Western Regional Manager for an international manufacture of stainless steel fixtures. I went from six figures to $1884.00 per month SSA.
I make no apologies for participating in SSA benefits that I've been paying into since I was 16 nor should you.
Linda, your sarcasm and judging of other suffers should be filtered with a little more compassion and less holier than thou.
I have a lot more to say but I just put on the O2 mask for my 6th attack today and It's 8:30 PM.
Getting SSA is just as easy as being on the extreme end of chronic sufferers and having a good doctor to document the number and severity of your attacks.
Sorry if I sound bitter but I'd love to go back to work if it were not for the Demon.
Good luck!,
David

David - Have you tried the clusterbuster route?

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Appreciate the link Brew, thanks.  I have also found START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE.

Hi Brew,
Thanks' for the tip.