It's been a long time...

[Guest guest]

I joined the group 8/10 and haven't read/posted since. Apparently,

the emails have been going into my " Junk Mail " folder instead of

my " Inbox " . Now that I've re-found you I can join back in!

I've been off work since 7/01 and my employer's short-term disability

stopped after 6 months; the state disability stopped after 12 months;

my employer's long-term disability insurance has denied my claim

twice and is currently reviewing my 2nd appeal [keep your fingers

crossed for me!].

I'm very happily married [10-years on Wednesday!] with 7-. 9-. 13-.

and 15-year old kids. Up until my disability I was the major

breadwinner so the lack of my income is having a huge impact on our

family. I've just completed the first step of applying for Social

Security and am hopeful that sometime in the next 3 - 6 months

they'll respond to me!

I've recently stopped taking Effexor and Doxepin. I'd been on

Effexor since '99 and I KNOW I've gotten all the benefit (pain-wise)

that I'm gonna get. The Doxepin was a recent addition to help me

sleep but I don't like the wobbly, spacey feeling I get from it.

Besides, it didn't help the pain at all so why bother?

The only thing I can do for pain is keep busy with projects. It

seems that while I'm busy tearing up the yard or painting my

daughter's room I can keep my mind on my work which keeps it OFF the

pain. And THAT'S the only time I'm 'not in pain'.

Okay - enough self-pity!

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.