Re: New to group, but not new to Lyme....

January 15, 2008

Joe,

Do not be ashamed of applying and getting disability. None of us like it,

but it is the only way to get better.

My advise is to get a social security lawyer and go through the process with

him or her. If you fill out the paperwork yourself, you could say things

that could come back to haunt you later in the process.

What helped my attorney is writing down who I was, what happened and what I

have done to get to feel better and how it turned out - each attempt and the

outcomes. I finished with a comparison on who I was, how I worked and who I

had become and what I could and could not do consistently - not one day -

but for a 40 hr week. My attorney told me to concentrate on a bad day or

week - not the occasional good days. I am now having more good days with

being able to work on feeling better with some financial help.

Best of luck to you - we all need to learn to ask for hep when we need it

and, I guess, this is your turn to learn that lesson.

Ann

-- [ ] New to group, but not new to Lyme....

I was diagnosed in '04 while hospitalized for a toatally different

reason. I don't recall the name of the antibiotic I was prescribed at

that time, but I remember the tabs were huge, and it was for ten days.

Now, having moved to another state and without health coverage or any

income worth mentioning, my only health care option is a nurse-

practitioner who I'm not yet comfy with. When I described my joint &

muscle pain, and questioned if it could be RA OR LD, her reaction

surprised me. Basically, she said " Doesn't matter, the treatment is

the same. " She prescribed Naproxyn 500mg, and went on about her busy

day, I guess.

I grew up a proud farmboy, but I'm now actually considering filing for

disability. There's a large degree of shame doing this, but I simply

can't do things for any length of time at all anymore. I'm hoping any

of you who have any info to share about how to approach getting SSI

because of Lyme Disease will help me out here. Thanks, Joe

January 16, 2008

Find a LLMD, lymeliteratd MD. Do a search or tell folks what state you are

in?

[ ] New to group, but not new to Lyme....