Denial of Short Term Disability Insurance

[majoraward]

Thanks, I needed that.

[ViewsAskew]

Well, I know I wrote a response here earlier...I guess I forgot to submit and got sidetracked and then browsed away. Alas.

I think what I said was that I've accepted it at least 3 or 4 times, always followed by a period where I slowly, but surely come to non-acceptance once again. Awhile back I was looking for a full-time job. As if. I go to bed at 4 to 5 M (3 AM on a good night). I sleep 9-11 hours a day. If I back off the methadone some, I am less sleepy, but the symptoms awaken me throughout the night. So, what's better? Symptoms that lead to lousy sleep, but having less drowsiness or no symptoms and excessive drowsiness? (I am not looking for an answer, lol). Most recently I convinced myself I could have a "normal" sleep schedule! How funny is that????!!!!

But, it makes sense we do this. From a behavioral perspective, the hardest behavior to extinguish is that with intermittent reinforcement. If you get a hug every time you come home and your parent/partner/child stops doing it all the sudden, you feel lost without it, but soon you've forgotten it ever happened. But if that hug only came once in awhile, you'd spend the rest of your life hoping/expecting another hug would come....sometime.

From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense - we need to keep hunting the buffalo even when we fail or we starve to death! Unfortunately, it doesn't help us with acceptance and this dratted disease. We have a good day now and again and it gives us false hope that we can make those permanent, that we're really OK, that it isn't that bad, that we, too can live a normal life.

[majoraward]

Well, I know I wrote a response here earlier...I guess I forgot to submit and got sidetracked and then browsed away. Alas.

From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense - we need to keep hunting the buffalo even when we fail or we starve to death!

It happened to me yesterday that I thought I posted and it disappeared, I even wrote about it on here too, I had thought I had checked that it was posted. I wonder if something happened and erased a few posts.

I go hunt buffalo again starting December 5th, 2012...hopefully I will spear one for food, clothing, and shelter for winter!

[badnights]

Good luck with that, and may your buffalo run abundantly for a long long time

[Polar Bear]

Oh my, we don't have buffalo here in N. Ireland.
We do have lots of sheep and cows..... that will do ...

Views comment of the buffalo is so good.
And the story of the missing 'hug' is so sad.

[dogeyed]

I managed to read this whole thing, and I would have gotten in here sooner but I've been having some extra health issues. I am permanently disabled and got it on the first appeal letter. No lawers, no court. HOWEVER, even tho I have RLS, I also have mental illness as a result of a car accident many years ago. I fractured my spine in three places, and eventually the injury worsened so much that I could no longer work. I went straight for Social Security Disability.

I believe I can explain your short-term and long-term disability thing pretty easily. You CAN get long-term disability following short-term disability. Also, companies do have a mix, but basically they work with an insurance company and once a decision is made, your company lets you know.

With all that said, I would like to make some suggestions. Do what you will, no need to respond, just giving you my two cents. First, talk to your manager about going ahead and getting their long-term disability. Forms will be filled out and off it goes, and hopefully your company will say yes. It is important to somewhere in the papers to say whenever you can get your medication straight, you do think you will return to almost normal. Everything you're taking is fine, but I would make two changes. First,get offf the Mirpapex. The Methadone will do the job. Secondly, slightly reduce one of your other meds, which are now Methadone, Lyrica, or Ambien, and the reason is to help you feel a little less sleey in the day. Good night's sleep will, but the meds still do their thing, even if you're an Olympic Swimmer who just slept 10 hours and ate a big breafast and then jumped in the pool, you could drown.

If for whatever reason you don't get better or don't get the long-term disability, it's regular Social Security Disability time. I already told you my experience. And just to make you feel better, it was unbelievable to do all that paperwork when I felt like hell. You should go to the Social Security website and find their list of stuff you can get disability for. You MUST have as your number one health issue on that list. You also MUST have a doctor's total agreement with you on this being a severe problem for you. Seems like you said the sleep doc said you were only getting about a minute of sleep per night... Now, all this other, the RLS and any other health issue you have (include the prostate thing), they should be listed after that number one item that is on the SS list. In the general description, it MUST line up with your main reason for disability, and you should put something in there about the sleep thing and the specific near-car accident you had.

If these things all fail, try to remember that manager is your best work connection. Ask him if there is a less-demanding part-time job in the plant, even if it's sweeping floors. First job I ever had was for the same type of work as my last. I was a writer in the newsroom, and fell all the way down to putting inserts into the paper for Sundays. You can also choose to quit work altogether, downsize by selling your home (we actually paid cash in full at 1/3 the cost of our big house) and wound up better off, adding a quarter acre, gazebo, carport, second bathroom, central heat and air, and we just stayed home and piddled around here and slept a lot (remember, I also got a very painful back, so lots of sleepy meds). I hope you can get thru a little more of this, but if your manager will allow it, take a vacation first and restart your efforts first part of the year. And I REALLY hope your meds get straight. GG

[majoraward]

I managed to read this whole thing, and I would have gotten in here sooner but I've been having some extra health issues.

Thanks for your reponse. I'm going to go through this more tomorrow when I get a chance to think about it more in-depth. I really appreciate your reply. This damn RLS is starting to mess with me again and I can't concentrate enough to think about it now.