Just having a bad day, for the last 4 months....

[femfatigued]

CScalise, how long did it take you to get approved for disability? Any tips/advice you can give would be appreciated. I am not at that point yet, but want to be prepared in case I have no choice except to file. I know even if approved, it will be hard living off the amount I would get, but I am missing so much work without pay right now, it probably wouldn't be that much different.

 

[sunkacola]

CScalise, how long did it take you to get approved for disability? Any tips/advice you can give would be appreciated. I am not at that point yet, but want to be prepared in case I have no choice except to file. I know even if approved, it will be hard living off the amount I would get, but I am missing so much work without pay right now, it probably wouldn't be that much different.

I am no expert on this because I have never applied for disability. But I know someone who went through that process a few years ago, At that time (it may be different now, I don't know) you had to prove that you had been unable to work for at least two years before you could apply, and then the application took a long time (another year?) to be approved.

Best thing to do is go to or call or check the website of your local offices and ask them or research for yourself what the requirements are and what the whole process is. And, since it is the government, expect it not to be easy and to take a very long time. This is not how it should be! But that's how it is in this country.

 

[femfatigued]

@sunkacola I have been doing a lot of research and contacted a lawyer on the internet who was from a reputable firm. He pretty much said that I would have to be out of work for at least a year before even applying and that it can still take years after that to get approved. He agreed that the system sucked and did not make it easy. How are people supposed to live with no income and dealing with pain and depression on a constant basis? Sadly, as far as depression goes, I read that they prefer a person that has depression to actually have had a suicide attempt in order to get approved. OMG Really? I have had 3, but the last one was 18 years ago. I guess they would want something more recent. I am trying to get help, but if I have no income then I can't. I can't win for losing.

 

[sunkacola]

@sunkacola I have been doing a lot of research and contacted a lawyer on the internet who was from a reputable firm. He pretty much said that I would have to be out of work for at least a year before even applying and that it can still take years after that to get approved. He agreed that the system sucked and did not make it easy. How are people supposed to live with no income and dealing with pain and depression on a constant basis? Sadly, as far as depression goes, I read that they prefer a person that has depression to actually have had a suicide attempt in order to get approved. OMG Really? I have had 3, but the last one was 18 years ago. I guess they would want something more recent. I am trying to get help, but if I have no income then I can't. I can't win for losing.

Oh my gosh. All of this is so true. I have always thought , How on earth does the disabled/depressed person survive for a year or two with no income in order to get the help they deserve and need?? It's appalling the way the system is here, and I think it's very shameful that this country doesn't do better with health care. Countries that take better care of their citizens have a far more productive population, and happier people. but the USA has become a terrible place to live, IMO. I think about leaving often.

All you can do is endure, and keep trying to get the help you need. I am a supremely persistent person, so when I have needed help I just never give up until I get something, and that has served me well many times. Also, sometimes, it has gotten me nowhere. But at least I know I have tried everything.

I have had chronic and at times severe depression most of my life. When I have needed help, it has at times been almost impossible to get it. My way has been just to keep trying. Call someplace else, talk to yet another person, ask every person who says no to recommend to me a place for me to try next, on and on. And then it gets to be too much and I want to give up and just do nothing so I do that for a while and then come back to trying to get help again. Every agency in the state, every sliding scale clinic, every person I can get to listen to me who is in a position where they even might know something I can try.

Almost all states (all??) have some kind of program for people of low income, where they can get physical and mental health care for less or no money. You may not get the best care doing that, but then again you never know what good doctor or therapist has decided to work there to help low income people. Maybe your state has a state-run health care plan for low income, I don't know. but also maybe there's an independently run sliding scale clinic.

If you go to or call a crisis center, sometimes they will refer you to someone who can help. Goodwill Industries of America has ways to help people (don't know if they will help with this but it's worth a call or visit).
Just keep trying and don't give up on yourself.

 

[Jemima]

Sadly, as far as depression goes, I read that they prefer a person that has depression to actually have had a suicide attempt in order to get approved.

That's just horrific!

 

[Auriel]

@sunkacola why are there robots watching us ? It’s kinda freaking me out , there we’re 121 last count .i know what Facebook google are bing are. cos your a moderator I thought you might know what these ones are,I don’t mind the Star Wars ones but I don’t know what these lot are!?

 

[sunkacola]

@sunkacola why are there robots watching us ? It’s kinda freaking me out , there we’re 121 last count .i know what Facebook google are bing are. cos your a moderator I thought you might know what these ones are,I don’t mind the Star Wars ones but I don’t know what these lot are!?

I do not have any idea what you are talking about, Auriel.

 

[Auriel]

I was looking at the lists of members guests visitors and robots too!

 

[Jemima]

Auriel, do you mean web trackers? One of the joys of the digital age! There's are lots of tracker protection plugins that will close the door on those for you if you don't like being tracked online, and your browser may have protective setting too. I like open-source plugin Ghostery!

 

[Auriel]

Jems It’s under current visitors and online statics. I don’t know what they are guess they could be trackers?im new to forums so I don’t know ?it’s my first one ever! All I know is there’s hundreds of them watching all time,I like the sound of ghosery I like ghosty things why are they all watching a fibromyalgia page? Are they intending to hack us for thing,s?

 

[Auriel]

@femfatigued hows ya been?I think I’ve missing you online I think we’ve been on different times.we have 3 new members.my hands are a bit hurting so I won’t be on for long , just checking in see how you’ve been And I was looking for male forum members for fibromale to message, I found one called gain he’s from Finland but he’s logged off now maybe they can catch up again

 

[femfatigued]

@Auriel Hey! I'm around. I just have no motivation today. Very tired. I think I am going to go back to bed. Why are you looking for males with fibro? How are you feeling today?

 

[Auriel]

I’m ok, I have tummy cramps makes my fibro worse for some reason? I was looking for them for fibromale I saw on a thread he wanted to see if there was any male forum members he could message then tonight I found one called gain but then he logged off not long after

 

[Jemima]

Jems It’s under current visitors and online statics. I don’t know what they are guess they could be trackers?im new to forums so I don’t know ?it’s my first one ever! All I know is there’s hundreds of them watching all time,I like the sound of ghosery I like ghosty things why are they all watching a fibromyalgia page? Are they intending to hack us for thing,s?

Oh, I see it! On the forum homepage - it says 77 right now. It's a mix of web crawling bots and trackers.

Web bots are usually just data collecting for search engines or for targeted advertising. Search engine bots crawl websites to update their indexes so that they can give good search results. Advertising trackers are gathering data to learn how to make people buy things - they are also why you will sometimes see advertising relevant to something you Googled or read about earlier - and they might come in the form of cookies or other types of trackers that either embed on your computer or profile your online behaviour. As we move around on the internet, we pick them up from different websites, and then they follow what we do elsewhere.

If you click on Current Visitors, you can see where the bots on the forum came from. I can see:
SEMRush, with is a search engine optimisation company
Google, Majestic-12, and Bing, all search engines
Applebot, crawls for Siri
Adsense, Oracle, AdmantX, and Proximic, all advertising bots

Search engine bots are useful - they are looking at websites rather than us and are how we are able to find what we want online. However, if you don't like the idea of advertising trackers, some browsers like Firefox have pretty good tracker protection built in, and plugins can add even more privacy. There's a great TED talk about trackers if you want to learn more.

Right, back to fibromyalgia and my coffee I hope everyone had a good day!

 

[Auriel]

Oh ok I’m not so creeped out now now I know what the hell they