To claim disability, or not?

I agree with Buggs here, I am in Canada, so I don't know all the rules for SSD, but I have sure seen a lot of posts backing up that if you are currently employed, you will have one hell of a time claiming disability.

For me the deciding point was after I finished college, Then I got dx again, I was actively searching for work in my small city, doing my meds and out patient at the hospital. I was living off $800 a month with three kids. My child tax. I did that for a whole year before my pdoc finally said, you cannot do this anymore! He finally was able to convince me that a step towards taking away some of my financial stress was a huge key in becoming stable. It took a lot of convincing, and me letting down my pride to be able to come to terms with asking for outside help. And boy was it hard, it's still hard.

If you are really thinking this is something you want to do, find out all the rules and guidelines. Make your self a list of pro's and con's too each side. and be honest about it. I have no idea what is right for you, but honestly looking at each side of the coin might help you decide, and with all the info you need first.. I spend half my time looking for something to do or a way to have human contact through out the days just not to go over the deep end. And disability does usually = poverty.

I've been on disability since 2003 and it has been the best thing for me to do. As I get older, I've noticed that my Bipolar gets worse, not better. The stress of life alone gets me in a bad place - throwing work in there makes it SO much worse. Take heart - if you can go through the process, you won't regret it. I made it through the process in 6 months- never got denied once. It's worth looking into...

well thanks for all the insight y'all.

Not sure what I want to do. I have other things, mainly a pretty gnarly back problem, and it hurts right now as I just got off work and had to lie down for a bit.. I even had to take my belt off cause it was restricting.

Sitting and standing for long periods of time is almost impossible at times. I have to lie down, even if it's at work, on a piece of cardboard.

I may try to tough it out, I got this far.. although I'm not sure how. Probably all my charm.

I do have a strong work ethic, and I like working, but not when it's painful, and not if I get stressed out. But I try to do everything really good so bosses don't need to talk to me. As of this week, I am working completely by myself in the machine shop, then I start hearing weird noises and seeing crap. It's creepy in there by myself! haha

well, we'll see what happens. I definitely need more of a challenge, and I'm gonna talk to the boss man about that, cause I get bored really easy, and learn stuff very quickly, and need to always have a challenge or a goal.

well, take care!

I have decided to apply and hire a lawyer right away. I will apply in June. I am unclear on the issue of SSI - can I apply for SSI while waiting for the SSDI decision?

I think if I lost my career I would probably kill myself, so I personally can't imagine going on disability. Becoming a doctor has been my dream for so long...if I lost that dream, I would never recover from it.

But, I realize that it's probably not healthy to define yourself that much by your career. So, I dunno.

you have an illness that untreated will get worse

That's what I did. It took a while to get the SSI, but it held me until the SSD came thru.