Lyme Challenges Online Support Group

I applied for disability and have been turned down, I am going to appeal. Can anyone give me any suggestions. When i first applied I contacted my congressmen but i really don't know if that will help or not. I went from 70,000 a year to nothing and thank god for my wife but now things are worse and she wants a divorce and i will be left with nothing.

I just got approved for disability in MN. I have other issues besides Lyme. It took me 2-1/2 years. You usually get denied twice, then you need to find a lawyer and go to court. In MN, the lawyers get paid nothing if you lose, but will take 1/4 of your backpay if you win. Good luck.

The only person who can help you justify a disability claim is your doctor. The person treating your lyme case. They alone have the data that the claim reviewers will consider. The medical facts.

Thank you for your responce , unfortunately what I am running into in North Carolina is that although my doctor will tell me to my face that I'm not going to get better and my condition is from the lyme he doesn't want to put it on paper because he is afraid of some sort of reprocution from the medical community in North Carolina. It was all I could do just to get him to treat me in the first place, I truelly believe that had my regular family doctor would have just tested me when I asked for it initially that I may have indeed or at least had a much better chance of the original antibiotics working. But when I first went to the doctor I was told that unless I had been traveling there was no way I could have lyme because we don't have lyme in North Carolina. Needless to say I wasn't tested or treated when I first got sick and now it's to late. After a lot of research on my own I found out that unlike what the CDC says (20 cases including mine) is more like 20,000. I have found over 20 cases within a half mile of my house. I am now homeless and have been surving by selling off what assets I have left. I honestly don't know how much longer I will be able to continue this fight, but without money, a home, transportation, etc, etc. Just gathering the things I need for my court date have become next to impossible.

Race, I to was told we don't have Lyme in California back in 2000. I missed being cured in the first stage of infection because doctors refused to listen to me.

I went in in 5 times to my PC DR. and asked every time if it could be Lyme. They were told misinformation by the CDC and the doctors writing their protocal guidelines.

A vast distortion of the truth and facts is being carried out by the people supposed to insure our safety and welfare medically. Greed seems to control their actions.

I too have become disabled by this disease and have run out of resources and am facing homelessness. I want too acknowledge your fighting spirit. Good for you!

They can ignore us, lie to us, take away everything we have, but they don't get to defeat our spirit. Stay strong brother and may you win your disability. May we both.

There are some Lyme organizations that I belive do some financial help if one is eligible,,,look up a naitonal Lymes disease organization and look up yor state,,,maybe you need another LLMD or maybe you could qualify for disability if not for Lyme for whatever symptom that lyme is causing like fibromialgia,,,multiple sclerosis,,,dementia,,,parkinsons,,etc..there could be a symptom that could be used as a diagnosis...just trying to help here...sorry for your bad jorney..

Have you guys watched that famous movie "under our skin" ? It talks about all the politics involved in this Lyme disease protocol BS....They also have some encouraging stories,,,,a good LLMD is also the key... Best of luck..

Thank you very much to all of you. Sometimes I feel so pathetic writing about all of my problems when I know I'm far from the only one . It does seem to help me get through I guess by getting things off my chest and knowing that there are people out there who care. I spent the first thanksgiving in 18 years without my daughter and the first one in 21 without my wife. I'm still alive but sometimes I really don't feel like it. I havnt given up although my resources are just about completely depleted. I'm pretty much living in my car bouncing from one place to the next. Of course now even though I have never missed a payment in almost five years , and with only a handful of payments left ,now I'm two months behind and the bank wants the car . Everything is day by day and its so hard to grasp how it is so hard to get something I have been paying for almost all my life(disability). They sit and watch as people lose everything , and by the time we do get it ,if we get it,it's too late. All has been lost.

Thank you very much to all of you. Sometimes I feel so pathetic writing about all of my problems when I know I'm far from the only one . It does seem to help me get through I guess by getting things off my chest and knowing that there are people out there who care. I spent the first thanksgiving in 18 years without my daughter and the first one in 21 without my wife. I'm still alive but sometimes I really don't feel like it. I havnt given up although my resources are just about completely depleted. I'm pretty much living in my car bouncing from one place to the next. Of course now even though I have never missed a payment in almost five years , and with only a handful of payments left ,now I'm two months behind and the bank wants the car . Everything is day by day and its so hard to grasp how it is so hard to get something I have been paying for almost all my life(disability). They sit and watch as people lose everything , and by the time we do get it ,if we get it,it's too late. All has been lost.

All that was familiar can be lost like someone that experiences a fire and loses everything. It isn't the end only a really tough place to be. Turning towards people that want to help and care, is keeping me from sinking into deep depression. There are alot of organizations from churches, city, county and state programs to charity organizations that have directives to help people in need. Veterans programs and social services are some of many places to check. I'm in the process of doing this now and it can be tiring but worth it. We are not our posessions so, painful as loss and change can be, we can survive it. Hope we all find the help we need to survive and fight Lyme.

Post edited by: lymeie, at: 11/26/2012 07:41 PM