Anyone with a job or disability?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

I've been out of work since October 2009. I had a seizure in the shower and got a concussion and was told to stop. After then I've been sitting at home walking around in a getting worse state. Memory has been going, totally forgot my anniversary, sons birthday, even my own. I can't write, read, play games, and the computer is a pain to use. It's not safe for me to be alone, plus the dizziness and tiredness, talking out of the conversation forgetting what I was even talking about mid-sentence. Many wrong answers to questions. Needless to say there's no way I'm going back to work. I've just applied to ODSP (Ontario Disability) and hope all that is enough to qualify.
 
Thanks for the link Lou,i see what you mean a bit better now,looking back i think it was my doctor i asked,mainley because i was getting so much static from the DSS about not working,due to epilepsy,we all know if you put down that your epileptic on a job application your wasting your money on the stamp.
So i dont think i got that far into the process,pretty lame how everyone gets burned first time round,thats pretty low,oh well thanks again.
 
I want to teach! I have volunteered long enough where the school district has offerred me a job as a para. Im trying to get my seizures all fixed up and then I'm going back to school again. I hate ssi. Although I am grateful.
 
i have had partial complex seizures since age 12. not only have i worked, but along the way have had many breakthrough siezures that i have had to deal with. i would be devestated if my life could not be normal. my normal. working, earning money and paying my own way in life. i do get really depressed and hate having epilepsy but going on disability has not ever crossed really been an option for me and my pride.

my neurologist told me that usually the only people that get disabiity are those who medicatons do not work for and have seizures daily. becuase the seizures are random it would be hard to prove disability. some days yes i am when i would have one and others no because i don't.

i i lost my job i'd find some other type of work to do. so muchfor getting my masters degree. or thank god i got my masters degree.
 
Unfortunately for me since having the grand mal in 2007, i've been lucky enough to get disability. I'm interested to see if there's more of you working or has disability.

Now besides disability i've got an online job making a little amount of money! :)
 
I have never lied on my dissability. SSI and medicaid. My doctors got me on it. And I do volunteer work at the schools. And my son has it to.
 
Here is my story so far:

Dx a year ago with complex partials. Have been on 3 meds so far but have never been sz free for longer than 9 days. (That was only once. 7 days another time.) Typically I have 1-3 complex partials per day. Sometimes more, randomly--yesterday was 5, just for example.

I was working part time as an editor when dx'd. Struggled with it a couple months, took a 2-month leave, came back and tried again. I just couldn't do it. Cognitive problems, major exhaustion, you guys know how it is. I left the job in April.

I'm very, very lucky to have a spouse who helped me cover my financial obligations. We agreed I would try to go back to school via a flexible/distance program, in the hope that my szs would be under control soon. This was a mistake; I did it out of longing for a career, and depression over what was happening to me. My szs have stayed as bad as ever and I cannot focus enough to do consistent schoolwork. The stress was making my szs much worse, too. So I have now pretty much washed out of school, though I will continue trying to do a class here and there if I can.

Meanwhile, my Social Security disability just got approved (!!!) on the first try. I am amazed and grateful. Here is why I think it got approved:

1. My dx was based on positive EEG along with symptoms. I have read that SS is less inclined to approve szs with normal EEG, even though they are just as horrible.

2. Supportive docs.

3. Documented use of 3 meds at mid-to-high end of safe ranges. Doc did not do blood work on this, though. I guess SS decided to believe that I was really taking the pills (I was!).

4. Very detailed report of sz experiences from me and my hubby.

5. I have other conditions--diabetes, depression, gastro stuff--that may have also been considered. I requested that SS consider my medical situation as a whole. I don't know how important this was, though.

Receiving SS means so much for me. It's not a lot of money, but it reduces my dependence on my husband and greatly lowers his stress. Reading other people's stories about the struggle to get disability, I almost feel guilty. I wish that we could all receive what it obviously a needed and deserved benefit.
 
Nice to hear you stories. I had a heart attack in 2008. I got myself back to work within 2 months. Sometimes work was too much for me- people expected me to work and took my kind and willing nature for granted. I had to go sick sometimes and in the end I got the sack having worked tor the NHS as a carer for over 20years! I have been on benefits since july 2009. Now the Department of Work and Pensions are saying that I should be looking to go back to work- it's pressure I could do without at this time in my life. I tried to get disability allowance but they are very stricked at the moment. I don't feel I could cope with work at the moment. I'm trying to keep calm about it- see how things develope :)
 
Recently got a job delivering sandwiches on my bicycle, but I was asked by several people not to take it and stay on disability. My disability is currently being garnished to less than 40% percent from an attempt to be nice to the custodial parent and the child more than five years ago.
 
It looks like I could be about to lose my job due to my epilepsy. I've struggled and battled and held onto it for grim life but my area manager has said to me that I should hand my resignation in. They're even moving me to a place which they know is too far away to get a taxi or walk and is not on a bus route, presumably in the hope that I'll finally quit. They've been considering if they can legally let me go (fire me) for health reasons and if they have enough grounds to do so.

At this point I'm wondering if the stress is worth it. My seizures along with side effects from meds are currently the worst they've ever been and I'm finding it hard to keep going to work. Seems to me like they know this and are trying to give me an extra little push towards quitting. It's working.
 
Hi-ya loopy lou! I got sacked on health grounds but now officialdom say I should get a job!!!!
 
Nicholas - knowing the DWP over here, that doesn't surprise me! At this point I'm wondering if I'd be better off on the brew (the dole). It's more money than my wages and is get to go to college for free. At least a voluntary job would keep me busy!

Gah, they have me over a barrel.
 
I'd like to do something voluntary when up to it. new rules in the uk mean you try for 3 jobs and you must take one if offered or your money is stopped. I'd like to upgrade my computer skills at college. Guess we should be a little possitive :)
 
I figure that if I'm going to end up jobless I may as well use the time to improve my skills so I can get a better job. I used to do vet science and animal management but over the last year or so I've suddenly become allergic to cats and I could hardly avoid working with them if I went into animal care again. I'm thinking admin. 9-5? Yes please.
 
Back
Top Bottom