Aa
Does being on interferon count as a disability?
Right now I'm going to school, going to graduate in May. I have 1a and got it in 2004 (I recall the lapse in judgement clearly, and had just tested negative a few months before; a few months after I was +)
I went and saw a respect GE in the area. My ALT/AST have been slightly elevated, less than 1.5X normal at most, sometimes just a few, since then. I I have genotype 1a. I told him I don't want to do SOC available at the time, but would monitor. I check Alt/AST every 6 months and viral load plus a few other things. VL has varied from less than 100,00 to almost a million in these past years. Once a year I do an US. It generally looks fine, liver slightly enlarged. I biopsy ever 5 years, just had one done. Not sure about the details but Ithink stage 0 but with certain abnormal cells evident. I understand the younger (34) and healthier you are, and the least progressed, the better chance of SVR (would use triple now OF COURSE). I have no symptoms I'm aware of and I don't drink. The schooling I'm doing is intense so I've only worked off and on one day a week. My wife is the breadwinner and she doesn't make much, especiallly since my ins premiums (even on an employer group plan with no pre-existing check) are almost $500 a month. I've been taking student loans to help us survive.
Once I grad though they come due and with this job market i probably won't find work for a while. I'm going into healthcare, so it'd be nice to ideally have the Hep C gone before I start work, plus I don't know if I'll be unable to get insurance; right now at least I'm covered. I think Hep C is protected class under ADA, and due to HIPPA I don't think a future employer would be allowed to run blooadwork on me before hiring (but going into healthcare maybe they can). At minimum if I don't get into a large copmany with group ins I probably won't have insurace (until 2014, when the no-pre-existing clause of the Affordable Care Act kicks in.
I can probably defer the student loans, but from what I hear I probably won't be able to work while doing treatment (even if I found a job). So we're thinking of going ahead and doiing treatment right after I grad. Get it out of the way and if anyone asks why I wasn't working in that 6mo to 1yr I blame the economy.
Complicating things, my wife is going into early menopause so we're trying to get pregnant now. Since you have to wait a year after interferon to have a child, I don't think we'll have time to wait.
So the plan is I stay home with baby, doing treatment, while she goes back to work. She doesn't make much plus we live in the most expensive state in the naiton. I think her income just falls over the line for food stamps. But if I'm "disabled" we should qualify. Also probably for WIC and TANF (which I know nothing about)
The other optioni is to just put off treatment longer, but it'll probably be harder to take a year off later after I've got a career, we've bought a houseand I can't take a year off work cause I'll lose my insurande etc.
Does anyone know about this? I'm not talking about SSDI or anything, just the state stuff to help with food.
I went and saw a respect GE in the area. My ALT/AST have been slightly elevated, less than 1.5X normal at most, sometimes just a few, since then. I I have genotype 1a. I told him I don't want to do SOC available at the time, but would monitor. I check Alt/AST every 6 months and viral load plus a few other things. VL has varied from less than 100,00 to almost a million in these past years. Once a year I do an US. It generally looks fine, liver slightly enlarged. I biopsy ever 5 years, just had one done. Not sure about the details but Ithink stage 0 but with certain abnormal cells evident. I understand the younger (34) and healthier you are, and the least progressed, the better chance of SVR (would use triple now OF COURSE). I have no symptoms I'm aware of and I don't drink. The schooling I'm doing is intense so I've only worked off and on one day a week. My wife is the breadwinner and she doesn't make much, especiallly since my ins premiums (even on an employer group plan with no pre-existing check) are almost $500 a month. I've been taking student loans to help us survive.
Once I grad though they come due and with this job market i probably won't find work for a while. I'm going into healthcare, so it'd be nice to ideally have the Hep C gone before I start work, plus I don't know if I'll be unable to get insurance; right now at least I'm covered. I think Hep C is protected class under ADA, and due to HIPPA I don't think a future employer would be allowed to run blooadwork on me before hiring (but going into healthcare maybe they can). At minimum if I don't get into a large copmany with group ins I probably won't have insurace (until 2014, when the no-pre-existing clause of the Affordable Care Act kicks in.
I can probably defer the student loans, but from what I hear I probably won't be able to work while doing treatment (even if I found a job). So we're thinking of going ahead and doiing treatment right after I grad. Get it out of the way and if anyone asks why I wasn't working in that 6mo to 1yr I blame the economy.
Complicating things, my wife is going into early menopause so we're trying to get pregnant now. Since you have to wait a year after interferon to have a child, I don't think we'll have time to wait.
So the plan is I stay home with baby, doing treatment, while she goes back to work. She doesn't make much plus we live in the most expensive state in the naiton. I think her income just falls over the line for food stamps. But if I'm "disabled" we should qualify. Also probably for WIC and TANF (which I know nothing about)
The other optioni is to just put off treatment longer, but it'll probably be harder to take a year off later after I've got a career, we've bought a houseand I can't take a year off work cause I'll lose my insurande etc.
Does anyone know about this? I'm not talking about SSDI or anything, just the state stuff to help with food.
Heck I'm at work and didn't even take my Ambien yet and had a typo ;)
TJ Most of us have been there...........and even in worse shape.......we get it dn't be embarrassed ♥
Sorry I am a little embarrassed by my last post I was almost sleep writing. I was in terrible pain though. I'm lucky I did take the whole bottle of sleep meds. Please excuse the crazy rant and weird typos.
PS please excuse my numerous typos. I'm typing in pain on an iPod (my computer crashed tonight) without my glasses after taking two Ambien. Not a good combo.
PS please excuse my numerous typos. I'm typing in pain on an iPod (my computer crashed tonight) without my glasses after taking two Ambien. Not a good combo.
I am one of those rare ppl that had really bad side effects to the meds. The dr was a little nervous about me being on interferon and RIBA again because of last time. I did work last time but I missed a lot of time because I was sick some ppl get worse than others. I was one of them. I couldnt stay awake and my body hurt so much I was in tears. That may work out in some work places but not all. I agree that ghostly just wants to "work the system but that doesn't mean that some of us don't get sick enough that we should be vonnsidered for some assistance. I quit my job this time because I was miserably sick everyday. I plan to call my Dr tomorrow about the pain I'm in even now. I took two ambein because I'm in so much pain right now and just need relief. If you are willing to do that because of pain and you really don't want to wake up, IMHO you should be considered disabled. Howevè, even under those circumstances I am no trying to get any government help. As I said i hhink this guy may have had fraud in mind but I want ppl to know there ARE some very sick ppl out here. Fir real. And you can just dismiss us or make us a part of a problem but it only makes us feel worse because you make us feel we are just whimpy or making stuff up. Thanks for listening
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