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.
Thanks for all the comments and points of view. I can tell some people didn't read the entire post. That's fine but if you're going to attack me, at least read the post, I explicitly said I'm not talking about SSI/SSDI etc, I'm talking about SNAP, WIC, TANF type stuff. I'm not interesting in committing some sort of fraud here. I just wanted to know if when the time comes to sign up for WIC or TANF if I'm on interferon ("chemotherapy") will they take that into account or consider that I should be working when they do their formulas for eligibility.
Anyway that's out of the way.
I'm very scared about undergoing treatment and my understanding was most people are unable to work while doing it. My job (veyr part-time for now due to school) is a 12-hour shift on my feet the whole time and under normal conditions I feel like I've been beat up by a baseball bat by the end of a shift. I feel bad that my wife has to be the breadwinner while I'm in school (the nature of my schooling is so demanding, most people are unable to work while doing it, especially here near the end), the whole point of my going back to school was so that I could have a good job while she stayed home later on with the children or maybe went back to school herself. Having her continue to be breadwinner, have a baby, insure us all, while I do treatment is just too much and makes me feel awful. That's asking too much of her, despite that she's insistent that I should do treatment as soon as school is over.
Because of incoming menopause baby is priority one, we know that for one year after completing treatment one is not supposed to have a child (father or mother) which will be well out of our time frame of, according to the fertility doc, one year (and that was 3 months ago).
Since my liver damage is not bad so far, I can put it off -- those future quad oral therapies that do not use interferon look promising and I wonder if it's possible to work while on those.
My wife WANTS me to get treatment ASAP, knowing earlier treatment has better results. But maybe I should put it off for now, just work on getting a job so she can stay home with baby for as long as she wants. I'm hoping if I get a job at a large place with group insurance they won't screen for pre-existing conditions; the state I live in now they don't. We're planning on moving to North Carolina after school and I don't know what their employer-provided insurance is like. Of course, if I have to stop working for a year, I'll lose my insurance anyway! Even with insurance the meds are expensive.
I'll talk to my doc about it, but considering I got some time left on this liver, I'm now thinking of pushing tx off way into the future. I don't think there's any way to do this now, with a (maybe) new baby, and we already live paycheck to paycheck.
Actually calling my insurance company now and they're telling me that Pegasys, Ribavarin, and telapravir are all not covered medications under my insuance (Even though I got a different answer from a different rep last week, she just couldn't answer all my questions and said to call back and speak to the specialty meds department). Yet when I bring up the abridged formulary for my ins company online, it says Pegasys IS covered.
Christ, what a mess, now they're telling me Ribavarin and Incivek are covered, except Pegasys would fall under medical coverage so she can't answer than one. Weird. Anyway, I see why people have trouble paying for tx ($17,000 retail she said for the Invcek). Wow, spoke to the other group, Pegasys is covered 100% by my current plan.
While I'd love to HepC free before starting work, it seems like I'm trying to do too much at once, and I think I'll put treatment off for now (after consulting with MD of course.) I appreciate everyone's input. At least now I know being on interferon tx is not considered any form of disability. Which seems odd considering, as someone mentioned, it's chemotherapy. Not just a "form" of chemotherapy it literally is chemotherapy by medical definitions. Is the person getting chemo for hairy cell leukemia or melanoma and unable to work as a result of toxic drug side effects able to get government assistance? Or is it just "suck it up and back to work" for them too?
Anyway that's out of the way.
I'm very scared about undergoing treatment and my understanding was most people are unable to work while doing it. My job (veyr part-time for now due to school) is a 12-hour shift on my feet the whole time and under normal conditions I feel like I've been beat up by a baseball bat by the end of a shift. I feel bad that my wife has to be the breadwinner while I'm in school (the nature of my schooling is so demanding, most people are unable to work while doing it, especially here near the end), the whole point of my going back to school was so that I could have a good job while she stayed home later on with the children or maybe went back to school herself. Having her continue to be breadwinner, have a baby, insure us all, while I do treatment is just too much and makes me feel awful. That's asking too much of her, despite that she's insistent that I should do treatment as soon as school is over.
Because of incoming menopause baby is priority one, we know that for one year after completing treatment one is not supposed to have a child (father or mother) which will be well out of our time frame of, according to the fertility doc, one year (and that was 3 months ago).
Since my liver damage is not bad so far, I can put it off -- those future quad oral therapies that do not use interferon look promising and I wonder if it's possible to work while on those.
My wife WANTS me to get treatment ASAP, knowing earlier treatment has better results. But maybe I should put it off for now, just work on getting a job so she can stay home with baby for as long as she wants. I'm hoping if I get a job at a large place with group insurance they won't screen for pre-existing conditions; the state I live in now they don't. We're planning on moving to North Carolina after school and I don't know what their employer-provided insurance is like. Of course, if I have to stop working for a year, I'll lose my insurance anyway! Even with insurance the meds are expensive.
I'll talk to my doc about it, but considering I got some time left on this liver, I'm now thinking of pushing tx off way into the future. I don't think there's any way to do this now, with a (maybe) new baby, and we already live paycheck to paycheck.
Actually calling my insurance company now and they're telling me that Pegasys, Ribavarin, and telapravir are all not covered medications under my insuance (Even though I got a different answer from a different rep last week, she just couldn't answer all my questions and said to call back and speak to the specialty meds department). Yet when I bring up the abridged formulary for my ins company online, it says Pegasys IS covered.
Christ, what a mess, now they're telling me Ribavarin and Incivek are covered, except Pegasys would fall under medical coverage so she can't answer than one. Weird. Anyway, I see why people have trouble paying for tx ($17,000 retail she said for the Invcek). Wow, spoke to the other group, Pegasys is covered 100% by my current plan.
While I'd love to HepC free before starting work, it seems like I'm trying to do too much at once, and I think I'll put treatment off for now (after consulting with MD of course.) I appreciate everyone's input. At least now I know being on interferon tx is not considered any form of disability. Which seems odd considering, as someone mentioned, it's chemotherapy. Not just a "form" of chemotherapy it literally is chemotherapy by medical definitions. Is the person getting chemo for hairy cell leukemia or melanoma and unable to work as a result of toxic drug side effects able to get government assistance? Or is it just "suck it up and back to work" for them too?
My advice, have the baby and defer your treatment until gentler treatments come along, In the meantime, be as kind to your liver as possible and not 'mostly good'
I am a 3x relapser (had to quit my last treatment due to low platelets) and worked full-time 12 hour rotating shifts that can be hard even for healthy people. Sometimes I used to wonder if I pushed myself too hard and may have gotten better results if I would have taken it easier.
I am working out some issues with my cirrhosis (low platelets and varices) before starting on my 4th Tx with Incivek. I am going on temporary state disability at least for the 12 weeks of Incivek, then I won't have to worry about 'what if'.
In CA, we pay for our own disability through SDI (State Disability Insurance) taxes so if I need it, I have no problem using it. It is not related to Social Security disability in anyway. If I feel I can't work for whatever reason, then I won't.
There is a stigma attached to Hep C and I have no problem with anyone who wants to conceal it . I myself am not like that, but that is ME and no one else (people tell me 'dude TMI' all the time). One definition of chemotherapy is: the use of chemical agents to treat or control disease, which is what the standard Tx is now,so you can tell people you are on chemo and see how different the reaction is.
My wife and I wanted to have a child soon as she was over forty and we had to wait a year after the 1st treatment to even try. We went through three miscarriages and even had sperm frozen in case I had to go on Tx, but by the Grace of God it happened naturally (see my photos). I do miss the mandatory sex that we HAD to have, but I would do anything for my wife :o) H My son truly is a blessing from God and I think I will be around a little longer than I would have been had we not had him. Sometimes you can wait for the perfect time to have a baby, but sometimes you just gotta go for it. I believe that God will provide what you need.
Good luck and keep us updated!
Peace Out, Chris
I am a 3x relapser (had to quit my last treatment due to low platelets) and worked full-time 12 hour rotating shifts that can be hard even for healthy people. Sometimes I used to wonder if I pushed myself too hard and may have gotten better results if I would have taken it easier.
I am working out some issues with my cirrhosis (low platelets and varices) before starting on my 4th Tx with Incivek. I am going on temporary state disability at least for the 12 weeks of Incivek, then I won't have to worry about 'what if'.
In CA, we pay for our own disability through SDI (State Disability Insurance) taxes so if I need it, I have no problem using it. It is not related to Social Security disability in anyway. If I feel I can't work for whatever reason, then I won't.
There is a stigma attached to Hep C and I have no problem with anyone who wants to conceal it . I myself am not like that, but that is ME and no one else (people tell me 'dude TMI' all the time). One definition of chemotherapy is: the use of chemical agents to treat or control disease, which is what the standard Tx is now,so you can tell people you are on chemo and see how different the reaction is.
My wife and I wanted to have a child soon as she was over forty and we had to wait a year after the 1st treatment to even try. We went through three miscarriages and even had sperm frozen in case I had to go on Tx, but by the Grace of God it happened naturally (see my photos). I do miss the mandatory sex that we HAD to have, but I would do anything for my wife :o) H My son truly is a blessing from God and I think I will be around a little longer than I would have been had we not had him. Sometimes you can wait for the perfect time to have a baby, but sometimes you just gotta go for it. I believe that God will provide what you need.
Good luck and keep us updated!
Peace Out, Chris
Thanks for checking all the posts and your follow up.
Cheers!
Hector
Cheers!
Hector
Hi again -
We figured this out, and all posts were restored earlier, so it should be all good.
Emily
We figured this out, and all posts were restored earlier, so it should be all good.
Emily
Hey guys -
We aren't seeing any posts that have been deleted, but will check it out if you think some are missing.
We also wanted to add that any treatment decisions should be made in conjunction with your doctor based on your own specific test results, plans, etc. It's great to get information from our wonderful members, but please consider all options with your doctor.
Emily
We aren't seeing any posts that have been deleted, but will check it out if you think some are missing.
We also wanted to add that any treatment decisions should be made in conjunction with your doctor based on your own specific test results, plans, etc. It's great to get information from our wonderful members, but please consider all options with your doctor.
Emily
Please accept my sincerest apologies that I jumped to conclusions and judged you.
In my defense (if there is one), I guess I look at people who struggle to work through treatment to pay their living expenses, afford their meds and take care of their family responsibilities without looking for taxpayer assistance. I've been on a raging rant of late regarding public spending including sky rocketing student loans that are practically impossible to repay and I guess I just personalized it to your situation.
One comment on your specific concerns: I would think long and hard about being on treatment and caring for an infant. It is probably less demanding to go to a work......just saying.
Whatever your decision, I hope you have a good outcome.
In my defense (if there is one), I guess I look at people who struggle to work through treatment to pay their living expenses, afford their meds and take care of their family responsibilities without looking for taxpayer assistance. I've been on a raging rant of late regarding public spending including sky rocketing student loans that are practically impossible to repay and I guess I just personalized it to your situation.
One comment on your specific concerns: I would think long and hard about being on treatment and caring for an infant. It is probably less demanding to go to a work......just saying.
Whatever your decision, I hope you have a good outcome.
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