How do we earn a living through this?
 

I am curious to know what others have experienced with trying to earn a living through this?

I tried to go back to work half-time after 4 months of recovery. 7 months later I realized working was making things worse, so now I am fully out of work again. I realize now that I may not be able to return to my previous job - I ran a farmer training program and an educational farm for a non-profit land conservancy. I loved my job, but it is both physically and mentally demanding, so I'm trying to accept the fact that I may not be able to return to it.

Right now I am struggling with figuring out what type of work I can do. How do we figure this out? Would neruopsych testing help with this?

How do we earn a living though when we are trying to rest and allow our bodies to heal? Do we need to try and claim disability? But then how do we "prove" disability?

I have a friend that had a severe TBI with brain damage that shows up on scans. He receives disability benefits and does not have to work. Can this apply to PCS patients?

Thank you and take care.

Could you productize your training--Turn your training into Dvds?

Some of us are receiving Social Security Disability Income. It is not great but it helps. Is there a lower stress job at the farm ? Can you put together a slower process ?

You can go online and start an SSDI application. The key problem we have is maintaining pace and persistence. That means we can not work at the normal work pace and may need to take breaks frequently to recharge.

I know a woman who suffered a brain injury who needs to take complete breaks from all stimulation during the day. That means, no sight, no sound, no thinking about tasks that need to be done, etc. Many of us benefit from these breaks. Having a quiet dark room with a comfy chair can be beneficial.

If you can get approved for SSDI, you can still work part time and make up to $1090 per month without impacting your SSDI benefits.

If you can do something related to farming, that's great! You're an expert at it and it'd be your best bet to stick with it somehow. Switching careers would not be good. Like Mark asked, is there something around the farm you could do?

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I am hoping that my organization will be willing to consider a less demanding job for me within the farm program. We've already pretty much given up on the fact that I will be able to go back to being the program director.

Right now I am on full medical leave and not sure how much longer I will need to do that. I spent the 7 prior months trying to struggle through working half-time and feel like I wasted precious recovery time. Can I make up for it now by fully resting, or is it too late to do that?

I guess right now I am struggling to figure out when I should try to return to working again. What has others experience been with trying to return to work? Right now I am one year post accident with dizziness and fatigue being my biggest issues still.

Thanks Mark. Your comment about pace and persistence sounds very familiar to me. I feel like I am lucky and have retained a lot of my cognitive skills, but I do not last anywhere near as long as I used to be able to. I can barely handle 4 hours of brain use a day. so that is why I am wondering how I can earn a living if that continues.

Are you familiar with applying for SSDI? What do they ask for in the way of "proof" that you need disability?

Thank you and take care.

SSDI will likely want to see a NeuroPsych Assessment plus your medical records. They will consider if there is other work you can do. Do you have a Vocational Rehab Agency that can do an assessment ?

Many use SSDI attorneys or agents. They get paid 25% of your back pay so there is no out of pocket.

You can always rest to get improvements. What you want to do is simple activities that do not cause a return of symptoms. In most cases, the subject has a baseline of PCS symptoms (head aches, sensitivity to sound and light, etc) and when overdoing it, will manifest a new or increasing set of symptoms (cognitive crash, mental fatigue, outbursts, etc). Managing your activities to stay at the baseline without any increases is the best way to help with recovery.