That's rough, I'm sorry that you're going through that. Is there any way you'd be able to work fewer hours without it affecting your insurance eligibility? I hope you begin to feel better.

My situation is somewhat similar. I am an infant caregiver and I work 40 hours per week. I didn't/couldn't take any time off of work after my last (and 5th) concussion because I was already covering for someone else. I also know that if I don't work I'll have no income or health insurance. There is no option to do part time where I work. I also don't feel comfortable telling the people I work with that I've had another concussion because I feel that they won't believe me. I have headaches all day every day and I am exhausted on the weekends. I just deal with it because I really don't have another option.

sadly no, i cant cut back on hours. My hospital is going through a major cutback in anticipation of healthcare reform and we are already overstaffed. If i say i am not well and need to cut back hours, they will most likely let me go since i exhausted my FMLA (leave of absence). Its just such a completely exhausting job, especially going against my sleep-wake cycle (which ive been doing for 8 years now and never had a problem)....but now my body just cant handle it. On my days off, i have been sleeping 12-17 hours completely wiped out. There are so many levels of stress at my job- physical, emotional, and mental stress that i think goes against every theory on what to avoid to get better from a concussion. I think if i had a normal job, and went back in slow short stints like everyone else has described, i might have an easier recovery. Nursing is my life though.

I never stopped working. I have my own web development business. I hit my head on a Friday and worked as usual on Monday. I really shouldn't have. I really don't know when to quit. I was SUPER slow and who knows really what kind of mistakes I made those days. I'm surprised I even knew who I was. Work was very difficult for the first month. Very difficult. I could barely speak.

Almost. Hopefully you could elect short and long term disability from a private insurance carrier when you hired onto your job. In the mean time a payroll deduction is taken (mandatory) for SSI. If all goes well you never use it, good for you, very good for them.This is reassuring until you need it. You file on the private carrier and hopefully they pay. Then you usually spend a couple of years (usually 2) trying to get Federal SSI (disability) while the private insurance pays you (all provided your doctor will agree to your incapacity), SSI/SSD will usually deny benefits which involves turn downs, appeals, etc. In the mean time the insurance company you paid all those years harrasses you, denies getting information, wants more information, calls and tries to get you to say something they can use to deny benefits, etc. If that isn't good enough they send someone to "tail" you and take photos of you going to the grocery, walking, spending time with family, etc and claim you aren't disabled and cut you off. (I have to say this doesn't happen to everyone, but what if you are the one.) If denied due to this the insurance company is the one you have to appeal to and they make the decision (sounds fair to them, can probably thank our politicians and contributions). I'm terrified all the time, afraid to even take out trash.....google this subject, its amazing.
Mike

Probably not. There are food stamps. My answer as a responsible citizen however, is a gut reaction of yes, but I hope it's not the real answer. I've been wondering about this lately as I've lost some of the zest I used to have to work. It's not like me at all. I was an extremely driven person. Now I just really would like to take at LEAST a year off and just stay in a funk by myself in a cave.

Trust me, it's not fun but what else do you do when you can't function enough to even get to work some days and the others you are so dizzy and vomitting you just have to lay down. It was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. It's not just work that goes it's a lot of the other things that made you who you are that go as well.
Mike

nightnurse....if you asked to cut back hours and got laid off couldnt you collect unemployment??

I'm thinking I might want to go hang out at the salon for a few hours a few days a week and see how I do. Maybe next week

klaus,
In regards to you earlier question. Actually, the payroll deduction is for Social Security Retirement benefits that are not available until 62 years old. Social Security administered Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is paid out to those with no income or assets to use to try to pay the bills. It is basically a welfare payment. It comes with Medicaid indigent medical benefits. Social Security Disability Income can be applied for at 12 months after disability caused unemployment. It is based on qualifying wages over the previous years and comes with Medicare medical benefits that are usually limited to the retired and over 65 group.

I have too much in assets to qualify for SSI so I exhausted all my savings and investments and had to sell assets while waiting for my SSDI application to get approved. The back pay I received upon approval was less than half the value of the assets I had to liquidate.

Some can get it quickly. Others, like me, will need to reapply and it may take 3 years before getting approved on the third application through a hearing. I should have been approved after my second application but the reviewer did not knwo math and calculated that I was still making too much income to qualify.

Some states like California have a mandatory State Disability Insurance system paid with payroll deductions. It pays based on the amount of contributions paid in.

Some employers have private disability insurance, both short term and sometimes long term. It can be problematic to get these benefits as 4mikee said.

Disability for those of us with a head injury needs to be properly supported with cognitive. memory and other testing since most of us are completely ambulatory. We can physically take out the trash but can't remember which day to take out the trash.

We are the invisible wounded.

im afraid if i go back out of work...i would essentially have nothing to live for and would enter further into a crazy depression that i wouldnt be able to get myself out of. Working right now is at least validating my worth and making me feel like a productive member of society. I was out earlier this year with a back injury for 3 months, and then after being back for 1 month, i had the TBI and out 3 and a half months. Over 6 months this year I have been out of work and i cant imagine going back out again and being that bored out of my mind again. I think working is keeping me sane in a way, even if it is producing awful painful symptoms and utter exhaustion. I think i also am just wishing it will magically get better somehow. Before i returned to work 2 months ago, i felt great. Cant believe how much worse ive gotten since then. such a nasty vicious cycle!!! grrrrrrrr