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So…. I’m only asking here because I have no idea how to even begin this process or if I will even be successful. I don’t have the money to be hiring a lawyer and 60% of claims are denied so I’m totally at a loss of what steps to take.
So, story time. About 3 years ago I received a debilitating back injury while shoveling snow. I was trying to get to work, but the car was buried in like 2 feet of fluffy snow with 6 inches of heavy slush at the bottom. I tried to do a big shovel full and went down like a ton of bricks and had to be dragged back into the house because I couldn’t move. I was bed ridden for almost 2 weeks. I went to the emergency room and they gave me muscle relaxers and pain pills but there was nothing they could really do and told me just to rest, rotate ice and heat etc. the usual. Well… it has NEVER been right since. I have been plagued with “flare ups” here and there that cause me severe pain for 2 days at a minimum and subsiding after about 5 to 7 days in total allowing me back to the point I can go about my regular activity again. I’ve never gotten it checked out because even though it’s terrible, it was not something that prevented me from working to the point I couldn’t utilize my sick time from my job and be covered and besides that I’ve been told there’s not much that can be done for back pain anyway.
Well… I don’t know WHAT I did but I’ve been in agony for the past 3 and a half weeks. After about 10 days or so in, I caved and went to a chiropractor. I have been there 6 times now in the past 2 weeks and I am still showing zero improvement. I am back to work, but strictly on desk duty. Even so though, the 45 minute drive is horrible because every bump I hit, turn I make, and short stop I have to break in traffic sends a jolt of excruciating tooth clenching pain through my entire body. It takes me 5 minutes to crawl out of my car once I’m parked and another 10 minutes to hobble across the parking lot with a cane to get to said desk and once I am there I want to literally cry from the journey getting there. My job was being accommodating but wanted a note to excuse me from regular duties. The chiro gave me a note for no lifting (since I’m usually required to pull and restock cabinets weighing up to 80 lbs. on a daily basis) and this spurred a whole new world of issues.
We don’t have an HR department anymore, now it is all outsourced. So when I presented the note to my manager I was told I had to then fax it to an outside company called Sedgewick. Well, they call me the same day and according to them no lifting does not work with my job description and they wanted me to take a leave of short term disability from work starting immediately. This all seemed well and good for a moment, except upon asking further questions I don’t get paid unless I get a doctor to submit information about my condition on or before July 11th. I already had an appointment with a real actual doctor on July 29th which will end up with the referral needed to see an Orthopedic person I am assuming, but that’s the soonest appointment I could get since I don’t have a primary care physician. I already called and I can’t get a sooner appointment then July 29th. So, I had to cancel the claim because I can’t afford to be out of work and not get paid for the next 5 weeks. So now I am siting here literally trying not to throw up from the pain I am in. Nothing is helping. I was up to 1600mg of ibuprofen and it’s not even taking the edge off so now I’m not taking anything because all it does is make me feel sick to my stomach. I went back to the ER and they gave me prednisone, but that lasted all but 4 days and gone. It did help a little bit but they won’t give another script for it. Ice and heat do nothing. I bought an inversion table and though it provides temporary relief while I am physically using it, that is all it’s doing. Now I’m googling, calling, and begging for a local orthopedic to see me without a referral but so far no luck.
I want to work, but I’m coming to the steady realization that I might not be able to for much longer. Not if this doesn’t get any better and so far, it’s not. The chiropractor called it disc derangement. I haven’t had an MRI done so they can’t say for sure if they are herniated or not at this point, but between 3 to 4 discs are affected according to the X-rays that were taken.
So my next step is trying to look into the possibility of disability… again… absolutely no clue what to do or what is involved. Does anybody have any experience in filing for this kind of stuff? I’m sure I won’t be able to do much until I see a doctor and that doctor says can’t work, but when I am thinking it they’re going to want me to do a bunch of physical therapy or some crap. 6 weeks of this exercise, 6 weeks of that exercise, etc. Still in pain? Lets try another exercise. Not what I want to deal with but I probably won’t be given a choice. I’d much prefer surgery, but because I am not incontinent or losing motor function of my arms or legs it seems surgery is always looked at as a last resort. I wish I were a horse right now because they would just blow my brains out and call it a day. I seriously wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I can’t even pass gas without it causing me to tear up and I am NOT a crier, I am NOT a whiner, and I am NOT a complainer when it comes to pain. I got two teeth pulled without novocane, I’m not a baby but this is horrendous. It feels like the inside of my hips are grinding against my spine when I walk so I have to take these tiny little penguin steps. I can’t bend over, I can’t bend back… even the chiropractor thought I had some of my lower lumbar fused when he gave me my initial examination because they had no movement at all.
I’m 37 and I feel like I’m in the body of an 80 year old. I cried to a half an hour the last night because I just wanted to vacuum my carpet and I can’t. I can’t even put my underwear or my pants on unless I use this stupid little grabby thing my boyfriend bought for me at Wal-Mart. I seriously can’t deal with this.
The only tiny silver lining is I’ve had way more time to work on repairs since all I can do is sit and not move or stand and not move.
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsOof just saw this. Guess ER or quickcare won’t work then. I have never had disability, I did try when I got out of the hospital from the pulmonary emboli and they said there my lungs and heart were frying up. It got denied as I have been told they do 100% of the time the first try. I never retried (don’t have a dr besides a hematologist so why bother) so can’t help there. I do know a retarded guy who had to fight for years to get it and he can’t do anything… but I’ve also known people with pretty minor issues which aren’t impairing them who have been able to get it. I have been told the lawyer makes a big difference.
I don’t know much about what can help with back issues so my well wishes are with you.
My husband has had back and neck surgeries. His back had two herniated discs. Your description sounds like that might be what you could have. Unfortunately it might need to be corrected with surgery – I don’t believe herniated discs can be resolved with physical therapy. Back surgery normally needs approximately 6 – 8 weeks of recuperation time and you probably will need someone to help you with the first couple weeks at home. My husband didn’t go though any physical therapy for his back or neck. You do need to have the Orthopedic surgeon see you and you will most likely need to get an MRI for a complete picture – an XRay doesn’t show everything that may be wrong.
Good luck.
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*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comOK.. First thing, how old are you? The closes you are to retiring the better chance you have. You need a crap load of x-rays, MRI’s Doctor reports, If you qualify for surgery, that could be a plus. But if you can not produce more than I stated, then save yourself the trouble. I got hit in the rear sitting at a red light. Messed my fifth disk up, was on enough meds. to kill a horse. I made good money as A Research & Development Engineer, and Prototype Manufacturing Engineer. I applied for Dis. 8 months after accident, was approved one month later. I was 56 years old, I had 4 herniated disks, Four Doctors, My regular Doctor, Chiropractor, A Spine Surgeon, Pain Management Doctor, More or less I was put on early retirement. I had good Doctors, my age, made good money, and some of my jobs was Skunk Works.. Shoveling snow is going to be hard to sell. You are going to need loads of reports to back up your claim. A lawyer will not cost you a thing, he gets paid when you win. My little brother hurt his back on the job, ended up getting his back pined, he was mid thirty’s in the mid 90’s. He makes Buku money, has had another back injury. He applied a couple years ago and was turned down. All I can say, go to a bone cracker, unless your disk is so bad that you need surgery, just take it easy, if it isn’t life threatening let the wind blow over, and email me at maddtazzcustoms@gmail.com the rest needs to be private..
Hi there. First off, I would suggest that you stop going to the chiropractor. He hasn’t helped your pain and issues, so I would say that this indicates that you have an issue beyond what a chiro can do for you. And he could actually be aggravating it. I am a big fan of chiropractors, and think they can work wonders, but only for certain things. If you have an actual injury to a disc or vertebrae (which it is sounding like), then seeing a doctor who can do a CAT scan or MRI and truly diagnose is going to be the only way to go. Physical therapy is all well and good in its place, but it is NOT helpful if you have an injury that is still throbbing with pain. I dealt with serious back pain for years, so I know exactly what you mean about serious unrelenting pain. I am so sorry you have to deal with this. I would suggest going to the ER again and describing how much pain you are in, and that a chiro is making it worse and that the hot/cold compresses don’t help, etc, etc. Since you have to wait so long to see an ortho, sometimes the ER is the quickest way. Once you see an ortho (or an ER doc who actually tries to help) they can find out what the heck is going on. There are many ways to manage back issues. Disability is usually not the best solution. Please feel free to message me. I had major, major back surgery a year ago, (they essentially rebuilt my back), so I know ALL about back pain.
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Hey Mandy, I had back surgery 2 years ago – it was a 13 year old work-related injury that worsened over time. I was off work for 2 years recovering. Send me a message or email me… it’s too long to get into.
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I’m not sure how hard it is to get in the US but I know here in Canada it is quite the process to get disability unless you have a serious, permanent diagnosed physical condition or mental health condition that you have a lot of history and doctor’s notes with that will not get better with any means like medication or surgery. My dad had a back injury from construction work when I was young and he had pain all the time and couldn’t get disability. He had to get easy sitting jobs like security after that. I know people with mental health conditions that got it easily and others who had to fight and appeal it to get it. I don’t know why it works like that but here I think it’s mostly based on how good your doctor is at describing your condition and how permanent it is.
I posted on facebook but I had a similar thing happen to me where several months ago I was doing yard work for the ladies I dog walk for and I was shoveling piles of wood chips into a wheelbarrow and spreading it in their front yard beds. I did hours of work and several hundred shovel fulls until I realized my back was in pain. Over the next few days it got worse and I could hardly sit, sleep, move or walk without pain. I have also been seeing a chiropractor since I was a kid as I have scoliosis which makes my hips, back and neck go out and give me pain all the time but this was a different injury. I couldn’t tell if it was the muscles or discs. I couldn’t do any work or dog walking with the pain for a while and when I tried to bend or lift anything it hurt so bad. Sitting and sleeping actually hurt the most and I would struggle to sit down or get up from a chair or bed. I had to put pillows behind my back sitting to try and ease the pain. I thought if it was a muscle injury it would get better but after two months of pain I went to the doctor as it wasn’t getting better. She examined me and moved me around to test where it hurt because I said I thought it might be a disc injury. She said it seemed like a muscle injury and if it didn’t get better in a few weeks to come back. I told her it had already been a few weeks but she didn’t have any other suggestions besides stretching, pain killers and hot and cold. Well after a few more weeks of me trying to stretch more and forcing myself to walk the dogs again and just try and do normal things it finally started to feel a bit better. I decided to go back to yoga classes too because When my back was in pain I couldn’t bend over and I wanted to be able to get my flexibility back and touch my toes again. It hurt doing the yoga at first but I went every week and started to notice it was helping. The pain finally went away and I got my movement back after suffering over 3 months.
Well a few months later we decided to move as the lease was coming to an end and we had noisy neighbors so my mom and I moved in May. I had to do a lot of lifting and was worried about my back but luckily we got through the move okay. So for the last couple months I’ve been getting organized and still unpacking boxes and moving things around and I was bending over to pick something up and I felt a surge of pain go through my lower back and I just collapsed on the floor. I knew I had re-injured my back and I was really worried about how long this would last or if it would heal again. This was a few weeks ago now and I also had an inversion table I had bought the year before that I never set up so I decided one night when I was in a lot of pain to try and set the thing up even though it hurt like hell to sit on the floor trying to figure out how to put it together. I managed to get it set up while in pain and started using it a couple times each day. The first few days were torture sitting and sleeping again but after a couple weeks now it is starting to feel better again so I’m thinking maybe I just pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve or something as luckily it isn’t as bad as the first time. So depending on the injury it may go away with time, stretching, the inversion table and maybe chiropractic or physio or massage but definitely see a doctor, get tests and see what it is and if it is fixable. I felt hopeless for a while until mine finally got better. It just sucks that the back is easy to re-injure but now I know I need to be more careful about how I bend and lift things and have to just try and prevent another injury. I hope yours gets better too or that you get good advice about what you can do with work or if you can get disability at some point if it doesn’t get much better.
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There’s no short-term disability in Canada?
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Oh I’ve had scoliosis since I was a kid. On a personal note I’m also a double D bra size on a 5 foot tall frame so I have ALWAYS had back issues, but this is like… a whole different animal. Yesterday was a bad day. I couldn’t even make it though the full day at work. It felt like my hips were grinding together against my tailbone with every step I took.
I was successfully able to beg the new and first ever primary care doctor I will be seeing to bump my appointment up to July 15th instead of July 29th.
I cancelled the short term disability claim and am trying to continue to work until I get an actual MRI done and know EXACTLY was is going on. The FMLA is still in progress though so at least I can’t get into trouble if I have to leave abruptly or go to an appointment.
Angelika Zen, I don’t know if mien counts as work related. Is shoveling snow to go to work considered work related LOL. That’s where it all started. I’d have to search but I probably still have the records somewhere from it. I was out of work for about 2 weeks and just sucked up all my accrued sick time.
and Michael, I’m only 37. I doubt I’d be getting approved for early retirement any time soon.
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsI shot you some messages with a bunch of info over on FB DragonFeathers. I hope some of it is helpful, and if you need anything, just let us know and we will try to help, okay?
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Always open for pyo commissions, repairs and fine artwork! Email me for current prices! awier(@)weaselsoneasels.comThere’s no short-term disability in Canada?
There is CPP disability which stands for Canada Pension Plan which I think is throughout Canada but you can only get it if you have worked for so many years and have a lot of money banked with CPP as they take money off every check you get for later retirement. So usually only older people with a disability can get that. Other than that in Alberta we have Aish which stands for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped which is super hard to get. I think it varies among other provinces. We have nothing else except income support for people who aren’t working, whether they are looking for work, are single parents with no assets or people who have a medical condition and can’t work. I guess the medical version of that is like a short term version but it doesn’t make sense to me they think people can live on $700-$800 on that and Aish is $1800 a month. A lot of people who do have medical conditions who have been rejected from Aish are only able to get the lower amount of money. And where I live, to rent a bedroom in a house or apartment averages $500 or more so if someone is only getting $700 I don’t know how they expect them to be able to pay rent, plus utilities, a phone, internet, food, clothes, etc. It has been around the same amount for 20 years too, they only increased it $100 last year.
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