I work part time at a pet shop and have a 4 year old son that I care for. There was a drop off period which I didn't have insurance which I figured out real fast that is not a god idea. My symptoms appeared and I saw a specialist he sent me the bill and never diagnosed me. I went for a year without treatment and therefor my disease took hold and spread through my entire colon. A few months after my original colonoscopy I became eligible for government aided insurance (I think because of my son...if I didn;t have him I doubt I'd be eligible for anything government aided) The insurance is ok...it only covers 1 doctors visit a year and dental and vision is very basic. I'm constantly worried about what will be covered or when I'll receive a bill. The nice thing is the copay for my lialda is only $2 but at the same time a lot of doctors don;t accept it/ don't provide the amount of care they would normally provide to someone who has private insurance. It sort of a weighing of the two evils...pay for private insurance out of pocket and get better care but unable to afford basic needs for myself and my child or provide basic needs for myself and child but have a not so great insurance which could decide to not cover something at anytime/ most doctors refuse to accept it and the ones who do accept it don't provide as much care for someone with private insurance. It sucks.

As for working with crohn's. I've managed to push through a pretty long and bad flare, fortunately my job is very understanding of the situation. They know I have Crohn's and anytime I felt to sick to come in I would call and ask if I were needed, most times they would say they were covered enough and I could relax and try to feel better for the next day of work. The pay isn't good but they're good about scheduling and are lenient with me . I often try to push through work if I can though since I don;t get paid time off.

Lookame I wish you had better insurance. Makes me sad that it is so hard for us to get insurance. Nice to see your work understands. I wish CCFA Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America would fight for us to get SSA support. We need some one in Washington to help with our disease. I don't hear much about CCFA helping out in that department. I called them and they referred me to Jennifer Jaff's book Know Your Rights: A Handbook for Patients with Chronic Illness http://www.advocacyforpatients.org/inthenews.php Hope that info helps you.

I'd probably be dead now, if I didn't live in Canada. I don't have any eye or dental care with my government insurance, but I've had two major surgeries and several spells in the hospital, and I don't owe a dime for it all. I've also been taking 6MP for a few years now, which is very expensive. Because I have a low income, I only pay a small deductable on it.

As for the work question, my husband and I own a second-hand book store. When I'm feeling crummy, I just sit behind the desk and read. When I'm well, I go crazy tidying and restocking the shelves. Before this, I was a florist at a supermarket - on my feet all day and at the opposite end of the store from the bathroom. It got pretty bad some times. I do know one person who has Crohn's and who is on a disability pension, but I think she had a heck of a struggle getting it. Good luck to you.

Bouquiniste, Here in the State's we usually have to get normal vision eye care and dental care separate from standard health care. Serious eye problems are usually covered with normal insurance and if the teeth are affecting the bones sometimes your health insurance will cover it. I have a friend that lives in Toronto and she has nothing but good things to say about the health care in Canada. Sure there will be some problems here and there but it sure is a lot better then the care here in the United States. People have no clue what kind of pain we have to deal with everyday of our lives. I tell them you remember the worst stomach ache you ever had. Imagine that feeling every single day and that does not include a blockage event. I think I mentioned it before on this website an intestine blockage is one of the worst pains the body can take. Last time they had to give me 15MG of morphine to help with the pain. Sometimes I get so depressed about this whole thing and I say to myself why me.

I think you should file for SSDI. It's really easy to do now--you can file online. I just filed. You won't know until you file, but I know it's based on their guidelines that don't necessarily have to do with a medical condition, but from what I heard, if you take it to appeal, you will most likely get approved. The only bummer is that can take a couple of years.

One thing I learned is that a lot of people get denied and istead of filing an appeal, they file a new claim. This will only slow it down more.

This is a helpful site: http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/

This is the main SS site: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/

Good luck to you. I can totally understand how you feel about health insurance in this country--it sucks. We won't get any help until 2014.

I am extremely fortunate in the fact that I have good health insurance through my husband, but if I needed to, I could get it through my employer. I work full time and at home which is a god's send when it comes to CD. My symptoms aren't necessarily frequent bathroom use, but abdominal pain, fatigue, arthritis, cramping, and nausea. I also sometimes think, "why me?" If I had to work outside of the home at this point, it would be very hard. There are days when I bring my lap top down to my bedroom and never get out of my PJs but put in a full day's work. I have two kids, too, which is even more work, but tha'ts another story. :)

Thanks for the info ColitisChick . Good to know and thanks for the links. ChrissyMatt1 That's cool you have your health insurance coverage. I am finding that there is a lot of Crohn's patients that don't work the traditional 9-5 jobs. It can become very stressful if I am not near a bathroom and with my job that is the case sometimes. I also find travel is very hard for me. I guess the hardest part is long plane flights. When I fly out in the morning I make sure I do not eat any breakfast and only drink water. I only eat when the plane lands. The plane usually has a cabin pressure of 5000-8000 feet and with an increase of pressure my stomach creates more gas. So with no breakfast I have a lot less gas. Along with the water I will chew on hard candy. How do you guys handle long plane flights.

I have had such a hard time finding coverage or any help. Most clinics were I live do not have specialists, so they can't really do much for my crohns. I was lucky in finding out that the Rush Medical University/ Hospital has a charity care program and I get all my dr's visits, and such paid for by that, even hospitalizations. It sometimes doesn't cover certain things, including medications when I am not being hospitalized. So, I had to apply for patient assistance programs with proctor and gamble for asacol, abbott for humira, and those are really the only super high cost ones I am on at the moment. I just got married so we are in the attempts of figuring out if I will be covered on my husbands insurance. There might be a waiting period of 6 mo or a year before I can use it if it has a pre-exisiting condition thing.