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Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

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Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#111

Post by tgflynn »

nikhizzle wrote: post #30

First of all, I’m very sorry to hear about your situation. My wife has chronic pain and had to give up a career she loved so I have some second hand experience with this. Can you code? If so please email me and I may be able to give you some work paid per deliverable. You can work on your own schedule without pressure. Nothing huge, just enough to get you started. Email in profile

> Can you code? If so please email me and I may be ble to give you some work paid per deliverable. You can work on your own schedule without pressure.

I'm not the OP, but I'm in a somewhat similar situation, and yes I can code, but my useful hours are very limited by chronic fatigue.

Do you think that what you're describing is generalizable ? I mean do you think that there are enough people who could use the kind of work you are describing so that it could benefit the, probably very many of us, who are in the OP's situation, rather than just be a one off for one person ?

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#112

Post by jzellis »

I am exactly in the same boat, except I live in the UK with my British spouse (I'm American). I've been slowly rebuilding myself after heart surgery, trying to build up my physical stamina, getting therapy for depression, and learning the new JS hotness to be able to get better work to support my wife and I. Except the Home Office here fucked up my visa and it looks like I might get sent back to the US, where I have no home, no access to the medical care I need, and my wife (who is also disabled with chronic pain) needs me.

I got no advice, man, but you're not alone here. Being a 44 year old web dev with chronic pain issues sucks. I'm pulling for you.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#113

Post by dave_sullivan »

that_guy_iain wrote: post #41

> Further, all of my experience is in startups and that makes me less palatable to larger companies, but larger companies have more options to accommodate disabled people. My understanding is lots of large enterprise/legacy companies are constantly looking for startup experience since they want to replicate the startup success with their own projects and often consider their own projects to be startsup.

> My understanding is lots of large enterprise/legacy companies are constantly looking for startup experience

They certainly say that, but in my experience it is not true. They want cubicle monkeys with a CS degree that can do leet code.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#115

Post by Madmallard »

thrwtllwy wrote: post #23
Madmallard wrote: post #5

Same, disabled. Luckily I paid into insurance and got disability coverage but even still it isn't enough to make ends meet in Los Angeles. I haven't found a solution. It sounds like you're doing better in some regards. I would say do what you can to improve your situation like the claim and what not as early as possible and say fuck you to the negative self talk that might be holding you back from getting help. Talk…

First: I have become an evangelist for disability insurance. I know it sucks but total award amounts seem to be higher and more sustainable. LA would be hard, I feel for you. Any suggestion on advocacy programs? I am in the Midwest if that helps. I know that this depends on specific impairments, but have you found ways to do things you enjoy? This is the hardest thing for me right now: I don’t want to spend the rest…

I do creative things I enjoy but I am unable to be really be physically active. I'm not really adjusted to the situation regardless, so I hope it changes for the better in the future but for now it is a plight.

Maybe you want to pursue a creative endeavor. Piano, art, and game development (albeit at a very slow pace and intermittently) have been helpful for me.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#116

Post by honkdaddy »

whitepoplar wrote: post #18

I'm not sure what the cause of your chronic pain is, but I would highly recommend reading John Sarno's "The Mindbody Prescription." I've dealt with chronic pain for years and it's the only thing that's had any effect. Please, please , don't write it off until you've read the book. Note that Sarno's work focuses on back pain, but it applies to all types of chronic pain (including migraines, which he discusses in the b…

For those curious enough for a brief explanation -

>Sarno explains how your unconscious mind can provoke physical pain by manipulating your autonomic nervous system to deprive muscle tissue of oxygen. The book posits that the unconscious does this because of unresolved, unconscious stress that exists deep in your mind. By inducing physical pain, the unconscious creates a distraction that prevents this stress from becoming conscious. You can eliminate the pain by addressing the unconscious stress and becoming consciously aware that the pain is merely a distraction, thus rendering the unconscious's technique unnecessary and ineffective. The book provides specific methods for accomplishing this. I applied these methods and my pain disappeared.

Seems like it could be very effective, and something I'll keep in mind if I ever end up suffering from chronic pain.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#117

Post by throw6746 »

whitepoplar wrote: post #18

I'm not sure what the cause of your chronic pain is, but I would highly recommend reading John Sarno's "The Mindbody Prescription." I've dealt with chronic pain for years and it's the only thing that's had any effect. Please, please , don't write it off until you've read the book. Note that Sarno's work focuses on back pain, but it applies to all types of chronic pain (including migraines, which he discusses in the b…

Summary linked in the comments:

https://web.archive.org/web/20101210060431/http://podolsky.e...

> Here is my summary of what I think is most important in Dr. Sarno's theory:

> 1. The mind and the body are linked. Classic example: the placebo effect -- your mind thinks it's gotten a pill that's gonna fix your body, and what do you know, believing that leads to your body fixing itself.

> 2. Not only can the mind-body connection lead to your body healing itself (as with placebos), it can also lead to the body harming itself, or creating pain.

> 3. Now why would your body do this? In my experience, people with chronic RSIs are, deep down, not happy.

Not terribly impressed, especially the last one, try to be happy when you have pain every minute, especially when you were happy beforehand.

From wiki:

> Sarno's most notable achievement is the development, diagnosis, and treatment of tension myoneural syndrome (TMS), which is currently not accepted by mainstream medicine.[...]

> Patients typically see their doctor when the pain is at its worst and pain chart scores statistically improve over time even if left untreated; most people recover from an episode of back pain within weeks without any medical intervention at all.

> James Rainville, a medical doctor at New England Baptist Hospital, said that while TMS treatment works for some patients, Sarno mistakenly uses the TMS diagnosis for other patients who have real physical problems.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#118

Post by jfk13 »

londons_explore wrote: post #90
bragr wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but if he's selling personal possessions to fund a car payment he's already behind on, he doesn't have the money to move to another country, even a cheap one.

But if you move country, you will no longer need that expensive USA house and car, so you can sell them and get a far cheaper house and car in the country you move to.

I don't think you're being at all realistic. Have you tried an international, inter-cultural move, while disabled and broke? The post mentioned "I live with family", so I don't think selling "that expensive USA house" is an option, neither is there likely much equity in the car (already behind on a payment).

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#119

Post by tgflynn »

code_duck wrote: post #75
thrwtllwy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fibromyalgia and CFS have been tossed around but never officially diagnosed. The practical experience that I have is frequent exhaustion from things that should be easy, difficulty focusing, flu-like aches and tons of migraines.

I had increasing difficulty with fatigue for years and it turned out to be Celiac disease. Then, I got type 1 diabetes after going GF to treat Celiac, which was a slow onset which made things very difficult for 1-2 years. My situation isn’t too different than what you describe, actually, even after diagnoses and treatment. Have you been checked out for celiac? I had all sorts of unexplained health effects but the #1…

Those symptoms sound very similar to the fatigue I have, but I have type 2 diabetes and the fatigue started very suddenly after a brief viral infection. I've had the usual tests for Celiac but they were negative. I have seen some signs of improvement on a very low carb diet but it hasn't been consistent and I have trouble sticking to that kind of diet due to cost coupled with the fact that, as an amputee, it's hard for me to get to grocery stores.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#120

Post by dflock »

thrwtllwy wrote: post #43
fabianhjr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably mostly meds if in the US; US citizens don't have access to cheap generic medications nor universal healthcare so something like chronic pain can cost a lot out of pocket.

My co-pays for meds and visits are about 1/3 of my budget.

Have you tried this: https://costplusdrugs.com/
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