What makes you eligible for disability?

Working always makes my migraine much worse (chronic) should I be able to get disability?

• I suffer from Chronic Migraines that means that at least 15 days out of the month, often as many as 20+ day I suffer from debilitating migraine attacks which affect my vision, cause me to hallucinate, suffer from severe nausea and vomiting, become unsteady on my feet, struggle to speak. Light, sound, touch, smell and people are unbearable when I am having an attack to recover I need to take my meds and lie down in a dark room and hopefully fall asleep for a few hours until the pain lessens. I see a neurologist and take antiepileptic medication to help reduce my migraine but that is not enough. For me my chronic migraine does get better when I have been on disability for a few months as I am now. I am able to sleep and rest as I need to, I can avoid the enviromental and psychological stressors that trigger my attacks and generally manage my condition so that over a few months I will start to get less migraine attacks and while I cannot lead a "normal" life I can do somethings like go for a swim or to visit a friend. However when my health improves to this level my disability payments stop and I have to find work, this would be find but my migraine is not cured, only "managed". Once back at work with in weeks or days my migraine attacks begin to increase due to enviromental stressors I can not protect myself from, this pushes my rescue medication use up which in turn raises the frequency of my attacks further. Add to that the pressue and stress I come under from my employer because I am failing to do the job I was hired to do and it's a lethal mix for my health. I always end up getting let go of or back on sickness pay until I recover and it all starts again. This even happened to me when I worked in a library! Much of it made worse by the ignorance many people have about migraine, the don't understand how bad it can be for some people. I am looking into work from home so I can support myself and manage my health but I am still not sure I could make enough to live on. I'd love to work, to be able to have the career I trained for, to travel, to go out dancing, or even to the pub for a drink but I can't do any of those things because to much stimulation makes me ill. I only feel ok when I lead a very, very quiet life. Is it reasonable for me to ask that I be able to claim disability long term if I keep getting seriously sick everytime I have to work or do you think I should have to work even if it means I lose my hard won health. Tell me what you think? I am in the UK, here we need to be examined by a private company employed by our government to see if you are fit for work. So you might have migraine but be examined by a midwife or physiotherapist who knows nothing about your condition. Also the examination designed to make you fail, they aren't interested if going back to work will make you ill only in what you can do at that time.So if I improve and say drop down to 10 migraines a month I will be expected to try and get a job even if working makes me ill again rapidly. I am in the UK, here we need to be examined by a private company employed by our government to see if you are fit for work. So you might have migraine but be examined by a midwife or physiotherapist who knows nothing about your condition. Also the examination designed to make you fail, they aren't interested if going back to work will make you ill only in what you can do at that time.So if I improve and say drop down to 10 migraines a month I will be expected to try and get a job even if working makes me ill again rapidly. I actually did see a very respected homeopathic doctor in my area a couple of years ago and spent a lot of money on the consultations with her. I had very high hopes but I got zero improvement from the treatment. I have tried so many alternative treatments herbal medicine, aromatherapy, diets, magnets, crystals, reiki, osteopathy you name it some has been helpful but the only thing that really helps is a lot of rest and no stress. I did try some accupuncture but I hear a lot of good things about it and would try it again with a better practioner. Becoming a yoga teacher would be wonderful but where I am to practice you have to have specialist training to get insurance, you need to do 2 years practice before doing an introdutory course which lasts 1 year part time then a 2 year diploma course. Which is very expensive. It would be 5 years or more before I was qualified and I would not be able to afford the training sadly.

• Answer:

  Have you tried accupuncture? Some insurances will pay, mine doesn't so I paid myself. I was skeptical but the 5 treatments over a week lasted me (pain free) over 3 months. Change your job to something that destresses, like teaching TaiChi or Yoga. Lead a support group.