My therapist told me to apply for disability

[u/Longjumping_Buy_9026]

i struggle with nervous system burnout. basically every symptom you would think comes from something deadly, but it’s actually my nervous system going “HEY, we’re on high alert. we’re traumatized”. tremors, extreme fatigue, memory loss, brain fog, dizziness, racing heart, POTS, joint pain, muscle weakness, IBS, TMJ. I know there is a side of reddit prone to telling people they are faking it, but that side of reddit is unfamiliar with the neuroscience of chronic illness. if you’re one of them, just be grateful you have a brain and nervous system that knows how to alchemize sensory input and stress appropriately. seriously.

I’ve had a really hard time working this year. the job market sucks and I keep having to quit because my job is putting me on bed rest.

October was the worst month of my adult life. I had head-to-toe pain so severe, I started thinking about Jesus and the meaning of death. I struggled with basic tasks. I basically gave up.

I fear the future. I can’t work enough to achieve my goals. I’m currently on my dad’s insurance for another year and a half. I live with my mom but we’re losing the house in the divorce and I know she wants to live with her new boyfriend, not with my ass.

so my therapist said disability could help me get on my feet, live independently, which might actually increase my recovery. less childhood trauma coming up, and more control over my environment.

but
1. I don’t want to take those resources from someone who needs them
and
2. the system seems too difficult to navigate. I have to cap off my income from my part time job, they might say I make too much at 20/hrs a week
and
3. I’m afraid it will keep me stuck. stuck in a label, stuck dependent on the government, stuck in poverty

[u/RaspberryJammm]

Look into ME/CFS as a possibility. 

Be warned if you have that, getting your nervous system regulated will help a bit but there is no cure currently except rest and carefully avoiding overexertion. Hopefully we'll have a biomedical treatment eventually. 

Good luck with everything. You can permanently deteriorate from overexertiom including physical, emotional, cognitive and sensory overexertion with ME/CFS so be very careful. 

I'm aware earlier diagnosis may have stopped me deteriorating as I didn't know better and kept working and exercising when I should have stopped. 

[u/MyCozySlowLife → u/RaspberryJammm]

Same! I was told I just needed to exercise more and be more active so I pushed and pushed and pushed and screwed up my body to point where I am far more disabled than I was before. I was disabled but still able to do a lot, but not any longer. When I finally found a Dr. who specialized in ME and I got the dx, I was so angry that all of my other doctors had been pushing me so hard for well over a decade when that was thr opposite of what I needed!!