Has anyone had any experience with gabapentin for chronic pain?

My rheumatologist added it to my hydroxychloroquine and I'd like to hear firsthand about what people think about it.

I didn't personally have a good experience with Gabapentin or Pregabalin, please, if you go on either, watch for side effects, especially worsening depression or memory issues. I know of people who swear by these meds, so this isn't a guarantee. However, these are warnings I wish I was given when I stared these meds.

You realize not everything is about you right

YOU REALIZE ALMOST NOTHING IS EVER ABOUT US AND THAT’S WHY WE’RE MAD, RIGHT?

Actually disabled people are thoroughly reresented. It’s just, similarly to how a black character can just happen to be black, a disabled character can just happen to be disabled. The focus doesnt have to be on them being disabled. Otherwise you would have a bunch of Joe Swansons.

Missing limbs, limbs that dont really work, sensory disabilities, hereditary disabilities, mental disorders, etc. actually pretty common.

Even lighter disabilities and common ones seen in the elderly are actually well represented. It is just that we are so used to it that we tend not to notice. Which is actually a quality of proper representation.

Characters with addictions, characters born with disabilities, characters who become mentally unstable, even disabled characters who are shown to be just as terrible as able bodied people.

I can keep going.

Remember: “disabled” doesnt mean obvious physical disabilities. The number is 20% because that includes ones that you would barely notice. That includes the issues elderly people get. That includes mental disabilities. That includes ones you arent birn with. That includes disabilities from war or abuse. And when you include those, you start to notice that there actually was a lot more representation and diversity than you originally assumed.

Don’t forget Lan Fan.

Like 10% of that show was people with physical disabilities.

(Bradley being represented as someone who lost his eye, which we only later find out is a lie near the end)

You known what? Some more. Dozo.

Would be nice to see more character with mental illnesses other than addiction or PTSD. Especially men with depression. Especially autistic characters. Most representation is physical disabilties or PTSD or addiction.

If there are more (especially mildly autistic) autistic characters that are canonically autistic can people please tell me?

Dozo

There are plenty. But mild autism isnt as interesting for television as more severe autism so you will find less of that. Similar to how youll find more representation of people with broken arms compared to people with broken fingers.

Most show obvious signs of autism but dont outright say it. Like how Eeyore is obviously depressed but no one calls it depression.

Just say the word and i can add dozens more to this list

Not seeing Jerry “Hands” Espenson from Boston Legal up here.

Christian Clemson I thought did a marvelous job portraying someone with asperger’s the show writers played a lot off for laughs but they also really developed the character and showed him as a valued and highly respected member of the firm.

This is a great post and a great showcase of disability in media but did y'all really need to include Herbert the Pervert from Family Guy. Like. That ain’t exactly positive representation.

I'm disabled and I really don't mind the occasional "asshole who happens to be disabled' character. It kinda humanizes us more in a way. Disabled people are just people, and just like any other group, not all disabled people are good people.

Hope that makes sense.

People are not "independent" and "dependent".

People are "dependent in socially acceptable ways" and "dependent in socially unacceptable ways".

In other words it's socially acceptable to be dependent because you're rich and therefore can pay others to do everything for you

And it's socially unacceptable to be dependent because not only do you have the inability to do certain things alone but it's also possible that your parents are partially responsible for the fact that you don't have social cues for important things.

It's socially acceptable to be dependent on your employees to become rich but not socially acceptable to be poor and dependent on taxpayers.

It's socially acceptable for a grown man with no disabilities to be dependent on his wife for simple household tasks, but not socially acceptable to be disabled and dependent on a caregiver.

Thank you for describing that better, but also it's acceptable to have an assistant speak for you if you're rich, but not if you're disabled and poor.

[ID: Tweet by Alex Dacy @dacy_alex “It’s 2019 & disabled people get paid below minimum wage, don’t have marriage rights, can’t access many public buildings, have the highest unemployment rate, die because of poor government services, have unequal access to education. Let’s make 2020 about disability rights.”]

wait they don’t have equal marriage rights because they’re disabled???? Holy shit that’s terrible!! What the fuck!!!

If disabled people get married, they lose their benefits! I’m disabled but I can’t get a doctor to give me even a BASIC accommodation (handicap placard)! Let alone actually getting any kind of benefits! Like because I’m married, I CAN’T get the accommodations I need cause to the government, marriage = faking disability. 

And they have strict regulations about living with other people too, in the US. If you even seem married and are living together, you could lose everything. People are told to divorce if one of them ends up disabled enough to need Medicaid or SSI. And getting any sort of in-home help when you don’t live alone is nearly impossible.

One of my clients works at a sheltered workshop. We found out today from the workshop that because of how hard she works, they are going to be increasing her pay to minimum wage. Instead of just being able to be happy for her (which is frustrating and infuriating to the point of tears that I am happy for the smallest victory for her such as being paid minimum wage when she should have been being paid minimum wage from the beginning-), I immediately began worrying about the extra money she would be making and the potential of it endangering her eligibility for Medicaid, including the waiver that allows her to live in her own home. What followed was an immediate call to my supervisor and our having to plan about diverting the extra cash flow into a specialized account where she can keep up to $15,000. The state of disability rights in the United States is bullshit and it’s time for revolution. 

My client works 25 hours a week and brings home 25-50$ per paycheck. It’s inhuman.

That's horrifying! That's about a 1/2 step above slavery!

They don't give you enough to live on with disability benefits. So you try to find a job to supplement your income. You can find these sheltered workshops or whatever they're called that hire stricky disabled folks and get away with paying them below minimum wage! The best part? These companies get praised for it and so they get away with this because look! They gave that disabled (burden) a job! They should be so grateful to have anything! How kind of that compa y for making that disabled person feel useful and god knows we need to "feel" useful! We can't actually "be" useful can we?

Hell, I don't work in a sheltered workshop or anything like tha and I can tell you all kinds of stories about my job and their blatant discrimination. People just don't wanna hear it and they don't wanna think about it because they see you as someone who has the option to "mooch off the system" and "get all this free money!" They don't wanna be told otherwise. No one wants to see the truth behind the thin veil of inclusion.

Job search while crippled

Being in the market for a part-time job or minimum wage job while being a cripple is a bitch… a lot of the jobs people like myself that are trying to put themselves through college would do are physically demanding and a lot of them would definitely not hire a cripple. There’s also the fact that very few “equal opportunity employers” have disability covered under that. Trying to get a part-time job, especially this time of year is hard enough. This is just another obstacle for me to deal with. If I would have known I would be able to leave the house on my own around this time before, I would have been doing this months ago. I feel like I’m bitching a bit too much right now, but I’m having a bad day.

Update: I have a job interview today and I am super nervous. I should have another update later today. Wish me luck! My interview is at 1:30.

Update for my update: my final interview for the job I really want will be July 3rd. That will be when they decide to move forward with hiring me. I’m really hoping for it. This is the job I want the most. It’s a 3 step process and I’ve made it through 2 so far.

Final Update: I got a job! Not the exact position I wanted, but pretty close to it, (still something I’ll enjoy doing) and there’s a ton of opportunity for advancement! Hopefully, this will give me what I need to support myself and finish my education soon. Just taking it one step at a time.

Job search while crippled

Being in the market for a part-time job or minimum wage job while being a cripple is a bitch… a lot of the jobs people like myself that are trying to put themselves through college would do are physically demanding and a lot of them would definitely not hire a cripple. There’s also the fact that very few “equal opportunity employers” have disability covered under that. Trying to get a part-time job, especially this time of year is hard enough. This is just another obstacle for me to deal with. If I would have known I would be able to leave the house on my own around this time before, I would have been doing this months ago. I feel like I’m bitching a bit too much right now, but I’m having a bad day.

Update: I have a job interview today and I am super nervous. I should have another update later today. Wish me luck! My interview is at 1:30.

Update for my update: my final interview for the job I really want will be July 3rd. That will be when they decide to move forward with hiring me. I'm really hoping for it. This is the job I want the most. It's a 3 step process and I've made it through 2 so far.

Job search while crippled

Being in the market for a part-time job or minimum wage job while being a cripple is a bitch… a lot of the jobs people like myself that are trying to put themselves through college would do are physically demanding and a lot of them would definitely not hire a cripple. There’s also the fact that very few “equal opportunity employers” have disability covered under that. Trying to get a part-time job, especially this time of year is hard enough. This is just another obstacle for me to deal with. If I would have known I would be able to leave the house on my own around this time before, I would have been doing this months ago. I feel like I’m bitching a bit too much right now, but I’m having a bad day.

Update: I have a job interview today and I am super nervous. I should have another update later today. Wish me luck! My interview is at 1:30.

white chronically ill folk

i cannot tell you how many times, that people dont think i am chronically ill. because i’m brown. even on tumblr, the amount of people who immediately assume i am not chronically ill because i talk ab racism at the same time.

when i talk ab racism and racism with white spoonies, you all white ppl default to assuming i am not a spoonie myself. that is just. racism like you wouldn’t even know.

if you knew the racism that doctors perpertuate against chronically ill people of colour you would shut the hell up.assuming a nonwhite person talking ab racism with white spoonies to not be chronically ill is a form of racist medical violence

.you’re not better than the doctors who laugh at us and say we’re just lazy or that we try to milk the medical system like fuck all of you.i see to many of you like this and none of you hold yourselves accountable

this is ok to reblog even if you are not chronically ill but i would like other chronically ill people, esp white spoonies to reblog this please. there is a huge amount of racism with the spoonie community and its never really addressed

Why does race matter? We're all fucking sick here. Why are you singling out whites or calling out ill whites because some ignorant people happen to be white? Everyone who is chronically ill is assumed to be milking the system or giving up or some bullshit like that? Like, I don't mean to be so heated, but I see so many people putting race where it doesn't belong and I'm sick of it! Ignorant people will find a reason to be ignorant no matter what you look like. They'll do anything not to face our illnesses! It makes them too uncomfortable.

God, I'm so sick of all the identity politics in every single Community I happen to be a part of. God damn it. I'm sick of it from both sides.

Stop 👏 treating 👏 disabled 👏 people 👏 like 👏 burdens.

To add to this, stop excusing the domestic violence we Face by telling us our caregivers are “stressed,” I can’t tell you how many times people have either watched me get abused and excused or ignored it, or heard about me getting abused and excused it. I hope that when the day comes for them to lose their health, they have to deal with a much milder version of shit like that and are made to think of how fucking awful it was when they did it to me.

The fact that I have gotten turned away by several domestic violence shelters and programs for abuse victims strictly for being in a wheelchair. Which, if you don't know is why I'm still living with people that are abusing me, trying to use me for SSI, and have tried to kill me. I'm not allowed to talk about the fact that on top of dealing with abuse at home growing up, I also had to get myself kicked out of the school district because the staff there were abusing me to and I was also getting bullied. I'm not allowed to talk about the fact that the other school district I went to was also very discriminatory toward me. The only difference between the first school district I mentioned and the second ( which was actually the first district I went to and then I left and came back) is that the Discrimination was tolerable enough for me to fight my way into the National Honor Society and graduate with many awards to my name. But hey, it's all about making the able-bodied people feel comfortable, isn't it? That's why they have all this politically correct language that they force you to use or you're a bad cripple. You're not allowed to say that because it's not a nice word and you might offend your own sensibilities! The able-bodied people have to tell you what your sensibilities are. The only things we are allowed to talk about are the lack of accessibility in buildings and on public transit, and probably not even that. I can go on and on and bring up many other issues, but honestly I think I'm going to make a full post about this instead of putting it under this one.

Just for once I’d like to tell the gate agents and flight attendants that my folding wheelchair is going into the onboard closet and not have them tell me there’s “no room”. Bitch that’s a wheelchair closet, not a “your bags” closet. Move your damn bags where they belong.

Ok, so according to my friendly aviation expert, this is a Big Fucking Deal. In fact, if an airline argues with you about putting your wheelchair in the wheelchair closet or even suggests there may not be room, unless there is already another passenger’s wheelchair in that closet, they have violated federal law.

CFR Title 14, Chapter II, Subchapter D, Part 382, Subpart E, Section 382.67, Subsection (e)

“As a carrier, you must never request or suggest that a passenger not stow his or her wheelchair in the cabin to accommodate other passengers (e.g., informing a passenger that stowing his or her wheelchair in the cabin will require other passengers to be removed from the flight), or for any other non-safety related reason (e.g., that it is easier for the carrier if the wheelchair is stowed in the cargo compartment).”

Source

This is hugely important because it means that if this happens to you, you should report their asses to the DOT. Why? Because these statistics are published every year for every airline, and the airline gets a huge ass fine for every violation. If we want to see change, we need to make airlines literally pay every time they treat us this way.

@annieelainey you should share this with your followers! This is important info!!

To my mutuals on wheels, print out the law before you fly and whip it out at the gate if they don’t accomodate your wheels.

Thanks a lot for posting this, bro! Flying while crippled is already difficult enough without people pulling this kind of shit. Also, make sure that if there is a piece of your wheelchair or something important missing off of it, that you make a big fucking deal out of it! I've had pieces fall off of my wheelchair and nearly lost a decoration I had on it that meant a lot to me because people were careless with my chair. Don't let them mistreat your wheelchair.

Stop 👏 treating 👏 disabled 👏 people 👏 like 👏 burdens.

To add to this, stop excusing the domestic violence we Face by telling us our caregivers are "stressed," I can't tell you how many times people have either watched me get abused and excused or ignored it, or heard about me getting abused and excused it. I hope that when the day comes for them to lose their health, they have to deal with a much milder version of shit like that and are made to think of how fucking awful it was when they did it to me.

Overheard while wheeling through a crowd, from someone who ricocheted off the side of my chair:

“She didn’t stop!”

No I did not. Abled people do not have right of way over people in wheelchairs. We do not have to stop for you. Get the hell out of my way or get run over.

People who expect us to stop also shows physics needs to be taught a lot more. To coast you need to build speed. A downhill patch is a great low energy way for me to gain momentum enough to do a long coast. I am not a bike which has breaks I can hit. My hands and feet are my breaks. If I pick a clear path and you walk in front of me group blocking the path hanging out and talking and ignoring my horn and excuse me it’s not my fault if I run you over. I don’t even make an attempt to slow down or stop unless it will cause me injury or it’s a small child (though I’m definitely not being nice with their parents) or an animal. If you are a healthy adult and decide you and your true love must not stop holding hands and block the entire sidewalk, if I squish your toes it’s your own fault for being self absorbed. I give warning horn and shout. If you still don’t move and it’s between slam my feet down and risk a dislocation or grab the wheels while doing this and rip a finger nail off because you ignored every attempt to prevent it. It’s not a bike or a car. Wheel locks are not the same as breaks. I risk injury trying to break hard and you are not worth injuring myself over.

I have a power chair and a manual chair. I run into this kind of problem all the time. I try pretty hard to give people the chance to respect me, but if they don't move I do run through them because once I've given you ample chance to let me get by so, it's not my problem anymore. If I run you down, I was more than polite and gave you more than enough time. If you ignore my attempt to get your attention, or think I'm going to stop for you because where you're going is so much more important than where I'm going! Or if you need to block the only path I can use because you want to talk to your friend or something like that, you're going to get what's coming to you. I'm not here to cater to able-bodied people and I'm tired of them complaining when I don't. I have places I need to be too, and they are just as important as where you need to go. Maybe if you don't want to get run over by a fucking wheelchair, have a little bit of respect for the person in it. Or... Just do what you always do, give me a dirty look when I finally get tired of your shit and run through you and then bitch about how it's my fault that your stupid ass got run over..

I feel like I should make a post about this because it’s not something that’s very well-known, and that Americans in particular may need to know about given the uncertain state of our healthcare system at the moment. I’ve wanted to write this out for a while, It’s kind of a long post, so sorry about that!

If you have an emergency and have to go to the hospital, you’ll owe the hospital a lot of money. (I got into a car wreck and broke my ankle and my arm. My hospital bill was around $20,000)

You’ll also owe the ambulance provider, if you need one. (My ambulance bill was about $800)

You may get separate bills from the anesthesiologist or surgeon. (My anesthesiologist bill was $1,700)

You may need follow-up appointments. (My orthopedic surgeon billed me for the appointments and his surgery together and it was about $1,000)

You’ve also got to pay for medical equipment you need afterward, like crutches or a walking boot. (Mine cost about $75)

Altogether, I ended up with almost $24,000 in medical debt from one car accident. That’s a really scary number for someone like me who makes $10/hr at a 12 hour a week job.

I got my debt down to $1075 by making some phone calls and submitting some paperwork.

The first thing I did was contact the hospital. They don’t make it easy to find, but many hospitals (perhaps most hospitals?) have financial assistance programs for people who can’t afford medical bills. I don’t make a lot of money, and I have bills to pay, so they were able to help me. I called the billing department and asked if they had any assistance programs for low income people who can’t pay their bills. I had to call multiple times, and I got transferred in circles by people who didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I got an appointment with someone in “Eligibility Services” (I don’t know what other hospitals call it, if it’s something different). I had to bring my pay stubs and copies of all of my bills. When I got to the hospital for the appointment, nobody knew what I was talking about so I had to wander a little to find where I needed to go. I spoke with the guy in Eligibility Services, and I waited for a decision on how much of the bill they would forgive. A month later, I got a call telling me it was totally forgiven.

I did the same thing for my ambulance bill and my anesthesiologist, but the process was a LOT easier. I just had to mail some paperwork and it was totally forgiven.

I didn’t bother with the medical equipment suppliers, since the bills came from separate companies and I didn’t feel like going through the process twice for $75. I was assured at the hospital that they had similar programs for debt forgiveness, so I could have probably avoided paying that too.

The only thing I couldn’t get taken care of was the surgeon/follow-up appointment cost, but they were able to put me on a no-interest payment plan.

Medical debt is scary because it’s something that can come from stuff that’s already really scary. I didn’t need the burden of $24,000 in debt on top of trying to get around on a crutch with a broken arm (it’s not easy, believe me!).. but I can’t imagine what it would be like with a bigger debt or a more severe medical emergency. I see lots of people in even worse trouble than I was in, both financially and medically. Please know that there are options for you when that GoFundMe doesn’t do enough. Even if your income is higher than mine, it’s worth a shot even for partial debt forgiveness.

I am about 900% sure there are people who don`the know this. 

May have reblogged it before, but it's really important