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Last up-date: April 13, 2010 |
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| Diabetic Gastroparesis |
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Disability Information
Adults and children living with chronic digestive motility problems face a double whammy: first, the suffering—for the most part—is invisible; and, second, the illness is not well recognized or known.
The misconception held by many health-care professionals, insurance providers and policy makers is that digestive symptoms are largely a psychological problem.
Navigating a disability claim in the United States or Canada can be a nightmare; you may consume significant amounts of time trying to prove your claim, which adds to emotional stress and in turn increases your digestive symptoms.
GPDA wants to steer you in the right direction in order for you to access good advice and assistance.
Finding resources is difficult. However, the patient groups who have really worked hard to pioneer recognition of invisible disabilities and therefore, have amassed experience with finding the right path are the chronic fatigue syndrome groups. You will find links to some of the numerous groups on our “other resources” page.
Chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers are often diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome; however, in the vast majority of these cases, the digestive symptoms reported are related to dyspepsia/gastroparesis or small bowel bacterial overgrowth.
GI motility specialists, who are familiar with a proper diagnosis of idiopathic gastroparesis, find that chronic fatigue syndrome overlaps in 70% of the cases of idiopathic GP.
Therefore, when looking for help with disability claims, your biggest asset may be found in the chronic fatigue syndrome groups.
Some Resources:
Canada,
The I.D.A. Can information site .
USA, navigating Medicare
The Invisible Disabilities Advocate
Patient Insurance Incorporated
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Jennifer Jaff is a lawyer who advocates on behalf of patients with chronic digestive illnesses. Her site provides a wealth of resources. As well, her non-profit association can assist you with insurance appeals and disability claims
Health Insurance, How to get coverage; by Jennifer Jaff
New gastroenterology SSI and SSDI listing of impairments provided by the US government.(pdf)
