Should i attempt the fight for disability?

[Gearhead4Life]

My pain specialist was brutally honest with me, my chances are slim, he has patients who are amputees that got denied disability status. I'd have to prove to the judge how the pain has stopped my ability to work. Fact is, I'd like to go back to work but i do not know how much i can handle at this point. Even a short walk sometimes leaves me feeling very weak and dizzy. What worked/didn't work for you guys who are in the fight and or successfully got it? I'm considering consulting with a lawyer to see if I'd even have a case this early on.

[Barberian]

The name of the game is persistence. You will probably be denied the first time (you have better odds of winning the lottery on being approved first time). You will probably be denied the second or third time unless you use a SSI lawyer. Go for it if it is needed, that is what it is there for. Keep copies of EVERYTHING, and also keep copies of EVERYTHING. Lastly, don't turn anything in so they can copy it unless you have a spare copy yourself FIRST. When I say keep a copy of everything, I mean keep the original, give them the copy(ies). If they insist on keeping the original, it is YOUR property, they can not take your property without your consent, that is a crime - theft. They often insist on keeping originals (which get lost, which bottlenecks your claim, which often leads to disapproval).

I am not a lawyer of any type, nor do I play one on tv, or the internet. Just what I've seen and heard from many, many people. I haven't personally applied for SSI benefits, but know many, many who have.

I may or may not be a cynic.

[Lonesome George]

It is now exactly 3 years and 1 month since I applied. I have been denied twice by SSDI, once in August 2013, and the other in April of last year.  I have not had my hearing yet, and my lawyer doesn't seem to think it will be any time soon. I will be shocked if I get it them with the lack of approval these days.

I have sent in huge amounts of paper work. The main problem you are going to have is finding a doctor/doctors that will put their name on a paper to SSD that says you are definitely disabled and unable to do any type of work.  They may say they support you, but when that official paper comes in the mail, their additude changes.  After my first denial I sent into SSD for ALL my paperwork and was shocked what the doctors wrote as compaired to what I was told.  This is a common thing for those that send off and read what was actually written about them, especially fibro sufferers.

[Robby]

It took me just over three years to get an appointment with the judge. The only reason I did get approved is two weeks before my hearing I had a sleep study, when the dr came in the next morning to talk to me, the first thing he did was ask me if I had chronic pain problems. When I laughed and told him what all was going on, he said that he could see blips on my chart starting about 5 minutes before I woke up every time that indicated the presence of something outside the brain that was waking me up. It could have been a noise, having to pee, pain, or someone turning on a light. Usually those blips are just that, blips. Something that isn't real noticable, but there, however mine that night were large enough that there was no way of missing them. Since I was in a controlled environment, and I didn't go to the restroom, that only left pain. So then after hearing my story he said that he had no doubt that I was telling the truth, with blips that high, and how many times I did get woke up by them during the night, he said he couldn't help much but he would write up his report giving me all the help he could.

The judge told me that he had never approved someone for fibro, if someone had fibro in a large list, and would get approved without it, it didn't hurt them, but he had always though fibro was  a way of saying that person was faking. But reading the notes from that dr on my sleep study had convinced him fibro was real, but that didn't mean it wasn't being abused as a way to get approved for a disability check. He said, that from then on he would look at fibro differently, but that the person would need to have at least one other diagnosis that would qualify them, something that would explain why their fibro was bad enough to qualify.


That was my experience, and from what I can tell a majority of the judges and administration of the SSA Disablility Dept. still don't believe, but they are slowly moving away from automatically disqualifying someone that puts fibro down, so you probably won't get approved just for fibro, but no longer does including it automatically disqualify you. Also I don't understand this, but for the three years you are waiting to be approved you are not allowed to work at all or be disqualified, but once you are approved, you automatically receive a "Ticket-to-Work", that allows you to work some, you can earn a certain amount each month without it affecting your check, as long as you don't go over the limit. I don't see a difference but that's the rules.

I was told by my attorney, that I had to stop working before applying. He said that the defination used to determine if you would get a check or not included the phrase (I am paraphrasing, but you can get the point) "a person that is totally and completely unable to do any activity that would allow them to earn a paycheck". So If you turn your application in on Monday the 1st, if you work 30  min on Tuesday the 2nd, you don't qualify, (that's a little oversimplified and extreme but that is what the rules say). It's like, I got a speeding ticket one day, I was coming into town, and the speed dropped from 55 to 45, as soon as my front bumper passed the 45 sign the cop hit his blue lights. The rules say that the 45 zone starts at the sign, so you have to be slowed down before reaching the sign, instead of waiting until you pass it to start slowing down. The ticket was for 47 in a 45, I went to court and tried to fight it, I used the argument that my speedometer was showing 44 when I reached the sign. The judge said "it doesn't matter what your speedometer was showing, the law says 45, not 45.5, the radar is calibrated weekly so it is assumed to be correct, since there was no reports of it being corrected when it was tested the following calibration". If you are doing 45.1, then your speeding, the law doesn't allow for any wiggle room.

Now for your decision, if you were talking to your brother, or your neighbor with the roles reversed, would you advise them to continue fighting for something that only makes you worse, or would you tell them they would be better off if they stopped working. I didn't ask if you think you can keep going, I didn't ask if what your emotions say about you giving up, I asked if you were an independent third party with nothing to gain or lose, would you tell a person in your shape to keep trying, or to admit to themself that they are no longer able to do what they want.

I was always and to a point still am a very independent, very active person. To start with, from the time I started walking I was always in high gear, the only way I could sit down with my wife at night and watch tv, was to spread newspaper out on the floor in front of my chair, and I would rebuild a carburetor, fix a a broken radio, repair broken furniture, and/or anything else I could think of, it was just impossible for me to be still and not doing something productive. Also, having grown up with fibro symptoms since I was  6 y/o, and unable to do things most kids my age were doing, and being teased and beat up, and an outcast because I was different, I had an emotional drive to keep going that is/was above what most people have. When I stopped working in February 2002, that was the third time I had stopped working because of fibro, the first two times (8 months each off work), and the beginning of the third time, it was my drive to get back to work that kept me going, and gave me what I needed to survive. But, after about 6 months of being off in '02 I realized that something was different, and for the next three months I tried to pretend that I hadn't realized that I would never work again, that wasn't happening I would find a way. Then after a new flare started and lasted about a month, I knew I couldn't go back, I knew even if I did get better and go back, it wouldn't be long until I was laid up again, and I needed to provide a dependable paycheck for my family, the only way I could do that was get on disability. When I realized that, and I looked at it that way instead of as me being a failure, it was actually basically easy for me to accept the idea. But even now some 12 or so years later, I still have days that I get discouraged. For about 3 months just before Christmas last year I managed to get a job as a work at home call-center operator. It was a seasonal job, and did play out, and I haven't found anything else, but I really haven't been able to look very hard as those three months are going to cost me a 6-12 month flare. So ask yourself the questions I asked earlier, and be honest, not what your emotions tell you, and I'm sure you will know what to do.

[foxgrove]

Brother, I know it sounds silly but we don't do these things because they are easy...  If you are disabled and unable to work, this is the process that is in place to assist you and you've paid into it.  Yes, it's going to be a long hard fight.  What you need are doctors to back you up... doctors who are willing to put down on paper and stand by their word that say you are no longer able to be gainfully employed in the workforce.  That in itself is a heck of a challenge... it never should be but sadly it is.

We're here for you to do whatever we can to help you through this.  If you are at the point where you can no longer work then yes, you should fight for it.  Because of everything the guys have written and because it's what is right, you should fight for it.  Best to buckle yourself in for a battle though.  The SSDI does not fight fair!!!

[looneylane]

Just keep on fighting and try to find some disability support workers or Dr's who will get on side with you if you can! If you do your chances improve greatly and your workload to get approved decreases

[Fibroman08]

9/11 First Responder wins disability case involving FM...
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/retired-enhanced-pension-working-9-11-site-article-1.2119378

[denny]

Its important to keep everything documented.
Good luck!

[countryboy]

The most deciding factor with being granted disability is a list from your Dr. stating what you can not do for yourself that you did prior to this crap.  You can even type up a letter to give to your doctor to use as a guide line.  It can't be things like you use to be able to run a mile before you got tired.  It has to be the daily stuff that they look at.

It's always worth a try.

[looneylane]

It sucks that some fight so hard to get help they end up making their life harder and shorter.

[augoldminer]

Have you been tested for small fiber polyneuropathy.

If the research is right about 50+ percent of us with fibro have it.
http://www.painresearchforum.org/news/33529-multiple-studies-one-conclusion-some-fibromyalgia-patients-show-peripheral-nerve
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10067-014-2850-5

disibilty people do not believe in fibro because there is no test for it.
but if you are one of those with small fiber polyneuropathy there is a test for it and if you have it you can add it to your case.

 

[Fibroman08]

is that the electro pins and needles test?
Yeah I had it..