Applying for Disability

[Guest guest]

Will...

I can give you some advice an a good web site for you to get info..

I will get back to you later today or tomorrow.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I applied for SSI back in 1994 after 1 denial I reapplied immediately

and within that year I started receiving SSI. They only sent me to 1

doctor. When I remarried I lost my SSI they said my husband made too

much, for years I tried to work. what a joke that was! My parent were

persistent that I try and apply for SSDI. Some of the workers I spoke

with must have thought it was to much bother to look up a few things,

after a few years and social securities new computer program they

found that I did qualify for SSDI. Then they lost my old medical

records! What a major headache after years of what I thought was a

waste of time - my medical records they need just so happened to

reappear! Of course I should mention the lawyer I spoke with got them

in gear...I myself couldn't get the records, this was to the doctor

SSDI sent me to, because he moved away! So when social security sends

you to their doctor make sure you request a copy of his findings so

you don't go through a 7 year headache like I did and now I am happy

to say after fighting for what I was entitled to I am finally receiving

SSDI.

Good Luck!!

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the web info. I will go to it ASAP.

I was diagnosed a year ago with CMT. My neuorologist said that I have had it

for a long time, and questioned why the other doctors didn't catch it 10 years

ago. I have tremors in my hands and I wear AFO s on both feet. My right hand is

getting weaker and so are my legs. I am so fatigued when I get home from

work.( Like right now).

I love my job, but physically I just can't seem to get it together.

Thank you so much for writing back.

Will

[Guest guest]

To All,

Please let me know what is " applying for disability " ? I suffer from CMT.

I want to see whether I can avail of whatever it is!

Regards and thanks

Sameer

INDIA

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Sameer, " applying for disability " is what people in America and some other

countries do to get some help from their government. If the person qualifies

s/he will be paid some money each month to buy food and a place to live. In

some countries the people have more help than in other places. I don't know

what is available in India.

I hope this helps answer your question.

Kat

Seattle USA

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I am one of those that read through a lot of the conversation, but

really don't often get to participate. I was reading through what I

received today and see where you mentioned you had applied for

disability.

I have MS and AIH, the fatigue and pain are sometimes just unbearable.

I can't concentrate, I can't remember sometimes the simplest of

things. Basically over the past year I have gone from a really good

employee to a person that is not meeting expectations and I have had

to miss a lot of work. I am in a job that is salaried and I am

supposed to work 40 hrs per week. But really, prior to this past year

I always worked 50 - 60 hrs per week. I can no longer work the

additional hours to get everything done and I what I do, lately isn't

necessarily correct or even accurate. I miss deadlines, make mistakes

and now I am taking Aricept for the memory issues....... I have a

Bachelors in Accounting and about half way through a Masters degree,

stopped last March.

Did you apply yourself?

I have been told that even though I am in pain both from the liver and

the MS that I can't get disability because I can still do other

things? What if anything can you do if you are in pain, and really

can't remember to pick up papers off the copier that you just printed

(so you can take them home and review after you get a rest) ...only to

realize when you get home you left them ON THE COPIER so now the

status report I was going to do.....will not get done tonight. And

can I really remember to do it when I first go in the office in the

morning?

Sometimes, I just feel I am really loosing the desire to try to

remember. Well, I didn't mean to have a wine session here....

What is the criteria for receiving disability? I have looked as the

social security administration division and it talks about auto immune

disease being a disease that would be considered..... I find that I am

facing the reality at work that I cannot do my job even with some work

load relief I have received?

I appreciate any information that you may have about whether MS or AIH

is considered a disability? If it is are the some criteria that must

be met in order to even start think about applying? Believe me I

would rather work, on the other hand if I am going to work I need to

be able to keep my job and not " managed out " of my job because I am no

longer able to meet expectations.

Thanks,

Kenda

>

> people are so thoughtless or maybe just plain stupid at times! I

put in paperwork for a disability retirement in December when it

looked like thigs were not going to improve enough that working full

time was really an option. I had applied and was approved for

disability in 2000/2001 when I was sick before, but my health improved

drastically, so I turned it down. This time things have been much

worse, so I will not turn it down. They have told me it's pretty much

just a formality to get it approved again, but the paperwork process

is slow! This week has been a very good week. I was at work tues,

wed, and plan on being there tomorrow. Yesterday, a co-worker came by

to see me. She asked how I was doing and I told her better. She kept

raving about how good I look now that I am thin. I don't even really

know how the subject came up, but I said something about that I

expected the disability to be processed by the end of Feb. She looked

all shocked and said, " you are still going to go out on disability -

but you look so good and you said you are better. Don't you think you

will just keep getting better - you look so good! " I just told her

that with all I have on my plate health wise at this point, a full

time job which involves traveling about 50% of the time is no longer

an option for me. I told her I turned the disability down before but

I will not turn it down this time.

>

> Her comments didn't really make me mad. It just made me think how

people who have never dealth with health issues do not understand that

you can look good but still feel/be pretty sick. I am glad I do not

look as awful as I feel sometimes, as I am sure it would make babies

cry!

>

> As for your ct scan. I had a hysterectomy in 93. I had fibroid

tumors which were causing my uterus to stay enlarged. My periods kept

getting heavier and more painful and I finally said forget it! Ends

up, I also had a chronic appendicitis (which I had never heard of

before) so they removed my appendix as well. My GYN said most likely

the enlarged uterus was putting pressure on the appendix each month,

causing it to flare up and then settle down after my period. Gee -

that sure explained the high fever, nausea, elevated white count and

severe pain in my lower right side I had about a year earlier when we

were living in Texas. The doctor said it was stress and I was stupid

enough to believe him. That also explained why periods caused

increasing pain in my lower right side for about 3 years prior to the

hysterectomy!

>

> They left my ovaries when they did the hysterectomy since they both

looked healthy. I had no problems at all until Feb 2001, when a cyst

that had been on my left ovary for some time decided to get a lot

larger and cause severe pain. I ended up having emergency surgery to

remove the left ovary because the GYN was afraid the cyst would

rupture. He removed the cyst and left ovary, but I still have the

right one. He said he had a terrible time getting the cyst and ovary

out as it was adhered to my intestines. He said it could have been

causing stomach, back, and bladder problems because of where it was

and the size of the cyst.

>

> I don't have any experience with having surgery while on prednisone.

Well, I did have a port a cath put in my chest last Friday. That's

considered a surgical procedure but it's not really what I consider

surgery because the incisions are just through the skin (and not

muscles and stuff) as far as I know. I have a 3 inch incision on my

upper chest and a 1 inch or so incision on my neck. They seem to be

healing well so far.

>

> As for prednisone and the weight gain. So far (2 weeks on

prednisone) my weight has not changed one bit. However, I am probably

too early in the game to be sure it's not going to. I have begun an

exercise program and have really prayed for God to help me stick with

it! I don't want to gain weight but even more important is that the

exercise is absolutely essential if I want to preserve my bone density!

>

> Hopefully when you see the GYN they will have some answers for you!

>

> W

[Guest guest]

Kenda,

I can certainly relate to what you are going through. I don't have

MS and to be honest, don't know a great deal about it. AIH alone

can be a lot to deal with, if you add other health issues, it

becomes much more difficult. As for my disability retirement, it is

through my employer, which is the federal government. The criteria

is not quite as tough as with social security. Since my disability

retirement was approved when I applied in 2000, I'm told getting it

approved this time is basically a formality. Of course, the

paperwork still has to go through all the same offices as the last

time. When I spoke with our disability person at personnel last

week, the paperwork had just come back from the medical officer. It

had to go to the medical officer even though the last time all they

did was write 'I have nothing more to add.' on my paperwork. It

took two weeks for them to go through it and do that. It also took

the disability person in personnel 4 weeks to do whatever she had to

do to get it ready to go out. I turned the paperwork in on Dec 6th,

so it's been almost 8 weeks already. It still has to go to the Army

Benefits Center so they can get together all of my employment

history info. I've been told that takes about 2 weeks. After that,

it will go to our payroll people - DFAS. That is only supposed to

take a few days. Then from there it goes to Washington, D.C. to the

Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The last time OPM dated the

approval letter about 10 days after the letter I received saying the

package had been received at OPM. I am hoping it will get approved

as quickly this time. I have been told most people end up having to

fight to get it approved so I was quite shocked that it got approved

so quickly the last time. I was nowhere near as sick in 2000 as I

have been this time. In 2000, I had lupus and recurrent acute

pancreatitis. I think I was in the hospital about 4-5 times in 2000

because of pancreatitis. In 2002 I lost count of the number of

times I've been in the hospital, but it was around 15-20 times.

Also, my lab work has been much worse this time. At one point, my

labs were showing signs of malnutrition because I had so many days

that I was unable to eat. I had actually already applied for

disability based on lupus, recurrent acute pancreatitis, and the

clotting disorder prior to even having the liver biopsy. I got the

results and found out I have AIH on Jan 6th. Since the paperwork

had not left our local personnel office, I added a copy of the

biopsy report and the diagnosis of AIH to the package.

As for social security disability (SSD), I did have to apply for it

before my paperwork for the disability retirement from work could be

sent forward, despite knowing that it would instantly be turned

down. With Social Security, you have to be out of work for 5 months

(I think) or have had an average income of less that $590 for the

last five months. I am pretty sure that is gross income, not net.

If you don't meet that criteria, they never even look at the medical

information. I do know that systemic lupus is on Social

Security's 'list of disabling diseases'. However, many people in my

lupies group who have been very sick (numerous strokes, blood clots,

severe anemia, etc.) from lupus have still had to fight to get

social security. Once I have been on the disability retirement from

work for 5 months, I can re-apply for SSD.

I would think that having both MS and AIH would make a good case for

the approval of SSD. However, I really can't say for sure. From

what I've heard, there is no guarantee of approval no matter what

your illness or illnesses. I have heard that a lot of whether or

not it is approved the first time lies in how well everything has

been documented. One of the members of my pancreatitis group got

approved on the first go round and everyone was shocked. She had

made sure that everything was very well documented and had provided

a spreadsheet showing her labs over some period of time, as well as

a spreadsheet detailing every surgery and hospitalization. I think

that may have made a difference. Being able to look at one or two

spreadsheets (even if they are many pages long) makes it so much

easier to see the whole picture. Of course, you have to be able to

back up the info on the spreadsheet with actual medical

documentation. However, I assume the people who approve the SSD are

human and having a very clear picture of just how ill a person is

would likely make a difference. I have a color coded spreadsheet

with my labs over the past several months. All of my doctors seem

to love it because it is so much easier to scan the spreadsheet to

see the highs and lows in the labwork than to have to look through

page after page of the various blood tests. My rheumy told me that

I should bring the spreadsheet with me when I have an attack that is

bad enough to send me to the ER. I told her that the ER docs at my

local ER have the previous labs available on the computer since most

of the labs have been done at my local hospital. She said, " yes,

but even ER doctors are human. This spreadsheet paints a much

better picture than having to search through your previous lab

results on the computer. This spreadsheet shows them that you have

some potentially dangerous health issues going on and are not simply

at the ER for the fun of it. " I haven't brought the spreadsheet

with me because I feel you are walking a fine line when you go to

the ER. There are some ER doctors that would be very appreciative

of seeing my lab history on an easy to read spreadsheet. However, I

believe there are other doctors who would see the spreadsheet as me

trying to tell them how to do their job. It's kind of a no win

situation. Anyway, my point to all this is that providing SS with

an easy to read spreadsheet outlining your labs and how often you

must miss work, etc. would probably be beneficial.

However, if you don't have some type of disability plan with your

employer, your major hurdle is going to be how in the heck you can

live with no income from work for 5 months (or an income from work

of $590 per month or less). Also, I think with SSD, medicare

doesn't kick in until you've been on it for a year, so there is also

the problem of dealing with chronic illnesses and having no health

insurance for one year +.

I wish you luck. Dealing with chronic illness is tough enough

without worrying about how you are going to pay your bills.

W

[Guest guest]

I have kept a link to such a site... Hope this helps.

Go here >> www.disabilitysecrets.com

Hope this helps!

[Guest guest]

I respectfully disagree with Cyn about getting a lawyer. Wait until you've

been denied before hiring one. Once you have one he/she gets a % of your first

retroactive check...I may be wrong but I think it's 25%. If you read online

(google it) about disability filings you can do it yourself. I did.

As far as 's (?) question about having other income I don't know. I

know you must not have any work income for a minimum of a year and you must

prove

you've tried to accomodate your work for your disability by trying ways to

adapt...the words fail me in this explanation.

I agree with another poster, you must list every thing in detail and explain

how it prevents you from ANY work. Your doctor must substantuate your claim

of disability-many don't want the extra paperwork that must document the claim

and state you are " permanently disabled and unable to be gainfully employed " .

Hopefully, you have copy of your tests to include...lung tests, xray summary,

etc.proving your condition exists. Don't be intimidated by the space they

give you to answer...ADD pages. Request from Soc Sec a duplicate set of papers

for practice in your answers. You can do this all by phone. They will first

determine if you qualify by some questions. The hardest is WHEN (the day)

were you disabled? That date will be the first test if you qualify.

Remember most of us compensate with our clothes/hair and sunny attitude for

our deformity. I was advised NOT to have the oral interview in the S.S. office

because even with my 100% curve, I 'look too normal.' For me, that was good

advice. I chose the phone interview.

It is a depressing process to prove you are unable to do anything to earn a

living. In America this runs counter-culture. Through many hours of filing

out the papers, I was granted disability the first time. If you are not

depressed going into it you may be after it's all over. To prove

beyond-the-shadow of

a doubt that you can't do any job becomes a haunting concept to your esteem.

A great way to start is to read all this information. You may need to sign

up on . (free) It may emphasis CFIDS/Fibromyalgia, but the basic info is

good for any disability clam. Allow yourself lots of time to fill out the

papers. Write them as if it is a bad day. And good luck.

Click here: http://www.cfids-me.org/disinissues/#table

For federal govt you can't get partial disability as far as I know. I know

nothing about state.

Jolene