I'm waiting for approval currently, I have an attorney and I was sent to a federal doctor last month. I will be 52 next month. As much as I loved working, I am certain that I will not be able to keep the hours and stress levels (that I used to love) and keep a healthy balance. I've not made it to remission yet, but I have some hours of normalcy in my days in the past week (been on Methotrexate for 2 months). I've all but given up and the pain has begun to subside. Best of luck to you.
I wish I could afford to talk to someone about the emotional side. I love my job. I work for a really great company. This is hard for a person who likes being self sufficient. I was raised to work hard for all I have. Admitting my body just can not do it is hard. I am still forcing myself to go to work. Cane in hand, foot dragging, brain dead and fogged, body begging to sit and sleep. My legs nearly fall out from under me, at times actually doing so. Yet I feel guilty if I do not.
siskiyousis said:
1st about California…that has to be about our state disability because Federal Law is same in all States. Many people get confused about State disability and Federal on their pay stubs. If you are ask to have it explained to you by your HR dept.
Anyone can win SSDI, you do not need to have had to work…think about people who got disabling disease either from birth or as a child. Not their fault they cannot work so they go on SSDI though amount will be much lower. The person who worked with me had young woman who was like 18 or 19 and she could not work due to her autoimmune disease. So he was working on her case and did win it. He even asked me to try and think of job with her limitations…only thing i came close was same as someone blind but they can type she could not…so be speaking, reading audio books, doing voice overs was about it. Very limited.
Okay…I will say this that if you are extremely stressed or know off the bat you are not the best writer than hiring someone most likely would be best for you. If you can write decently and understand about explaining how your disease chronologically became worse to where you can no longer work then i say go ahead and try and do it yourself. I do know of people who filed and won it themselves. So i say try, sure cannot hurt…if you lose you can hire someone for the appeal.
But if you get stressed, SSDI will give you a list of all the people who can represent you in your area. I ask for that list and look for non attorney person. If there is one, call and find out their background…i hired a guy who was not attorney but had worked for SSDI and got angry at all the number of people being denied who truly needed to win. So he understands how they work, how to write it in such a way that will get your case accepted. I had got most of my doctors before i hired him. I been sick since before 20 and was in my 50’s when i applied so i had many doctors working on my case over those years. Plus i had moved so that made amount high. Even still you have to supply their names since your representative does not know only you do…and SSDI so be honest as they have ways of finding your doctors. Well i won in 3.5 to 4 months at the most with the guy i hired…who had worked for SSDI. He explained some of their logic to me which i try to share with you and others.
Otherwise, I hire someone that knows about lupus…and i make sure they really know not just say, ask how many cases they have one…are any similar to how you have it so sure you can win? Try to find honest and decent person who you connect with and does know something about lupus. But important about how many cases they have won with it. How many of their cases go to court? why? What about precedent cases? If they say those do not matter run the other way that is one way you will win and fast!! They have at least one clerk to check all cases for one like yours? I am starting to think that many either hire more cases than they can handle(ask how many they now have?) and then they do not have anyone to go back and research back cases so you win quickly and easily. Do they have enough employees to do this…look at old cases that have won in SSDI with SLE that are similar to your case. I am sure most if not all would like to win without having state doctor exam you plus go to court. So finding that matching case is your ticket!
First all your doctors must be on same page that you cannot work even PT so you need SSDI. If even one does not agree and states you can work…good chance you can lose. How old you are(which is BS!!) helps so once you hit 50 it gets easier …was like another 4 or 5 yrs and then each year you get closer to 62 it is very easy to win as long as your doctors agree…still magic key. But point is at 62 you can get SSI so who cares at that point!
Do not hire people who do not live in your area…just smart period. But TV attorneys they been known to not show up or call day of your court date and say they are not representing you since they do not want to fly for a case they feel they will lose anyways. Internet has some that are so called non profit and offer reduced flat rate…they are law students or just graduated who have not passed bar…One woman did say they did win her case…after many i say over 50 of people asking for help…they told me i would not win since i did not apply immediately…so i almost did not apply due to their advice, seriously!! Do not believe what I say or anyone says…call SSDI or chat online and find out from horse’s mouth what is true or not. I still might even go to manager if answer felt off.
Document from the moment you start speaking to SSDI or someone to represent you. Their first/last name or some way to identify them within their office…some carry id numbers…what was discussed, date and time plus roughly length of time. I keep just one notebook for this alone plus to put any correspondence. I also do this with your representative.
Once you hire them though they should tell you to not speak directly with anyone from SSDI since that is their job. You do not want to say anything that might hurt your case by accident. So if you hire someone and they do not tell you to do this…well might set off warning bells but i ask and see what they say. Could be they honestly forgot.
I found SSDI person here in my county very nice. Like i said I was ashamed for applying and felt humiliated that I could not support myself, despite all my friends stating that i put in all those years i should not feel bad plus they say you can have my money i contributed so look at it like that lol!! So she was very nice BUT people on phone were cunning, it felt like not all but one supervisor, this was before i hired my guy and was just getting doctors names/addresses etc. He liked to keep reminding me that filing illegally was federal case…duh and i am fully aware how they send out investigators to take photos at random too…and people really do end in prison if they lie or file illegally. He just irked me so i was very careful at writing down immediately what transpired between us.
Well once i hired my guy…was good thing i had those notes…that guy he is there to intimidate those applying and try to get them to back off…by documenting what he said he addressed it and never got another call from that guy. He really was nerve wracking and just tricky in how he said things. Like he knew where exactly the legal line how far he could go was and went right up to it. So it can be good to not talk to them just say call my representative or attorney.
But it is there for us and others who get too sick to work. Sadly many of our federal representatives tend to look at us as leeches of society. That we do not deserve to keep living since we are not adding to society but just pulling off of it. The fact they vote increases in their medical or pay is just fine since they are ‘working’ lol!. Some have actually been quoted stating this…that we do not deserve it or even medical treatment once we no adding to it but taking from it. Medscape is pretty good about getting this jerks to say it in interviews or they pick up the article but some they just ask questions and idiots say most incredulous things like almost we should just be put down once we can no longer work!!
I am sure most of us would love to have the money where even if not working we could pay for our medical and all our treatment along with it. If our companies either invested poorly in our pensions or worse let people go 3 months before they get their full pensions, shame on them!! that is not our fault it is greedy companies again!!
So if you have only worked 1 year or worked 50 plus years, you still have the right to SSDI if you honestly cannot work. It does not mean you cannot ever work again but if you do, please tell SSDI so you are not breaking laws by receiving income from them plus your job. I believe you can work so many hours but it depends on your settlement numbers. So always check do not assume. But point is you can go back if you feel better.
I would urge younger people to go on their State Disability for that first year…it might have you change your mind since you go rest…or you can break it up in the year few weeks here and there…just find out what minimum is before it steps in your state. Like here it was 6 weeks…so up until those 6 weeks money was tight and i had to plan my surgeries if my sick leave was run out.
I also go speak to counselor first before going on SSDI to make sure it is going to be emotionally okay for you. IF you are stressing so much you go in flare, well something emotional is going on and you need to deal with that before you apply. Or like me, you might end up down the road a few years after i stopped working feeling extremely horrible about myself for not being able to support myself. Just really tore me apart inside. Even though it was the best thing for me, i still really resented or was angry at my body for betraying me…and i did when i had to apply as i felt if i could work, i would be able to pay off what needed to be and i could say than adios to you!! Instead of eating at me how can i pay that bill off etc.
So just really make sure…i ask your doctors to be honest about it to your face …truthful. IT could be you hate your job and if you found one you loved it make all difference! just be cautious…not working is not as great you might think.
I love that i can rest now…but i miss the feeling of self pride i felt for having a very decent job i loved plus i loved most of the people i worked with as well. I missed them greatly too. If i could, i go back today.
I hope i helped you…and others…find out what you really want first…speak to your doctors as they might have solution to what is bothering you most about why you feel you cannot keep working. Such as now, if i had agreed to take more pain killers i could have worked another few years at least. In other ways, it was good to not use them so young. But speak, speak to counselor too first. Just make sure this is what you want.
Ask all your doctors how they feel about it for you…hopefully they have been bringing it up on their own that they think it might be getting near that time. Call SSDI , document, find someone to represent you if that is what you want or try and do it on your own. honestly, the paperwork is not that hard if you are feeling okay.
GOOD LUCK…either way you decide. Also if you get rejected immediately even with attorney they reject something like 97% of all the women who first apply and 90% of men. So you are not alone if rejected do not take it personally!!
I have Lupus SLE & Raynauds with multiple
PE’s and DVT. Even after getting a filter
put in my lungs I still get PE’s. I had to quit
my 12 yr job{nursing assistant} cause
I be in so much pain & in and out of
the hospital so frequently I couldn’t
continue to work. I applied for SSI/D
and was denied several times I now have
a lawyer so hopefully this time I can
get approved. I see about five different
doctors and they all agree that I can’t
work. In conjunction with having these disabilities
I’m on large amounts of narcotics
therefore I’m sleeping majority of the day.
It’s a daily struggle to deal with my illness
and the stress of not having funds
to take care of my children causes flares etc
I’m mentally depressed trying to get
a handle on life
I Just wanted to update everyone on the process so far with ssi and ssd… I went to my appointment today… They reviewed it and what I noticed (just a little theory I came up with) if you are in the low income range you will get accepted much quicker then someone who has a pretty good financial background… I’m not really sure if I’m accept she did give me a paper saying how much ssd will be giving me and said they accepted my case (I was having TMJ pain so some of the things she said is a blurr … I know shame on me lol) but she pretty much said it’s gonna take 3 to 6 months … Not sure if she meant for the payments or approval lol … They are really serious about how much money you make or made… If you made enough to show you were well and able to work long hours or hold a job that pays well then your not qualified… Atleast that’s what it seems like to me… I could be wrong … But I really thing they judge you off of your financial status
I am very fortunate and realize that this varies state-to-state. My SSD took about 2 weeks from my company to approve and 3 days for the state of California to approve. My MD sent the paperwork back within 3 hours of receiving it. Due to both the objective and subjective measurements of my symptoms and disease presentation my diagnosis is beyond straight forward. I meet or exceed pretty much every criteria. I have kept very stringent records of my medical history, as it relates to my diagnosis and even evidence of all my physical symptoms, as I would take photos to show my MD in case it was not as pronounced the day I would have an appointment. The more advanced the disease is, and especially with proven labs, the easier it will be for your MD to state your case appropriately and get a quick and (drastically needed) decision! I’m very thankful for my MD and his extremely supportive and competent staff! Best of luck and health! OllieVY