Re: SSD Encouragement How true, how true!

[Guest guest]

Dear All:

Believe what Joy has said. Don't EVER give up. Oftentimes we become so

accustomed to things that happen to us & don't ever go away, because they often

happen just a little at a time. Then we don't, even ourselves, realize how it

has

all added up. I was very, very fortunate, but perhaps had a " step up " on the

average individual. I'm an RN & had worked during my last job, as a nurse

paralegal, working on mostly very large malpractice cases in a faily big law

firm, but often got called in on other personal injury cases, in general. So I

filled everything out myself & literally buried them in piles & piles of

paperwork (and yes, keep copies of EVERYTHING).

And believe it or not, though everyone I knew said it wouldn't happen,

particularly because I was young (@ 40), I had a college education (so they

figure,

you MUST be able to do something!) and I was a professional, or so that's how

they see it, since I'm a nurse. But, in fact, my application went through the

first time, doing all of it by myself. The only things I would add to what

Joy had to say, that I did & was suggested to me, is:

1) Be sure to list all of the medications that you take, both by prescription

& over the counter. As some of us take, what the general public would think

was enourmous & near deadly, we personally often get used to & may not think

that it's as important to the case as the system does. But it really is. So

don't leave anything out. Really anything, no matter if you think it's related

or not.

2) Joy mentioned meeting several " very unpleasant " people in the Social

Security Dept. Now, it may be different from state to state, but in New Jersey,

I

had the option to go to the S.S. Dept. & go through all of the forms with them,

OR make apointments & do it all over the phone. I was told to & did do it

over the phone. Again most of us do our best, when we go out to look as good as

possible & secondly, many of our problems are hidden to the naked eye. So,

it is often in your best interest to conduct your interviews & anything

possible, over the telephone. Ask people to repeat questions, don't answer

immediately, give yourself a moment to think.

And the only time I had to see someone..... their doctor, it was hysterical.

For those of you that know me, usually I don't look outwardly that I've even

sprained a pinky, but in fact I've had 50 operations, including total knee

replacements & just from my telephone intervies & records, when they came to

pick

me up to go see their doctor, they came in an ambulance, with 2 paramedics

and it was set up only for a stretcher! Not even any space for a wheelchair,

not that I wanted that either. They didn't believe it was me, until I picked up

my skirt a bit. So they took me to their doctor, while one of them took a

nap on the stretcher & I sat up front with the other one. But I let them open

doors, hold on to me as I walked, etc. All went my way & I was accepted the

first time.

So, don't ever, ever, give up. Good luck,

In a message dated 1/21/2004 4:39:15 PM Eastern Standard Time,

jsedgley@... writes:

This is for everyone who has applied for or is considering applying

for disability in the US.

Don't give up!! I've always considered myself somewhat mildly

affected by EDS (denial, perhaps?) but applied for disability in July

2001, when I was pregnant with Anne. I was denied initially and met

some fairly unpleasant people in the social security department along

the way.

I went ahead and talked to an attorney in May of 2002 when I got my

initial denial. His office handled all the appeals. I got my last

denial in August of 2002. Then spent a year having the attorney

gather medical records while I waited for a hearing to be scheduled.

The hearing didn't come until Dec 3, 2003. But I had lots of dr

visits during the course of the year with my new rheumatologist and

some other drs. The thing that helped the most was the form filled

out by the rheumy stating what I could and could not do for any length

of time.

Last week I received the letter saying that the decision on my case

was " fully favorable " . Now I am waiting to hear from social security

to hear what the award will be. This will be such a help to my

family. My husband has a good job and good benefits but the past year

has been a struggle. The first thing I am going to do is find someone

who will come every two weeks and do some house cleaning for me. That

is one of the hardest things for me to do and my husband usually works

anywhere from 12-15 hour days with one day off a week unless it is his

weekend off. So now maybe he can cut back some on his hours.

So hang in there and don't give up. I was sure that my case wasn't

strong enough and that my symptoms were not strong enough. The

approval letter listed 3 things that contribute to my disability:

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, fibromyalgia and depression. Apparently the

psychologist I saw at Social Security's request said that I am

depressed and have had life long problems with it. The life long part

is true but I thought I was doing pretty well otherwise!

Keep strong and keep good records. Anything you send to Social

Security, make copies of it! I found out the hardway when they lost

my entire file and I had to redo everything.