First SSDI request denied

Hated to ask for ssdi but I have paid in for 30+ years and this illness has undone me. Receivedcdenial letter yesterday. Not surprised I guess, the medical evals they put you thru are 15 to 30 minutes long and they move yor limb s, verify you can sit and stand, can carry on conversation in the moment but to care about the big picture. These drs focus on one or two trees and are bkind to the forrest of issues we have to deal with, manage. Will apeal but trying to be rwalistic that my situation will be misunderstood by those making the decisions because they have no feame of reference, they have not lived the experience.

P.S. My Lupus is in remission now--thank God! And I have LD now....

Keep on applying!!! Don't give up on this. The first time out for disability of any kind, is for those that are quite literally on their death beds - like my husband was when they found that both of his legs - from hip to ankle - were packed full of blood clots and that both of his lungs were 70% full of blood clots as well - he went into emergency surgery straight from the imaging center.

So don't give up! This is the way they sift through those that need it immediately and those that will hang on just a bit longer.

Also, have you seen the information about applying? There are some conditions that you can claim (we usually deal with them anyway) that will get a better rating that something as controversial as Lyme disease. There has now been someone who has applied for disability based solely on Lyme that has won and a good lawyer will use this information to benefit you.

Hi Roxie,
You could likely find them by using the search function on this forum, but here you go. I'm sure much of the information is repeated, but I would encourage you to go through them all to glean as much information as you can. Also remember, you can file under a co-condition - such as anxiety, POTS, heart issues, psychological issues and so on.

Oh, and a disclaimer: I don't get any kind of support or get any benefit whatsoever from any of these lawyers/sites for mentioning these links and articles.

This is about the case "or a client with severe symptoms of chronic lyme disease, and the claim has now been granted."
www.socialsecuritydisabilitylawyer.us/blog/2012/07/great-outcome-in-boston-lyme-disease-claim.html
Also please realize that they " were also fortunate to draw a lyme-literate administrative law judge, who understood the cognitive impairments that can occur when lyme disease is undiagnosed/untreated for years."

www.anapsid.org/cnd/disability/

www.disabilitysecrets.com/social-security-disability-lyme-disease.html

lymeunderground.com/how-to-file-for-lyme-related-disability-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-517

For those that are reading this hoping for pointers on short term disability, which a few states offer:
www.disabilitysecrets.com/resources/disability/short-term-disability-laws/short-term-disabili


And something that I wish I had been aware of back when I first had to quit working due to these illnesses:
" Simply put, you are eligible for Social Security disability benefits because you have worked most of your life! It is important to understand you are insured for disability insurance benefits by SSA if you have worked 5 of the last 10 years (the years do not need to be consecutive). In essence, you have a disability policy with the federal government. You paid the premium for this disability insurance either by paying Social Security withholding taxes or self-employment tax.

It is also critical to understand that if you do not file a disability claim within 5 years of becoming disabled, your earnings record at SSA will not be protected for retirement. This means that every year you do not work and pay taxes to the Social Security Administration, zero earnings will be posted to your earnings record for retirement. This eventually becomes a problem because SSA will average in "all the zeroes" with the years you did work to calculate your retirement benefit. Of course, when SSA is done doing the numbers, your retirement benefit is reduced… often dramatically."
scottdavispc.com/content/social-security-disability-claims There are other good articles on this site as well.

I hope you find the help you need! Best of luck, Roxie!