Social Security Disability, any tips?

Does anyone here receive SSDI?

I applied for it shortly after I had to quit my job back in 09, and was promptly denied, because I "was being medicated, and my symptoms were under control".

I read the response my GI doctor sent to SSDI, and it was nothing of that sort. He explained to them I was having between 15-20 bloody BM's a day, and did not want me to be under the stress of work. (I was a Police Officer before I was DX'd)

I was completely unaware of the appeal process, and thought I was just going to be broke until I could get this under control, and get another job.

Needless to say money is starting to get tight, and I have re-applied for SSDI. I'm still having 8-12 BM's a day, and my doc does NOT want me to be working right now. I hired a SS attorney, and hopefully this time it goes through.

My question(s) is this. Is anyone here on SSDI, and how long did the process take? Were there interviews involved, and did you have an attorney do it for you?

Thanks for the reply, and shameless plug for your site. =)

I have done all of the above, so hopefully I will have good luck this time around. Being that the state of CA is the one who handles my approval/disapproval, it's no wonder that it takes 6-8 months for them to get anything done.

Luckily I have a very good attorney who is dealing with this for me, to take a little bit of stress off of myself.

Protip: If you're applying for social security, just get an attorney up front, and don't mess with it on your own. The previous poster is right: While the SS Administration recognizes UC as a legitimate disease, they see UC on the application, and immediately rubber stamp it with "denied". You pay nothing unless they get you a settlement. The way the law is written, the attorney or "advocate" can only collect 25% of your back pay, or $6,000 (Maybe $5,000, I forgot). Whichever of the two is less. I told the attorney that I don't care about ANY of the back pay, I've made it this far without any income, but the money tree is wilting quickly.

I would LOVE to go to work, I'm sick and tired of sitting here with nothing to do. Both Dr.'s don't want me working, but I need to get out of the house, so I've been volunteering at two places locally here. A non profit food bank for the working poor, and I've been going around to yard/garage sales on Saturdays and Sundays late in the day, when people are going to throw away all of their stuff after it didn't sell. I collect it and take the good usable stuff to Goodwill, or the Salvation Army. It keeps me busy, and keeps their shelves stocked.