Dot Gets Social Security Disability for Fibromyalgia
Posted Jul 13 2010 8:01am
First of all, my apologies to those of you who have been waiting for Part II to be posted. Part I was about what went into our decision to apply for disability.
Here, I will talk about how we proceeded with the disability application. To keep this post from being overwhelming, I have divided it into 4 parts:
How We Began
Complications
Our Strategy
Helpful Links, Resources and Tips
Googled and read everything on line
Read books on Social Security Disability
Contacted and tried to hire a disability lawyer through a free referral system
Called Social Security for a paper application form since Dot couldn't use the computer
Sounded out Dot's doctors on whether they would support her disability claim
Requested doctor's reports from each doctor
Filed online
Photo by Evil ErinFibromyalgia not listed as a condition covered by disability. There are no definitive tests to confirm fibromyalgia so far (ie. blood tests, MRI's, xrays). And worst of all, FM has a bad rep as a malingerer condition.
Rarely approved first time. It's very difficult to have a disability claim approved on the first round.
Disability lawyers in our state cannot begin to work on a case until after the claimant makes her own application AND is turned down. This means that we had to apply ourselves, without the help of a lawyer.
First of all, my apologies to those of you who have been waiting for Part II to be posted. Part I was about what went into our decision to apply for disability.
Here, I will talk about how we proceeded with the disability application. To keep this post from being overwhelming, I have divided it into 4 parts: