Quote:
Originally Posted by nicd577
Thanks, finz. I am a nervous wreck. I do wish I could explain to the judge that the seizures do not ask my age, education or work history before they attack me about every other day. But I know that would hurt me and come off as a smart butt. As it stands now, the amount of meds I have to take and the large doses, I sometimes, and pardon this grossness, have to literally swallow them right back down after they come back up as to not waste them. My body does not want to take them anymore, but I have to. It's just so much. Then, I have to lay at an angle as to not move to let them quietly do their work, which, clearly, they are not. I am so stinking stressed. This whole disorder has ruined my enritr quality of life. Because of it, I will no longer be able to have children, I have suffered and severed family relationships, and cannot keep relationships because of the miscommunications associated with all of these problems. IT SUCKS and it sucks bad. I have a good lawyer, and he got a friend of mine ssd based on narcolepsy alone. I have faith in him that with all of my disorders and no end in sight, that he can do the same for me, but I still can not help be be so scared at the end result of being denied again while my first one sits and waits in a federal court. When I got the first denial letter for this claim, it was based on the fact that ss said that they said i can not work at this time because of it, but that they did not expect it to last a year. well, here it is, over a year later, and it has simply gotten worse, with my physician indicating that the seizures are now cxausing permanant brain damage. my speech has changed, when people talk to me, often it gets lost in my brain and i hear it in a totally different language. so, i just simply nod and agree. i figure that i have a 50/50 shot of getting it right. as for what work i used to do, i was an on air radio personality, and with having slurred speech all the time now, that is a no go. definate no go. that is why the radio station had to let me go. they thought i was doing drugs, but that was before we knew that i was having seizures that affected me that bad. the worst seizure i had, the life changing one, left me walking arpund for 3 days, convinced that the world had ended, that jesus had talked to me, and that we were all in the afterlife and dead. i was trying to convice other people of it as well. that isd how bad these things are.
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This info sounds good for your SSDI case, not for your life
Much like micnef's issue with SSDI/SSI expecting there to be some improvement in functional ability after bilateral TKR's, usually docs can find the right medications and doses to manage seizures from seizure disorders or epilepsy, at least so that they wouldn't be as frequently as every other day (that REALLY stinks, sorry, nic). BD, depression, and anxiety can also usually be controlled with the right meds and therapy. It's not unreasonable for the SSA to think that while you would always have those diagnoses, they SHOULD be able to be managed. While the combo was disabling for a time, the conditions would be EXPECTED to IMPROVE. The SSA isn't going to approve anyone unless they have proven disability and that the condition is EXPECTED to LAST at least another 12 months. Knowing all of that, your initial denial doesn't sound unreasonable. Now, a year later, your docs have more information about your health. All the seizure medication and dosage changes still haven't effectively managed the frequency of you seizures. With over a year of failure to manage the seizures behind you, there is much less reason to expect improvement in your seizure frequency anytime soon. With such ongoing stress on your body and mind from the seizures, issues with BD, depression, and anxiety are more likely to exacerbate. Then you start to get into the brain damage from the seizures....Ugh !
You are still dependent on your docs to have adequately documented how your symptoms make it impossible for you to tolerate the sitting/standing/walking/or mental ability to do SGA, but something MAJOR has changed for you since you first applied for SSDI and got rejected.....you have NOT improved. As much as that stinks for your life
, it SHOULD help you a lot with the SSDI approval process
. My fingers will be crossed for you !
Just a reminder, that it's not just proving that you can't work as a radio personality anymore, it's proving that you can't do ANY SGA. Your story just sounded mortifying to me.....I think it's pretty traumatizing to all of us when our employment is officially terminated because of our disabilities, but to have people think you're a slacker because you are a druggie has to be particularly difficult.
Hang in there, nic. Just a month to go !