When I was about to be released from the hospital two months after my injury I really wanted to get back to work ASAP, but I wasn’t ready. My documentation was from my neuropsychological assessment, which said in part “Although highly motivated the patient is not ready to return to work at this time. It is anticipated that with sufficient time for recovery and rehabilitative therapies he will eventually be able to return to work, although he should do so gradually.” This documentation allowed for insurance disability coverage (not SSD).

One issue is that even the best MDs and clinical neuropsychologists can’t predict with any certainly when sufficient recovery will allow a return to work. In my case it was about 4 months after the initial NPA.

The key for me was to keep asking for the doctor and psychologists documentation in regards to returning to work. In my case I had to finish rehab, take another NPA three months later, pass a battery of reflex testing and retake my driver’s license exam, and then I asked for and received the RTW release.

Don’t feel embarrassed about asking for the MDs note. The symptoms you describe are real and need time to resolve. You also mention the memory issues. On this consider a referral to a clinical neuropsychologist for a neuropsychological assessment. I thought I was ready to get back to work but I wasn’t, and the NPA was valuable in identifying where recovery was still needed.