Dear D,

I believe you said the abbreviated wording is from a friend that is a physician if I read that correctly. Physicians are taught to keep brief notes and not to write extensive and superfluous information. While I like the writings of your friend, I think your words draw a better picture for SSDI.

Social Security Disability looks at things a bit differently in my opinion. They want details of what your day is really like each day. I think it should be as if you were trying to tell a friend of what your life is like and how it has changed and how you struggle to do the everyday routine things and how it has affected your ability to do your former job or your ability to do ANY job.

From the perspective of a stranger, (which SSDI is to you), I found your detailed information much more insightful of what your life is like than the abbreviated format used by your physician friend.

I think as long as your details are accurate and not inflated, truthful and honest, you will not be "hanging" yourself with any responses. It also appears that you seem to have medical documentation to back up your responses which is vital.

In my opinion, which may be worthless and not necessarily good advice, if you think about what you put in your responses as a way of telling YOUR life as it currently is, to a complete stranger so that they can understand what you can do and unable to do on your best and worst days. Don't think of it as "responding" to their list, but more as telling your story as if to a stranger. Make your words draw a picture of your life as it is each day.

Be careful not to embellish or dismiss anything. I read somewhere to avoid the word "can't", but to explain why something is not within your realm of abilities. For example: Don't say you "can't" walk, if you are capable of walking. However, if walking causes you such extreme pain, that it makes it unbearable to do so, then state that it is the pain that prevents you from walking, not that you "can't" walk.

Personally, I like YOUR responses better as they draw a better picture than the brief and clinical manner in which your friend has expressed the same thoughts. Just my opinion.

There are several people that I hope will respond that have great insight and understanding of the SSDI rules and how to complete the function report, far better than I can suggest.

Please seek more than my opinion. I can only tell you what I thought as a person, not as someone that has insight into the way SSDI would receive it.

The first line of your friend's note to you is very true. They want to know how you are limited. I believe your friend's editing and brevity are great for some areas of the function report, but other areas need the extensive details that you call ramblings.

If I recall, there is a place for how much you can lift, how far you can walk, etc. This area can be brief but when other sections ask for details, give them details.

About meds and how they affect you. Even if you do not know for sure that any particular symptoms that you may experience are a direct relationship to a particular med, you might want to say what the symptoms are and that you feel that the med "may" be a factor in certain symptoms.

For instance, if you take a drug that has a known side-effect of dizziness and you experience dizziness, you might want to say that you get dizzy and think it might be related to drug X but you do not know for sure that the medicine is the cause of the symptom.

Good luck to you. Hope someone that knows a lot more will give their input. Don't go by my comments. I am just giving you MY opinion, not advice.