First of all, I had wonderful letters from my neurologist and my neuropsychiatrist stating what my symptoms were at the time and that they were unpredictable. On the application form I answered any question about what i could do with the qualification that it depended on how my meds were working, which was, of course, unpredictable. The fact that my cognitive slowness made my work less than excellent was a factor in re-triggering my major depression, which was itself an adjunct of PD. To back up my claims of depression, executive function loss and so forth, I referred to and attached a couple of lengthy descriptions of PD, such as one written by the head doc at the National Parkinson Foundation. A scientific article by my own neuropsychiatrist outlined the cognitive effects. These made my application very informative for anyone processing it who might not be a PD expert; they also made the package, all stapled together, very thick. I had trouble getting the whole thing done, though, until I asked my husband to actually fill out the darn thing for me. That didn't hurt.

The most difficult part was to have to face that all of the above was really true. I had to be strict with myself about keeping pity parties down to one hour.

Someone told me that Parkinson's was reclassified as a terminal illness by the government, and since that it seems like it hasn't been so ridiculously difficult to get approved. There's no formula to it, and for many people the lawyer route is the way to go, especially if their doctors don't take the time to do an A+ writeup.

I'm sorry we have to do this. Best of luck,
Jaye