Hi Teresa

It has been about 8 months since I was finally approved for SSDI after a long 5 year struggle with them.

They sent me to a doctor to evaluate me that had no prior knowledge of me, or my condition. (RSD) Only it was for the ALJ Hearing, but I believe it is better timing in your case.

I brought no medical records, and I cant remember what type of doctor she was. She did seem familiar with rsd until she started poking me in the most painful parts. She started with the the feel and look of the skin, then proceeded to poke me with a pin in some of the places that are numb on my leg.

She checked the temperature on both legs to see if there was a difference. She acted like I was faking the rsd pain the entire time. At the very end she asked me where it hurt the most, and then proceeded to poke right on that spot. The pain shot through my leg, and I jumped up knocking her on her butt. I didnt mean too, but she looked at me with contempt and said the visit was over.

The visit was about a half hour long, and pretty thorough I thought. I just knew it went bad, but when in court I found out she agreed with my doctors about the rsd, and said I was disabled. The judge didnt believe me or his doctor, or my doctors. So he threw out all the medical records as evidence saying they didnt prove anything, and I lost.

My attorney then fired me because she thought since the judge said I could work at something simple an appeal would be fruitless. I hired another attorney and waited the year and a half for the appeals hearing where I got a fully favorable decision Sept 07. The good news is this judge agreed with my doctors at the start date of my disabilty, and set the onset of disability to July 01.

I sure hope everything works out in your husbands favor, remember, never give up.