I think RSD should be on the automatically get list. But then, there is no test saying you have it for sure.

I was reading on the "Disability Doc" site that SS will consider you able to work if you say you can get groceries, it made me mad. I don't have any relatives other than my 86 year old Mom that lives with me. So, I don't have anyone who can get groceries for us. She does almost everything in the house - cleaning, laundry, mowing. But, now she is getting where her eyesight is such that she cannot reliably drive. So I have been driving her to get the groceries. I take a cart, and start at one part of the store, she takes another cart and starts at the other end of the store. We meet in the middle somewhere, and that way we get done in half the time.

I take my service dog, have to lean on the cart, my dog picks up items that are low, I need help from other people to get stuff that is high. We buy two half gallons of milk because I can't lift a gallon without a lot of pain. Things like that.

Yet, I can work because I don't have any one to go to the grocery if I don't go? I think hobbling around a grocery for half an hour, is a heck of a lot different than holding down a full time job. Not to mention the problems I have with attention span making out the list, forgetting the list, getting the wrong things etc.

The mobility part says something about if you use two crutches, a walker etc - you will be found disabled. Well, I cannot push down - it is far to painful. So I cannot physically use crutches or a walker, or I would be. Instead, I use two AFO braces and a dog. When I broke my left foot a few years back, I had to wear a walking boot for a year and a half rather than be in crutches 6 weeks because I physically could not do it. That is why I use a service dog - she helps steady my walking, getting up and down, without me needing to push down. But no where on the SS Info does it say anything about using a dog.

This whole thing is just aggravating. Sorry for the rant. I have slept about 2 hours in the last 3 days. A few weeks ago, my PM doc upped my methadone to 10mg every 8 hours and I am upset because it is not helping. I put off using the strong meds all these years thinking they would always be there "when I really needed them" and now, it makes me very sad that they are not helping.

I'm just going to go pull myself into a hole now. Thanks for listening.

From disability doc site "If a person is capable of grocery shopping and going to the mall on their own without difficulty, the DDS will assume they have an effective gait."