Wittesea,
One thing you are wrong about is if you are in the state of California, you CAN apply for state disability & for SSDI at the same time. State disability runs out here in 12 months. You can collect State Disability & SSDI at the same time. Neither the state nor SSDI care if you receive both. I received both legally.

And now I receive both SSDI & Long term disability.

Also there are only a handful of states that even offer state disability. I do not know if Michigan offers a state disability program. And at this time you can earn oup to $750 a month before SSDI starts to deduct your earnings from what you receive from SSDI. SSDI doesn't care how much you receive monthly from any type of disability program. I receive way over $750 from LTD. Now LTD deducts what I receive from SSDI from what they would normaly have to pay me.

Lisa,
You should do what you feel you should do. Try telling them that they are part of the major stress that you go thru each day & each week & maybe if they backed off then your stress level might go down thus lowering your pain levels. Worth a try.

DebbyV