I have been thru 2 lumbar surgies i am now 51, i have had a spinal cord implant , and take up 8 pain pills aday , pain doc wanted me to go on morphine but i am scared , i worked as a retail manager for 20 yes and 2008 i went back for aporx 5 weeks after 2nd surgery i just could not do it so i quit for personal reasons , then had SCS put in, didnt want to burn my bridges .never giving up hope to be well again
i have now filed for SSdisablity, i also have moderate to sever asthma.
i just know in my heart i will be denied , because there are so many other people who are much worse off then me and were deinid , but i just can t work anymore do the dishes takes , half the life out of me sonme days better than others, is there "key" things to know if you might qualify? i filed on line , dont have a lawyer yes when do i get one.
thanks for listening to my rambling , i find many people of not most think you are a fake when it comes to back pain and leg pain

Hi, I answered you on another thread but go down to the SS disability guidelines, that is what they use to win. Wait till you get denied before you get an attorney. Good luck.

I posted on your thread in the New Member Forum. So sorry this is so long...I wanted to let you know that I have been where you are a few years back. I felt that there was no way I could qualify for SSD. I applied like you did and got turned down. I think everyone gets turned down on the first try.

When you are turned down they give you time to appeal which is when you get an attorney working on it. I was at this point feeling pretty down. My husband who is also disabled...has MS...made me drive an hour away to where he saw a billboard talking about SSD put there by a SSD attorney. We sat there under the sign and called his office and with luck caught him before he was leaving the office. He set up an appointment with me and told me that from what I had told him that there would be no problem.

We went to the appointment and talked about my back. He filed the appeal and of course we were turned down again, which is also normal for most people. He set up an appointment and we went from there.

After I was turned down again he asked me if I have any other health issues that cause me to have problems. I have Fibromylgia and also PTSD. He asked me to start a journal, I called it my "Ouch Files". He wanted me to write about my pain and how it made my days a challenge. I would write when I was woke up and couldn't sleep because of my pain. I wrote when I couldn't do the stuff needed to keep my house in order...what a joke! I wrote when I needed to go out...to shop or church or just anywhere and the pain either kept me home or made it hard to go out. I would write where the pain was and the level, based on the 1 though 10 system docs use. Because I also have PTSD I wrote about my anxiety and why on many days I couldn't leave the house. I put this journal on my word program and set it up with a password so it was private...so I could vent also. Do back it up...I hadn't and lost it and my caregiver journal recently when I had some computer problems. When it came time for my hearing I edited my journal to pick out the worst days and gave it to my attorney. The journal did help.

I'm sorry for the long post but I just wanted to let you know there is hope. I know it feels like there is no way you can convince people that you are in horrific pain because there is no test they can do to show it. Believe me they will listen.

Right now while you are waiting to hear from SS you should probably be looking for an attorney...Google SS law attorney for your state and start making calls until you find the one you can trust! Whenever I would call my attorney because I felt like it wasn't worth it his assistants would say Tammy, if we didn't know think we could win we wouldn't be working for your cause. They don't get pain unless you win....they will win for you!! Don't go to a regular attorney because they will want money from you.

If you ever want to talk just pm me or email me...I'm online everyday!!

Take care, Tammy

thank you for your reply, i guess th waiting game is on. My hubby says if i am denied at least i treid, I dont undertand how if you can put on your shoes , that u dont qualify , or bath yourself , yes i am thinkful i can , but many days this i s a painful thing to do. i know many people litterly can not do this and i am glad i am not one of them, i feel for them and i see even they get turned down.
Is there a point where they cant expect you do go to work , while on pain meds? i would not feel safe driving and making descions some days with the med i take,
i sure am glad i found this site . all though i see so many people gettig turned down and i feel so sad for them.
here is wishing for a good day for everyone

Get a attorney,, some of us really dont have the orginizational skills to do it ourself, especially when were so darn sick or hurting,, we cant think straight half teh time and forget what we did in the last hour,, I am not saying this aplies to you, but I am finding its easier to delegate some of my duties to others,, easier on me,, and other people are learning to do the things I did for them,,

There are no key indicators that I know of that would give you a heads up if you are going to be denied or approved. If you filed recenetly there are a couple of things you could do to increase your chances. It's not too late to submit evidence of your claim. Have your doctor fill out an RFC form (REsidual Functional Capacity) ASAP. Also collect any medical evidence such as imaging studies and letters from your doctors describing your limitations and why you can't work. You can also complete an Adult Function Report written with a lot of detail and examples. Both of these forms**are in PDF format so you can print them out.