Hi, I'm new to the board so if this is 2 miles long, I apologize! On 3/31/2012 I cut my right dominant hand with a table saw, 90% amputation of ring finger top, lacerated pinky and broke my hand. I live in a small town in AZ and was transported to the local hospital where I sat for 5 hours, with no treatment other than IV pain/anxiety meds and a piece of gauze over my hand.
During the 6th hour a nurse came on shift land wrapped it up and packed it in ice and prepped me for transport to Tucson. I was in their ER for 2-3 hours before I had surgery.
I sawed completely through my bone so they reattached my finger with a pin, splinted me to the elbow and I went home the next day. That's is the good parts of my story.
My follow up appointments with my surgeon went from every week to every two weeks. Within a 2 month period he informed me that I had developed CRPS, my entire hand was swollen twice it's normal size and the pain I experienced when he would examine it was beyond explanation.
It took until August before the last visible part of my finger was healed. I know longer looked like I had a burnt eggroll for a finger.
I was offered no pain meds except naproxen and 3 different rounds of antibiotics. I started and completed PT/OT from September thru November when I was told we were done, there was nothing else they could do.
During this time it was suggested that I file for SSDI so I did. What a nightmare this is!
I am right hand dominant, 49 years of age, occupation bookkeeper. I have use of my thumb and index finger on my right hand, that's it.

The pain I experience, which my "therapists" told me to learn to deal with goes from "dang that hurt" to vomiting. My social interaction has decreased and my anxiety levels have increased, and of course there is depression. I have to be aware of who I am and what I'm doing at all times. My personal bubble has doubled due to my guarding my hand / arm, and my ability to do many things has changed, of course.
SS sent me to see a psych doc because I mentioned on my application that I had an anxiety disorder that had been present for many years. I complied with all of their requests and was denied.

I resubmitted and they sent me to a psych doc again, so I called my case worker and asked her why? Where she replied, Oh? Is your hand still injured?
I have sent her every record I have, a personal letter, a 5 page CRPS informative paper with the SSDI paperwork that covers it in my first package, which she totally disregarded. She told me 1) If you were 55 you would not be re-trainable. 2) We can make you left hand dominant 3) people who have cut entire limbs off still work 4) No, I received nothing from your surgeon because YOU didn't have a barcode envelope. I kept my cool, although it was difficult. I explained the pain and the inability of my hand, etc.
They sent me a letter to see a doctor at the Hampton Inn. I called her and said I was uncomfortable going to see a doc in a motel. They rescheduled with a doc at the Holiday Inn! I called and said there must have been some sort of miscommunication...Then they scheduled me with a neuro on Saturday afternoon in Tucson.

During this conversation I again asked her if they had received my records they had requested and she said, No, nothing since December. So somewhere someone is not complying with requests.
She also told me to file unemployment, which I did, and I became just flat out furious when I received 6 letters from them in 1 day that were redundant and a denial (of course due to length of time, voluntary quit and unavailability to work).
The frustration, pain, inability etc. has made me about crazy! The crass remarks of people and the red tape is enough to make someone postal. If anyone out there thinks I can run a 10 key calculator as a bookkeeper they have totally lost their minds. I can not hold a pen and fill out an application. I sit for hours slowly typing out forms and providing as much information as possible, knowing that no one reads it. Believe me, my responses to unemployment were cynical and my comment said "if an actual human is reading this drop me an email, send me a text, heck come on over".

Both of these agencies are under the Arizona Department of Economic Development, I politely suggested they walk across the hall and discuss it with each other.
SS says I am able to work and Unemployment says I am not.
We have a huge deductible thanks to the changes in our healthcare system, my GP is unaware of CRPS and my surgeon see's me as his only failure.
I've contacted our senator and was dumbfounded when he responded, but they said it would have to wait until the hearing stage....
Last month both of my feet swelled up big time, I've never had swollen feet even through pregnancies, I'm sure some of the other things that are happening to my physically are related to the CRPS and I am at a loss as to what to do.
Thanks for letting me vent,
One Frustrated Pebbles

We hope we can help to lower your stress, so you won't need to feel like cussing... But sometimes the "system" does that to all of us..


Check out our useful sticky threads- lots og info on how best to get thru all the red tape and help with understanding the system..
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread148967.html
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread120255.html

Yes, as I understand it you have to be able to work to get unemployment.
Possibly re schooling/retraining might be able to be an option w/unemployment.
might be something to look into the rules/requirements for that.


You might copy your post to our CRPS forum - there are members there I believe that are on SSDI, they may be able to help with the issues of proof of CRPS (or drs near you area).... plus the added emotional issues..
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum21.html

Hi Pebbles,

Welcome to NT !

Very few people have an easy time getting their SSDI applications done and approved. Welcome to the majority.....all of us who thought our lives were difficult and stressful enough because of our disabilities, thought things couldn't get worse, and then applied for SSDI and had to deal with more frustration.

Have you gotten copies of what the SSA does have on you from your docs ? I'm wondering if your docs did an adequate job explaining your disability on the forms they completed. If your surgeon has pretty much washed his hands of you because your incisions have healed and your PCP doesn't "get" RSD, it seems likely that you could be missing detailed documentation that describes how your RSD symptoms affect your ability to work at ANY job.

The right decision for me was to get a lawyer involved before my case got to the ALJ stage. He took on checking what the SSA had or didn't have and had me request more info from some of my docs to help my case. The SSA sends information requests to each of the docs you list on your application, but if the docs don't send in the requested info, your case proceeds without it. If one or both of your docs were not specific enough, you can ask that they redo their paperwork to more accurately reflect your condition.

Good luck.