Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Social Security and Disability

Met with my attorney yesterday in hopes of moving along my Social Security disability claim. 'Twasn't pretty. We're now at two and a half years since I filed my claim.

Fibromyalgia isn't deemed a worthy disease for inclusion on the approved disabling "list" because there is no clear cut cause, a specialist can't point to a part of the body and say "this is where the pain comes from and this is what causes it", and it is a "vague" diagnosis. Doesn't matter about having Osteoarthritis WITH Fibro. Doesn't matter how much pain one suffers. Unless there is a clear-cut source, it's an uphill battle at best.

We'll send out another round of information requests to doctors and specialists to update my file for the day I finally get to appear before a hearing judge. Even if he says I'm disabled, the determination immediately goes before an appeals judge or hearing or forum - and they have the right to throw out an affirmative determination. I'll bet they don't throw out a negative finding.

It reviles me that we can continue to pay women to have X number of children while on the public dole, but we who have paid into the social security fund since our teens are treated as though we're trying to steal from the crying babies.

I'll bet OctoMom didn't have to wait three years to get our money! We'll be paying to support her 14 kids for the rest of their lives. Who, in Uncle Sam's name, allowed this travesty? Whatever happened to being responsible for ones' own actions?

Shameful. Discriminatory. Biased. Bigoted.

And while I'm on a rant, let's impeach Diane Feinstein for her not-so-cleverly-disguised conflict of interest that will net her husband, Richard Blum, millions at taxpayer expense.

Let's vote out all the attorneys currently in the House and Senate and start over! Perhaps we could then revamp the Social Security system?

4 comments:

Naji said...

What's worse is that Fibromyalgia could be considered a pre-existing condition which befuddles me. So it's not officially recognized as a real condition but for the purpose of insurance companies raising their rates, it is. They got to come up with a law to prevent them from screwing us on both ends. I haven't uttered a word about my FMS to my insurance company, waiting for a year of coverage to do so.

By the way, I am a 30 yr old male with FMS and osteoarthritis. Have you tried extended-release guaifenesin and Acupuncture. It's working like magic for me. Glucosamine also seemed to have relieved my OA over the years.

Linda J. Hutchinson said...

There is no way to prove it, but I'm certain my father suffered from FMS. I have all the symptoms he had. Of course, this was long before FMS was even recognized.

Just as Lupus is defined as a "woman's disease", so is FMS. Sadly the men who suffer these afflictions have an even more uphill battle.

Yes, I've found that Mucinex (a much cheaper form of Guifenisen) is helpful. I also take a formula called Yeast Fighters which helps with the inflammation. I'm not sure if glucosamine was helpful--and I haven't had it in my arsenal for awhile.

I've also found that good dental care is essential in the battle, because for those of us with the double-edged sword of FMS AND OA, inflammation is the enemy.

Please feel free to comment here any time. Are you interested in writing a guest blog post? I'd love to have the counsel of others who share this disease make known what works for them, and what doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Hi there :) , im 39yrs and have osteroarthritis (ive had it since i was about 26! curtisy of my genetics.

I also have Chronic fatigue immunity dysfunction (CFIDS) syndrome in which i get fibromyalgia at times as part of the CFIDS (they are overlapping disorders, half those with CFIDS get fibromyalgia and a quarter of fibro people have CFIDS).

Ive been fortunate as i managed to get onto Disability Pension with my medical conditions a couple of years ago (at 37).

It sucks i cant work but it took 9mths and 3 appeals before it got granted. i had letters from 3 different specialists but the non medical social security can over ride the specialist who vertify one cant work.

Im in Aust. and ended up getting granted due to a special points system the SSO dont like to tell people about (the ones in my main local SSO office didnt even know one could be approved by this means), as my conditions werent social security acceptable eg fibro, CFIDS, MCS, BPS, PMDD, PCOS etc. The names of the illnesses I have werent enough and i have/had 83 different symptoms but had to go throu much stress and keep appealing cause the ones doing the assessing at local office didnt even know how the SS disabilty assessment system worked!!.

They can award a certain number of points for headaches or various other symptoms, and once one reaches so many points the disability pension is approved rather than based on a named illness they like. (Probably a similar thing exists in other countries, probably kept from people to!).

I hope this info helps someone who is having to fight the system who has many illnesses (I didnt find out about this until i was accepted on the third appeal). Possibly just 4-5 symptoms of a certain type may be enough to get Disabilty Pension. (Thou they granted me on that, they wouldnt give me info on what symptoms they granted what points on in my case.. they told me they dont want people to know as they believe the system will be ripped off)

Linda I havent read all your site but i hope you ended up getting the disability.

Tanya in Australia.

Anonymous said...

I have been enjoying your blog which I stumbled upon doing a search on Osteo Arthritis which is competing with my fibro for the most painful thing in my life.

I agree that SSID is really hard to get on and I was lucky that my PTSD came first and the Fibromyalgia followed 2 years later. They know what causes PTSD or "post traumatic stress disorder"...It's Stress! It's a mental disorder so I got SSID the first time through but I have fibro friends that have had to apply 2-3 times to get on it for Fibro. That is just wrong!

I also worked all my life and put in all my quarters to SSI just to be told, "It would have been better had you never worked a day in your life". I asked why and was told then I would get food stamps, medicaid and 2 dollar scripts instead of paying copays and not being eligiable for most programs because I am over income. It doesn't make any sense to me to reward the lazy and penalize the person that paid in all those years? I was a single mother too and could have went another route but it just wasn't in me to go on the dole. In a way I'm glad because both of my kids are hard workers today and have homes and jobs and are waiting to have children until they can afford it. I was a role model of how hard it is to raise children on one income.

I'm glad you and hubby decided to downsize. I did and I so wanted to retire in my cute little antique house but the upkeep and the taxes would have been impossible. In hindsight it was smart to sell rather than lose it. I also have much less to clean and now that I am developing OA and foot problems I don't need stairs.

Does it ever end? Sometimes I wonder, "why me" and I need to remember, "why not me"? Perhaps this is God's way of purifying me for heaven or something?... That would be cool. :) Maybe the one with the least toys and the greatest pain wins the most in heaven...