I now have an attorney involved with my SSI Disability claim.
Social Security denied my claim stating that even though you had the anuerysm it seems ro have calmed down and you should be able to work. They have no idea!
I am left now with medical coverage though Medi-Cal. Fortunately I had some Kaiser coverage through the Obamacare legislation. I got the meds I needed but since I have no income I cannot get coverage anymore.
I had mentioned that my hand coordination was afffected and they said "Your grip is fine"
Yikes, they seem to be clueless.
Me thinks they think well you lived so What's your problem?
Just learned this today. First, the choice of words is important. When you say aneurysm, it isn't on their list. Say 'stroke' (which is true if he had a bleed). Technically, it's a hemorrhagic stroke. Second, visit the doctors and document the problems he had or is having at work, even before you apply. Get it on the record with as many doctors as you can. Describe specific incidences at work where he screwed up and make sure they put it in the chart. They don't look at the employer's records, just the doctors. Third, have a family member write a letter to the doctor and describe their concern about problems at home in managing money, memory problems, headaches or depression or anxiety, or having emotional conflicts with family members that did not happen before the brain surgery.
In both his report and the family members' report, the key statements are 'not thinking straight', 'making obvious mistakes', 'poor money management,' 'personality conflicts at work', 'lack of memory', 'inability to learn new things 'using the wrong word in front of clients (or the boss)', 'highly emotional when encountering stress.' If he has a family doctor or social worker or psychologist who could write a letter on letterhead to the neurologist, citing concern about whether the person should should go back to work because of the stress or physical symptoms he encountered there, that would help.
I'm not suggesting you lie. Just make sure what is happening is being recorded. Again, do all of this BEFORE applying. Document, document, document. Keep copies. Keep a diary. Use specific examples, with dates and times and who was present. Putting it in writing is all they understand. Best of luck.
The Social Security office told me to get disability between now (age 63) and my full retirement age (66), because you get a higher social security payment if you wait to collect, and you can live on disability in the meantime. GOOD LUCK!!
Daddyfish, what are your wife's deficits/challenges? I'm just curious as it seems as though disability approval is so arbitrary. Seems as though if one person is approved for a set of challenges shared by another, it should set a legal precedence.
Hey I am new here to this group. I have an unruptured aneurysm. RE Disability.
This is a game and how you fill out the paperwork. I am in this process. Live on East Cost. I have googled etc. The thing is you have to be disabled not able to return to work. When you filled out the forms etc., also I think so many are refused as something was not done correctly. I am doing research on this before I dare fill out the paper work and send it in. SS has been great to help and answer questions. I will tell you right now...I have 3 ring binders and all my medical records, also have high blood and chrons's something there in...50 and trying to figure out this paper work. If anyone would like I have about a zillion pdfs to read etc...days on this also I google phrases etc to see the web sites have to say. I am happy to help anyone with what I am doing. I am looking for all and how they feel. We are watching mine scans every 4-6 months. I have TIAs..Can you upload pdfs to this site? Do we email each other on this site? I may be able to post links as well.
I had my clipping in Dec, 2010. I applied for disability in 2012 and was denied. I obtained attys after that to represent me (Binder & Binder) I live in California as well. I went through years of waiting, hearings, visits to their doctor, etc. I suffer from anxiety and depression. I agree that no one knows the mental affect this procedure has afterwards. My neurologst said I was fine and I tried to let him know that I did not feel the same. Memory not that great and the fact that it could happen again is too much. Well I finally received my first payment March 2015. They will give you backpay as well.(Which I havent received yet.) Social Securiy will pay the fee out of your funds. It was very tough and I ended up having to accept food stamps and county help..it was very demeaning because I have always worked but it helped financially. The good thing is I am able to pay the county back for the help I received. As long as you continue to get medical help for your problems it should strengthen your case. I wish you the best. Sorry, I just realized the date on this post. hope everything worked out
Just received some info...on Brain Scans that can identify PTSD and TBI...apart...I will get more detail on it...relates to some study... to share...I will not have time to research more today/this weekend.
The area of most of our major arteries / aneurysms are in the central/base area of our brain...the limbic system...aka the "emotion brain"...aka the "medial temporal lobe..."
Had your neurologist recommended and/or ordered the neuropsych testing for you?
And/or explain to you why he would not recommend it?
Lolita A. Hebert said:
I had my clipping in Dec, 2010. I applied for disability in 2012 and was denied. I obtained attys after that to represent me (Binder & Binder) I live in California as well. I went through years of waiting, hearings, visits to their doctor, etc. I suffer from anxiety and depression. I agree that no one knows the mental affect this procedure has afterwards. My neurologst said I was fine and I tried to let him know that I did not feel the same. Memory not that great and the fact that it could happen again is too much. Well I finally received my first payment March 2015. They will give you backpay as well.(Which I havent received yet.) Social Securiy will pay the fee out of your funds. It was very tough and I ended up having to accept food stamps and county help..it was very demeaning because I have always worked but it helped financially. The good thing is I am able to pay the county back for the help I received. As long as you continue to get medical help for your problems it should strengthen your case. I wish you the best. Sorry, I just realized the date on this post. hope everything worked out
Had the exam. Asked my history where born etc...some personal. Count numbers and remember and repeat...I did it honestly and some was good and not legit...I kept records and copies so I could review all on my paperwork and all matched and was legit...got all my med records etc. Anyone has anything you want to ask specific email. It is all how you feel out the papers and etc. do your homework answer honestly and short and specific MUST have all of your med records before you start the process think and answer questions carefully, get help I had to delay returning to them twice I was still working on them stress and right arm fatigue etc...I just call ss and explained...GET your medical records up front. Keep going to docs and keep taking meds etc. so important...I can not stress this enough and to be honest and answer the questions honest and try your best. My person was nice and new about strokes and aneurysms and I did not apply for 1 year exactly. Not sure of my outcome waiting and will see. I hope this helps. I will try and post more as I think of it. No matter my ss office was and is great. They helped a great deal and also my medical records match all I said and when I filled out the papers etc. I am harping but you have to have it all in order and together. They will help you if you ask. I have read many postings. My neurologist is older...my neurosurgeon is young I have both. I have good relationship with them honest ask questions we spend time together...I understand my medical decisions and the medical lingo. My neurologist told me to stay off of the web...all the gloom and doom you find on here. Mine is very serious and I read web info to educate myself and did not or do not wig out...I did get stressed filling out the paperwork...now looking back on it it was really good for me to educate myself, talk to all your doctors and I also made copies and did a trial run first then erased and worded and etc. once this was done I use pen and went to work...you must know and keep track of meds, side effects how they effect you etc. Honesty and keeping track and getting help as much as you can. You must keep a daily diary of your daily activities...I have TIAs I check my bp often, keep track of what I do during the day how tired I am naps etc. Very Very important. Each situation is different and unique to each person.
I got my Disability SSDI by contacting my Congress Women Diana DeGette from Colorado! I wrote letters to the Mayor, The Governor and then to Congress! Didn't have to hire a lawyer, she had her assist do most of my paper work!
Sure hope this help people out there! When you get sick You seems to loss everything really quick!
Donnab300... congratulations...on your acceptance...prayers that you get back-pay, too...
To make this short/sweet...thank you for letting me know about Diana DeGette...
I would love to connect w/you later...on this issue...
I did fine, and got back--pay...it is the "how come/why...." that the initial med records do not qualify our status...highly political...and, so low, ethically/legally... in my non-expert personal opinion...
Just received paperwork on having my disability hearing. My Congressman is following but thereās really nothing they can do to speed things up. Besides the ongoing medical appointments, and the lawyer, is there anything else I need to be doing? Does anyone know how long this will take in NC?
Has SSA request a psychologist test of you, and then following completing the test, when you have requested a copy they stated they are the person requesting the rest so they do not have to share it?
Hey Country_Girl,
They may say that BUT there is a law known as Freedom of Information Act. In the U.S. it is a Federal Law and covers all government departments. Now there can be some conditions to such releases, for example if they consider that release of such information may be of the detriment of the applicant. But this does not mean that they can prevent you from seeing such a report. Depending on the grounds on which they decline to release the documentation claimed under FOIA you can have a nominated person to whom the report may be released to, often your Dr. I say a dr because some of the language used in such reports needs an explanation ie a medical jargon often needs a medical explanation. But in short, they can deny a verbal request, they cannot (without legal justification) deny and FOAI request.
Hereās a link to a site that may assist https://www.foia.gov/
Have a look through ALL of the links on this page, they may give a better idea of you FOIA rights and the steps you need to take to obtain any such reports.
If still you have issues you may need the assistance of a lawyer.
Hope it helps
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
Everyone needs to not give upā¦It takes time, unfortunatelyā¦It took me over 2 1/2 years after being declared dead three times because of the Brain Aneurysm and one more time with a massive pulmonary embolismā¦It really stinks if you are a famous person, things happen a LOT fasterā¦My prayers are with everyoneā¦Phil 4:13
Sorry it was such a long time to reply. but I asked my attorney to see if they could get a copy and they said they would attempt to, and later on they said they attempted to and they were denied (?).Any way I was finally approved. It was such a physical and mental ordeal I have started seeing a psychologist.
Hey Country_Girl,
Itās great to hear that you were finally approved. I had some difficulty obtaining paperwork from an insurer after my initial claim was rejected. My initial claimed was lodged without the use of a lawyer. My appeal was via a lawyer and was approved. Once the approval was given they then relented and provided the requested documents.
I must say here Country_Girl, thatās not a bad thing, especially if you are finding it helpful. I had to do the same thing. Life in general can be a challenge, add a brain condition and government bureaucracy and it can all become a little (a lot) overwhelming. If you can identify that you need assistance, thatās a MASSIVE step, if you can follow through with such assistance, thatās a HUGE plus to you. Some people, especially some males (Me) try to ignore it all and push on through, then wonder why we feel so mentally burnt out. I have enough of a load to try and manage myself, I DO NOT need a govt department adding to that load. The make themselves more important than they actually are, itās a power play IMO.
I am not sure if the psychologist is helpful, or not. I have only seen her 2X, and she ask me the same background info each time. I have a SW background so this kind of turned me off, or irritated me-not sure which,but I will go back again, and see how it goes. So I am not finding going to her very helpful thus far.
Iām laughing, hardā¦I too was a SW, my degree was in Dev.Psych. Thereās a world of difference between the two and youāve plopped right in the lap of it! The psychologist is not your client, but itās still ok to challenge them when you believe theyāve already asked the questions before. Perhaps they just are checking your memory. Today, after rupture, I would probably say something like, well I know Iāve had brain damage, but why are you forgetting? I have become a smarty britches as we all call it now. I had forgotten it was smarty pants and said it incorrectly, itās stuck now.
Itās also difficult to put the shoe on the other foot and be a client rather than the SW. hang in there! You might want to go in with a plan, write down want you want to benefit out of therapy and see if the goals are doable with the therapist. Just remember changing behavior or thought processing is never an overnight endeavor.
āItās also difficult to put the shoe on the other foot and be a client rather than the SW.ā
OUCH!!! Aināt that the truth. Some of the worst patients are practitioners (says I). For many years I worked with people with disabilities, to be the one who ends up with a disability was a REAL hard pill to swallow, then to have someone telling me how to manage my situation was irritating, frustrating and, in my view, offensive. 99.9% of them have never been in this situation themselves and yet they are trying to tell me how to live??? GGrrrrrrrrr
I strongly agree with Moltroub, āā¦go in with a plan, write down want you want to benefit out of therapyā¦ā just as you would if you were the SW, what is the desired outcome? How can you reach that goal? As Iām sure we are all aware some SW can take a very clinical approach ie āThe book says A+B=Cā. The reality is we often donāt fit āthe bookā definitions. Looking outside of āthe bookā can be very foreign for many SW. If A+B doesnāt equal āCā, their education doesnāt have the answers. BUT do not and I mean DO NOT be identifying that with the SW. Their reaction to not having the ALL answers can be rather negative to say the least. I have found itās easier just to walk away and try to find a more holistic SW than to persist with a book practitioner.