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My wife has arthritis, fibromyalgia, and now a severe knee issue. Saw 1 Dr and he said it was Bursitis but whisked in and out of the room in 2 seconds and spent no time with her. After asking around,the level of pain she has seems way worse than Bursitis, she says it feel like she's had surgery. She is seeing someone else tomorrow but thinks she may have a torn ligament.
I just took on a night job-my 2nd job- to catch up on credit cards and now she is out of work on her pt job which means she isn't getting paid. She has now worked with her issues for the last few years but misses alot of work and I often wonder if it would not be better just for her to get on disabilty. Also, I know it probably varies greatly but how much can one draw on disabilty?
She seems to think it takes years to get, is near impossible and would be to big a headache. I have seen people that don't even look disabled to me getting it. We have alot of pride and neither has ever drawn unempoloyment or any government help but it is getting to a point now that we may need it.
I have known someone who applied and received disability due to Fibromyalgia, but it took her over two years. I have looked into the process to help one of my friends who was permanently disabled due to a back injury and it appeared to be a long process requiring a lot of documentation. How much you would draw is based on your earnings in the past, I believe. There is a ceiling, tho, if I remember correctly.
Here is some information about filing for disability. It is actually thru/ the federal gov't, I believe, since it is administered thru/ social security.
The process should take a year once she had been officially designated as being permanently disabled. The good thing is that she will be paid retroactively for the loss of income during that year. From that point forward she'll receive a regular monthly payment from the Social Security Administration. Ani is correct that the amount she's paid is directly related to the amount she's paid into Social Security from all of her past earnings.
So basically is one or the other, she can not work at all while trying to get disabilty.
What is involved in being designated disabled first, the Dr saying she is??
Typically, it would take a long history of evaluation, rehab, surgery - whatever would apply to that person's particular disability. Most doctors are not going to agree that someone is disabled unless they are certain the person has no chance of improving. So, as an easy example, take someone who received a spinal cord injury in a car accident. It would not be so difficult to prove their disability as paralysis that is permanent is not debatable.
However, if a person can do certain types of work - let's say they had received a spinal injury which affected paralysis of their legs only - and they were trained as a court stenographer and could sit and do that w/o pain on a daily basis - then they would not necessarily be disabled. They could continue their work.
So each case is different as to what criteria it takes to be declared "disabled." A doctor would have to show that he had worked with the patient with as many different modalities as available in an attempt to restore the person to a functioning condition. That could include rehab, more tests to rule out other diseases, many different meds to see if they will help improve the patient's condition/mobility/etc.
If your wife has worked with a doctor for a number of years and tried many different meds, rehab, etc. then perhaps her doctor will agree that you have no more avenues to pursue and your wife's condition is so debilitating that she can't perform whatever job she is trained for. Maybe you should schedule a consultation with him so you can go over her medical record and see what else can be done and if the doctor feels that it would be appropriate to seek disability.
Wow- i see people all the time drawing it that sure do not look disabled to me.
What did they know about getting around teh system.
Teh people who don't even want to uses it and had rather work have the hardest time getting it seems.
I have wondered the same thing - especially since I know what my friend had to go thru/ in order to finally draw disability b/c of Fibromyalgia. She had to hire an attorney to get help. And she had been under a doctor's care (many doctors, actually) for about 15 years. She got turned down and had to appeal her case, so it was a long drawn out process.
But I try to remind myself - we never know what hardships others have in their lives.
Go talk to your wife's doc and see what his recommendations are. If she is in pain and can't work - or is getting worse - it would not hurt to find out what is involved.
NC trails the country in approvals for diability claims. As of earlier this week it is taking every bit of 2 years to get a hearing from the date of filing an appeal after denial (which is all but standard). Thus, from start to finish, even with an attorney, be prepared for a 2-4 year process.
Good luck but it will most likely take time. Most of the time when they deny your claim you have to appeal. Then if denied again you have to wait for the judge to hear your case and he makes the decision. At this hearing will be a vocational "expert" who is there to say if there is any job that could be done by the person but that doesnt mean they have a job . I waited 3 years to see the judge and was denied even with a lawyer.
I know that there have always been certain medical conditions which allowed for instant approval for disability. That list used to only include such conditions as ALS, strokes, Alzheimer's, and metastasized cancer. I know that the Social Security office recently updated the list to include many more medical conditions:
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