http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/social-security-medical-exam.html

This site provided a lot of helpful advice...Less apprehensive now.

thanks for the link; will check it out and you're in my thoughts!

Thanks a lot "familycats2011..."...and you are in mine as well as EVERYONE who is having to prove they have an invisible dibilitating condition.

Thanks Matz! A lot of fantastic advice and support! The whole dang process pisses me off....Just play the "game" Rhonda and keep smilin'...that my new montra... :D

Hope this helps: be very aware that an attorney who specializes in Disability Process gets paid 33% of what you receive in any back pay. They are not your advocates. I had to go to the Social Security Advisory Board with an appeal to recover of 1500.00 my attorney stated she earned. The exam doctors will make you feel comfortable and then in their report write nothing that defends your illness. SSDI is a 4-5 year process,the average denial rate per year is 87%! I had a MD in my hearing that did not know the medical anomilies of MS but wondered - since I was so well trained, educated,etc. why would I file for disability? The point was that he had no clue on MS. Don't give up hope but read everything you can get your hands on: start a daily journal of symptoms, activity, flare-ups. Get a neurologist that understand MS, not all of them do. You can eventually receive your benefits and it is a lesson in perseverence, Get as much help from support groups, programs ,everything since MS makes you uninsurable. Know your self and know your rights, never assume that any one else in the room has a clue. A prayer helps.

I was approved the first time i applied.. i recieved my first ssdi check 6 months after i started filling out the paperwork.
legally they can't award ssdi until 6 months after the assigned date of disability and they assigned my disability date as the week before i began to fill out the paperwork.

i think the ease of applying for disability is state dependent. the doc who did my SSDI exsam was a pediatrician, just tryinhg to earn some exra money. i don't think he knew that much about ms--he knew more about child hood vaccine schedules.

from this segment by cbs new it identifies 14 state that have high denial rates--which you folks sound like you must be in one such state....

the states are:NY,GA,AZ,CO,MO,AR,TN,KY,OH,SC,NC,WV,MI,KS..probably should get a laywer when applying in those states.


the news segment on ssdi:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3718448n&tag=related;photovideo

I did have the help of someone with ms who had worked as an insurance agent before he went on disability & he told me what to expect at each step and he reviewed everything i wrote before i submitted it. he told me ssdi is just an insurance claim and he knew about those. he said for an ms insurance claim always subsititute the words "ms fatigue", every time you want to use the word fatigue. ms fatigue differs from normal fatigue and he told me i really needed to emphasis that when i was making a disability claim based upon ms. it is never fatigue, it is always ms fatigue..,..

my ms fatigue makes it difficult to ?....
my ms fatigue makes it hard to ?
i cant ? because of ms fatigue..

I have been denied my ssdi twice so now I am at the stadge where I have hired a lawyer and requested a hearing. The lawyer is telling me that we probably won't get a court date until close to the end of the year. (I live in TN) I filed my first claim in May of 2010. I was hoping I could get it on my own but it didn't work out that way. I actually saw two doctors for SSA. One was an actual physical and the other was a phycologist. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can get it this time. Good luck to you as well :)

Oh thank you ALL for your wise words and advice...my appt is on Weds this week with the dr. I currently live in Mt, maybe that helps....or maybe I'll fall asleep while the dr is talking to me...dont have to fake ms fatigue. My heart goes out to everyone who has to deal with ths damn process and this life long condition. Bless US all, everyone... :)

Thanks Matz....That's how I plan to deal with it all...as amenable as Rhonda-ly possible.... make all the dang appts and sMiLe :oS Gee....I don't remember it being so damn hard for them to take FICA outta my paycheck!

i was denied after my first try because the dr didn't think i was disabled. immediately after i hired a lawyer. the lawyer found that the dr hired by the ssa to "assess" me had been recently been reinstated after having his license revoked for several years due to drug charges and had ZERO experience with MS patients before his problems. the ssa dr completely dismissed my charts from the mayo clinic. after the lawyer got a hold of it and filed an appeal and properly called the ssa dr's assessment into question I was quickly approved.

those drs are not there to help you.

that being said, i also had to have a psych evaluation for cognitive issues. the psychiatrist was kind and couldn't deny that i had some major emotional issues from the ms but the person who gave me the iq/memory portion of the test told me that i was "too smart" and that i was going to be denied. again, my lawyer took care of that.

If you are denied do not be afraid to hire a lawyer.

Hi Rhonda! They look at EVERYTHING. Wear shoes that you don't have to tie. Don't wear clothes with buttons or zippers. If you can get away with it, don't even wear a bra, based on your inability to clasp it. Make sure that it's your worst day. If you have to stay up late and get up early to make sure your fatigue is bad, do it.

A representative is always beneficial. They know the process very well. Best of luck to you!

I live in CO and the first time I applied I was denied and then I heard that is a high rate of denial state. I hired an attorney and when we went to court I was approved. No medical or psychological tests. I was almost 50 so that might have swayed the Judge. I also went in a wheelchair.

I was denied on my first application. I was in my forties and I was told the same thing about people being denied if you are below 50 yr of age.

I got my SSDI approved on the first appeal (2d try) because:

1. I got an attorney who specialized in SSDI applications and was referred to me by someone who got approval through him.

2. I got a neuro psych exam which demonstrated that I was not right cognitively. Also my memory was not good. That was the reason why I got it on the first appeal (second try).

3. My MS doc backed me up all the way. He is busier now and so may not be as helpful these days.

4. I followed up with the Social Security office and made sure that they got all the paperwork that I had requested be sent to them by the various docs. Follow up and make sure you get stuff done. Your attorney may not do it. He gave me a discount on the back pay (he only took 25% because we didn't have to have a hearing).

5. Be thorough on your application. Mention everything, don't be shy about ALL of your symptoms.

Good luck. I am sure that it is harder these days.

Problem is they are pretty cut and dry. You're disabled or you're not. Not this whole I am...now I'm not...again...now I'm not again. Not too many diseases where you're fine one day and maybe horrible the next, looking forward to tomorrow in hopes it might go away. I actually can't recollect one of them. In other words they see disability as black or white, and this is a very gray disease.

It also seems they treat you like they've never heard the phrase ms, and that you are the first and only ms patient to ever walk into their courthouse-when everyone in the room knows that's not the truth. I've never needed to apply-I would fail miserably, thankfully-but I've known many who have. It's almost like you have to "play it up" if you're kinda ok THAT DAY. They make it so you have to feel like you're scamming them somehow, when you're totally not. It's just back-asswards. There should definitely be a specific "ms" clause. It's a sickness that's in its very own category.... Good luck, keep the DS crew posted....