:wave: Hi all, I was sent to see a Phsycologist (which that in itself was quite interesting :p ), an internalist and a trip to the hospital for xrays. They all said they would have their reports to soc. security w/i 2 weeks. (I found out that by law, soc. sec. has to provide the reports to your personal Dr. but only if you request it. So, I did do that..I'm pretty curious:)). Anyway, it all seemed to go well, although I am not getting my hopes up. This is only my 1st go around.

If anyone has specific questions about these type of work ups...just let me know and I will be glad to let you know my experiences.

Hope all is going well for each of you.

Lorie :angel:

Hi!

What a great coincidence that I read your post today! (Or as Oprah would say, there are no coincidences! :angel: ) I just got my letter with an appointment with a psychologist. What can I expect? I'm new to the board. I have rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and depression. I'm very interested to hear what you have to say.

Thank you so much!

stpat

For me, I have lots of spinal problems, fibromyalgia and depression. The phsycologist just wanted to focus on the depression but most of my depression and anxieties stem from the chronic pain and the fact that I have bladder problems and the fear of having an accident or the anxieties of living like this for the rest of my life...that is my depression part of dissability. (But my main disability are the physical things). She did not want to hear about any of the physical things...at all! She opened a book that had the symptoms of depression and went down a checklist of symptoms. She never looked at me, I sat on the couch and she sat at a desk w/ her back towards me. She litterally just read from this book and asked me if I had any of the following and she read of a list. She named 4 items and asked me to repeat it back to her. She asked who the president was and who the president was prior to Bush. She asked if I was suicidal. She did not seem to care about the fears and anxieties, since I wasn't suicidal or seriously disturbed. I have since received my denial of Soc. Sec. (which I am appealing:)) I also asked for a copy of the Drs. reports. I haven't recieved those yet.

Good luck,
Lorie :angel:

Thank you so much for the information. I'll let you know how it went.

stpat

Lorie, when my husband went through his IME, he had to make a request in writing for the dr. report. Did they ask the same of you? What I find really odd is that those questions that were asked of you by a psychologist were the same ones that the retired orthopedist (clinical examiner SSA sent dh to) asked. Dh had all of his films with him but the examiner didn't want to see any of them. Apparently all the medical records were sent to him by SSA. After dh answered the questions, he then had to go through a grueling physical exam. The dr supported his claim - and I swear it was NOT because I broke down and boo-hooed. We hadn't read one report that the dr had indicating that the neuro was having some doubts about a complete recovery after a lumbar fusion. That really hit home for us and was the thing that started the water works. So, dh ended up with an honest, thorough CE who supported his claim of being unable to work. Social Security denied him, again, however. But, the good news is that the decision ended up being overturned primarily because the administration ignored the medical evidence - including what their own dr. said.

My fingers are crossed for both of you!!!

Kaybee-wow, so much of that sounds identical to my experience. I had to request the copies in writing and include my Drs. address. (They will only send them to your Dr.). I too had to go for a physical exam and that Dr. was thourough but honest. He supported my disability and he even showed me how he answered the questions asked of him. Still I was denied. Go figure :yawn: . Hopefully my appeal will change things.

I am happy that your claim finally did go through.

Lorie :angel:

Lorie

How do I go about getting them to send the copies to my dr? Do I need to go to the SS office and fill out a form? I want to see what the psy said in his report. When my dr receives it will they give me a copy? I was denied first time, then denied again on reconsideration, have meeting with lawyer next week for request for hearing. I have a Congressman involved but so far he hasn't been much help. All I do is sit, wait and struggle to make it month to month. This is a frustrating process!

Lynne

I just can't figure out why SSA sends you to a dr knowing they still plan to deny the claim, no matter the diagnosis! At least it sure seems that way. I picture a group of claims reps sitting around a table discussing each claim (probably for all of two seconds), then they come across the ones who have 'their' doctor's opinion stating that the claimant can't work. What in the world do they say at that point? "Um, well, this fella has the medical evidence to support his claim. Even the dr. we sent him to says he can't work. Hmmm...he's only 45. Let's just deny him again and see what happens. Maybe he'll give up. He's depressed enough. Maybe he'll do something crazy in all his pain, be sent to jail, and we won't have to provide him with any benefits".

Okay this may be a slight exaggeration but my opinion is that the system is so screwed up, this analogy can't be too far off.

Lynne, I'm sorry you're having to wait and wait. You too, Lorie.

I know that the letter I sent requesting the report was one I wrote and faxed but for the life of me, I thought I had sent it to the local SSA office who mailed it to my house. We were so excited to get the supportive results, I turned right around and sent it to our atty after giving them a call. They warned us not to get our hopes up, tho. The denial followed in less than a week.

I don't know if it the same in your state, but the letter I got from the determination department with the info. of what Drs. they had arranged for me to see stated that if I faxed or sent them a request for the report and my Dr's. address they would provide it to them. Your Dr. is required by the HIPPA law to give you the copies of the reports.

I hope that helps,

Lorie :angel:

Thanks for your replies Kaybee & Lorie.

I'll send a letter to SS to request a copy of what the psy stated in his report. They said on my denial letter that I was nervous and anxious.....well who wouldn't be trying to get through this process!? But they felt I could still work as long as it was with minimal contact with the general public??? Started laughing when reading that remark. Aren't too many jobs out there that don't work with the general public at sometime or another. I'm really curious to see if he gave an explanation for that statement, that had to have come from the psy. I was a bookkeeper at the time I got sick and even bookkeepers work with the general public, especially when you are taking payments for their accounts. Their system is major screwed up! My diagnosis is DDD in neck and back, some kind of balance problem that hasn't been identified as of yet but has been documented by doctors, and major fatigue; so there is pain when sitting for longer than 20 minutes, standing for too long makes me out of balance until I have to sit down to keep from falling over, my mind is in a constant fog (great for working with figures), I'm liable to fall asleep anywhere and to top it all off I'm bi-polar. They stated in their denial letter that I should look for a bookkeeping job and continue working. Where is someone going to find a bookkeeping job where they don't work with the general public, can stand up while doing it but sit down when they feel like they are going to fall down and take a nap when they get too exhausted to continue on and take medications throughout the day that make them loopy? Don't know of any employer who is going to go for that. With all these medication I'm on if I make it to work it would be a miracle because my driving skills stink even though I don't drive until at least 3 hours after taking it. I would make so many mistakes they would fire me the first day. Maybe I should apply for a job at the Social Security office, disability department? :)

Trying to keep a positive attitude about this but it's getting less positive everyday. Reading these boards makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone in this struggle!

just wanted to tell you that you just gotta hang in there cause you ARE dissabled and you cant work, so i think it will have to come through for you eventually. It's so hard the wait, but you need to just do your best until they finally see. Im so sorry, it certainly is wrong, but it'll be ok in the end if you just outwait them.

Hanging in there Phobic! I feel bad for anyone who is going through this disability process. Thanks for the pep talk, we all need to hear that often! I'm trying to raise 2 teenage girls with very little help from the father (he skips payments constantly). Think I've exhausted every avenue of aid there is so it's starting to get scary. I'm trying to keep them from finding out how bad the situation is financially but some days I want to yell back at them when they start yelling at me about not having money to do this or that or going places. They should be happy to have what we DO have right now and feel blessed when I am able to take them somewhere, but kids don't think that way. I've explained to them over and over that I don't want to be sick, didn't choose to hurt like this, would rather be bringing in that nice paycheck so we could go do things, would love to go on trips and eat out in restaurants again. They aren't the only ones sacrificing but they wouldn't listen. I'm lucky that I have a friend who is willing to help out when it's absolutely necessary and cousins nearby that help when they can but folks can only do so much for so long and it's way past time for them to stop helping out. Don't know how other folks manage to wait out the disability people for years? Right now I take one day at a time and try not to think too far into the future to keep from having panic attacks. Also a lot of praying going on here!

Take care
Lynne

I'm trying to keep them from finding out how bad the situation is financially but some days I want to yell back at them when they start yelling at me about not having money to do this or that or going places.
:eek: :eek: :eek:
If they were my children, they would be picking up their faces from the floor and/or I would be doing time on death row. :D
Maybe you should let them know how things really are & stop sheltering them! :nono:
Sorry about being so blunt & crossing that parental line Kymtnms. :cool:
Don't know how other folks manage to wait out the disability people for years?
It took me 3 years from the time I filed SSD until my first check was directly deposited.
Until that time, I lived off of Workers Comp, savings & investments. So, I guess you could say I was luckier than most of the folks here.
However, I did my homework. I knew it was going to take a long time in my state, so I was *prepared* for the long haul.
In my state you can get on what SSD calls Emergency General Assistance for one year. You can get $$$ for rent, morgage & utilities. You also get medicaid & food stamps *if you want it*.
The above is good for adults w/no children.
For *famillies* I think the litature recommended that you
seek full blown welfare. Depending on the county that you live in, the SS dept does all this for you if your case is going to take *years*! :D

From what I gather from my caseworker at the time, each state has their own set of rules regarding *taking care of their own*.

I do believe Bush has passed a law to cut down on the wait time between the initial application, reconsidertion & hearing before the judge. I do not know when the law takes effect and/or if it will be retroactive for the people currently waiting for their decisions. :confused:


Good luck everybody!!!!! :angel:

Thanks for the info Ms Migraine!

Don't worry about stepping over that parental line because there aren't too many days go by that I haven't thought about putting their faces in the floor! :) Last night I did tell them that even if we had money to do things we wouldn't be doing them so it doesn't matter and stop fussing about it, I'm too sick and in pain most of the time to do anything, if we make it to the grocery they should consider themselves lucky folks. I'm not shielding them as much as I am my ex-husbands family, my youngest daughter loves to talk and tells every little thing she knows. My ex's family has a big problem with food stamps, welfare, etc so I've been keeping the food stamp issue low key. It's a long story but there is a reason for all this hush-hush. The girls and I moved from TN to KY 8 months ago to get far away from these people because I could see where all this was going. That took a lot of stress off me but didn't make my kids too happy. Anyway, the less my girls know about the financial situation the better right now but they do need to stop yelling about money and going places situation!

Guess the people at the food stamp and SS office in this state don't tell you what else is out there as far as help for families.

I did have a little saved up but it went pretty quick when my ex decided to stop paying me. The court is going after him but little good it's going to do when he keeps changing jobs.

When at the lawyers office yesterday to file for Request for Hearing they made me feel like things were suddenly speeding up....more of a sense of urgency to get latest records so maybe it won't be too much longer before the hearing. I filed in October 2005 so really it's only been 6 months but feels like 6 years.

Guess all anyone can do is just hang in here and take it one day at a time!

Lynne