I am posting this in the event that this information may help someone else out here.

This is where I've been....
Lost first hearing
Appealed to Council
Won a new hearing
Lost second hearing
I am appealing to the Appeals Council for the second time.

I fired my lawyer from the second hearing so right now I have no representation.

I filed the first appeal to the Council myself. I did that because I wanted to be sure that all of the detail was presented. This time I didn't think I was up to it again, so I called another lawyer. What I found out is that if you do not use your lawyer from your hearing, another lawyer will not appeal to the Council for you. They will represent you if you file a new case and you are denied. You have that option while you are appealing to the Council. This is what I was told today.

If you file a new case, of course, your back pay no longer exists.

The surprising thing is that I was also told that a response from the Appeals Council takes over a year.
I told the woman on the phone that I found that puzzling.
When she ask me why I told her that I had already appealed to them once and won a new hearing.....and I had received that response in 5 weeks time. I not only got a letter from them, but also a phone call to tell me I had won a new hearing.

The woman said she had never heard of a response that fast. I came right out and ask her if she thought I was making it up. She said no, of course, but that she had never seen anything like that. I was so pissed, I told her I'd send her the documentation if she wanted to see it.

So, I am filing another appeal myself.
For any of you in the Appeals Council process, I hope this will help some. Don't listen when you are told how long it can take. I am proof that sometimes, it doesn't. The Appeals Council is the only aspect of this whole living nightmare that moved swiftly for me, at least it did the first time around.

My first appeal to them was 30 pages by the time I finished it. My second hearing denial is the same as the first. It's full of statements I never made at the hearing. It doesn't even mention all of the problems I have.

The interesting part is that the second denial letter contradics the first!!! Amazing!! Neither is complete in my health/mental issues. Unbelievable isn't it???

The VE at hearing one named one job I could do and it was very much working with the public.
One of the things that the Judge from the Council pointed out and agreed with me on was my inability to work with the public anymore.
Second hearing the vocational expert states 3 jobs that I can do and guess what....yup, all 3 are working with the public.

This is such an exhausting process. I am not giving up. I will write another appeal. I hope it goes to the same Judge as my last one did. God willing they will just overturn the decision and this nightmare will end.

In my case, I hope lightening can strike twice.

Robin