I had my hearing May 7th and i'm still not sure if i'm going to be approved or not. My Rep. said I did well.....My husband said I did well....but I feel like I present the "reality" of my condition.
At the end of the hearing the judge asked the vocational person to give him 3 jobs I could perform given my limitations (no working with the public, minimal contact with other employees, not skilled 1 process work) may have been more but my memory is horrible. So, he comes up with 1--cleaning houses, 2--garment sorter, 3--simple assembly work. REALLY, was he listening during any of the hearing????? My husband does alllllll the housework. I can't type or write for very long because of the pain in my fingers and wrists. I have constant pain in my back neck and shoulders but I can sort garments???????
SOOO, my rep. counters back with "given the amount of times she naps during the day would she still be able to do these jobs? His answer "NO".
I felt that this was maybe a good sign that I would be approved. As the judge, lady recorder, vocational person all left the room they each turned to me and said good luck. I wasn't sure how to take that. Good luck winning your case or good luck with your illness???
I called S.S. last week to get an update and to try to sign up for an account so I could check S.S. online status. The woman told me that I had to wait for the letter to mailed to me and didn't have access to what the decision the judge made was. Is this normal or should I be freaked out?
Agreed - they take their time. For me, it was 3 months after my hearing before I got my denial letter.
I callled back again and asked about my claim and he said I should be getting a letter any day down BUT, the judge had ruled unfavorable...
My spirit is broken and I am lost. What/where do I go from here? This is destroying my life and my future with my husband and children. We may lose everything now. I am in complete shock and cannot stop crying. I saw my phycitrist and he is adding medication to try to help me through this.
Call your attorney and the attorney to check with SS, figure out the current status, and have them denote serious financial need (if that is the case).
Never believe what you hear verbally from a rep at SS until you get the letter in your hands. For all you know he/she is looking at outdated information. It's possible the results of your hearing haven't been input into the system yet.
I callled back again and asked about my claim and he said I should be getting a letter any day down BUT, the judge had ruled unfavorable...
My spirit is broken and I am lost. What/where do I go from here? This is destroying my life and my future with my husband and children. We may lose everything now. I am in complete shock and cannot stop crying. I saw my phycitrist and he is adding medication to try to help me through this.
I don't know what to do now.
Your rep knows what to do - give them a call. In my case, we appealed the judges decision and started a brand new claim at the same time.
I completely understand how your are feeling. I also felt broken and lost and could not stop crying. The one thing you cannot do is give up. Reading the years and years of posts on this message board, I noticed that many times it takes many, many years to finally get approved.
In 2008, I had my ALJ hearing, got denial letter too. I appealed it. I took it all the way to the Federal Level in 2009. I wanted to give up too, the Drs. I had in 2008-2009, didn't want to fill out RFC forms, I had insurance with "K" an HMO (don't think I can name here), but they were terrible.
I changed insurance, I returned to some old DR's and a couple of new ones, I told them I've been fighting to get my SSD since 2006, would they please help, they agreed. New Drs. got my old records too.
One must have their Drs. list all your symptoms, meds you are taking, necessary test to prove your illnesses,continuing medical care on a regular basis. I won, finally without a second hearing, I was dreading it.
Same judge from ALJ hearing made an "on the record decision".
because my symptoms were credible due to my illness I have, also, DR's notes in describing helped greatly.
I just showed my Rhuemy dr. yesteray, my Fully Favorable decision, he was shocked, because he hadn't seen an approval in a long time. I said thankyou for his letter and RFC form he wrote to help my case.
Rhuemy, does believe me when I tell him how my body pains are affecting me.
It's weird, I was approved for Fibromyalgia w/chronic pain, IBS(severe stomach pains). No mention of the Lupus that I do have, maybe cause my dr. thinks its in remission and didn't mention it.
Don't give up, basicly(sp), same thing was mentioned at my ALJ hearing in 2008, did say at hearing that I can take my breaks in car to lie down, I was upset when I heard that. But this was mentioned on my approval letter as part of me being approved
Keep fighting it, take it to the Federal Level if you have to, but I hope you win on appeal if you were denied.
It takes time for their response. It's not uncommon that it takes 3 months to get the letter but a month later you find a huge deposit in your account. This happened to me. You can call your case manager to find out the progress. Some states are slower than others.
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No matter how great your illness or pain, there's always someone else who may be worse off.