kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
What are your experiences with this LOVELY process?
My daughter went in, had to walk a straight line, told she was too young to be disabled, couldn't be in pain she wasn't in a wheelchair or a stroke vicitm. She was told she could be cured, why isn't she doing anything about it?
I knew it would be a sham, but I didn't know how much.
Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Kelmo, I feel for your daughter.
I just had an SSDI exam a few weeks ago.
No, there is no way I could have substituted my own doctor's exam -- of which I have many. They decided they wanted a neurologist's evaluation.
I was asked to do a grip test. He hit me with a couple hammers to elicit reflexes. He ran a pin down my arms but did not even slow down enough for me to register my telling him that I couldn't feel it in certain places. (Bilateral radial nerve "dead" spots.)
He asked how often I have migraines.
He excused himself to browse through my file as it was clear he had not seen it before. I offered additional records but he refused.
As I was leaving, he said "Don't worry, I will make sure and tell SSDI about your headache pain." This was spoken in a reassuring manner, but who can be certain?
The whole thing was less than 10 minutes long.
I am choosing to believe he will report the truth, until and unless I hear otherwise. I have a plethora of positive tests and objective evidence. I made a respectful comment about my previous neuro, resisting the urge to mention that he was an idiot, because they are just down the street from one another.
He noted my dual diagnoses of MS and lyme. I said I guessed it didn't matter what you wanted to call it, the effect on me was the same.
Kelmo, I think you have good grounds for appeal if this doctor's findings are greatly at odds with your daughter's treating physician, whose opinion is given more weight.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
I would start working on your appeal. My exam was just like that and they denied me.
My neck was horribly stiff that day, but he wrote I was fit to work. Also, i walked in with a water bottle,
so I wasnt sick since i could carry something. He also asked me if they found a cause for my IC (bladder) and I said no, they dont know what causes IC. He says everything has a cause.
He wished me luck, took a phone call during the appt to go over blood work with someone. sigh.
The whole process is a real joke in this country.
Hang in there.
Im fighting both ssi and my long term disability company right now.
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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Cant...You should have said, Yeah, the LYME caused my IC! [you IDIOT!!]
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
I told my daughter that she could've walked in blind and they would've told her that if Jose Feliciano could work, so can you.
The woman ended it by saying "You don't have chronic pain, but that doesn't mean you are disqualified".
How could she even say my daughter didn't have chronic pain, who's to judge by looking?!
I don't even know how to begin to start an appeal. We didn't do this for the check, we did this to get a letter of disability to take to my husband's HR Dept. so she could stay on our insurance. We want NOTHING from the STATE!!!
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
My daughter was one of the fortunate ones when it came to ssd/ssi. She was approved thefirst time. She was seen by 2 doctors. We were very surprised she was approved that quick.
Posts: 488 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2004
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ConnieMc
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 191
posted
Consultative exams (CEs) ordered by DDS (disability determination) or an ALJ (judge) are typically short and sweet. These doctors are paid very little for these exams and most take very little time.
The CE doctor does not make decisions on claims. What they do is determine if there is objective evidence that DDS can use when evaluating the claim.
I have seen many CEs which were very favorable to the claimant, and the claimant was still denied benefits.
Likewise, I have seen CEs which were not particularly favorable, and the claimant was allowed benefits.
An ALJ cannot use a CE to make a denial decision and disregard documentation from the primary treating physician and other evidence in the file as a whole.
Any time an ALJ cherry-picks evidence to suit his particular decision, he is generally leaving himself open for an Appeals Council remand or reversal.
An attorney or advocate can point out SSA rulings which state controlling weight goes to the treating physicians. And generate just that from the treating physician.
I always think it is best to have your own physician complete a letter to document specific reasons you cannot work.
Bettyg has a sample letter I wrote and many have used it to work toward successful claims. I have used it quite a few times successfully.
Remember, with SSA, it has nothing to do with the actual diagnosis and everything to do with your inability to function as a result of your medically determinable impairment.
With someone who is young, it is best to focus on residual functional capacity, and show that the claimant cannot sustain competitive employment. The SSA medical-vocational rules can be helpful. As long as a claimant has good longitudinal evidence that is fairly consistent, a claim can be won.
As far as CEs are concerned, go, take a page long summary with pertinent facts about your illness (date you became ill, tests with positive findings, what a typical day is like for you - don't leave out the neuropsychological symptoms) and leave it with him, and be cooperative and pleasant. He won't take much time out so be short and sweet to give him some overall understanding of what you have been through.
Good luck...
Posts: 2276 | From NC | Registered: Oct 2000
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RoadRunner
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 380
posted
get a Lawyer at all cost. make sure they are good also.
RR
-------------------- "Beep Beep" Posts: 2630 | From ct | Registered: Nov 2000
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
Both her LLMD and her psychiatrist have completed and sent in their evaluations. Daughter has been a patient of her psychiatrist for five years, and her LLMD for almost two.
Thank you for your help.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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AZURE WISH
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 804
posted
Definetely get a lawyer.
there is no way I would have been able to keep tract of all the paperwork and file things in a timely fashion myself.
If there is a local lyme support group I would ask to see who people reccomend.
posted
thx connie for contributing your background and your being a SSDI advocate/NON-lawyer expertise in this.
in my newbie package is connie mc's letter she mentioned toward the very end of ALL 25 pages of ssdi info; it's already in there and has been since she shared it on this board.
if you HAVE a good neuro psych presently, YES, you can ask that they do SSDI evaluation if that doc agrees to do this vs. their LOW-PAID mds they get.
if you are getting, make sure they can go to CIVIL/FEDERAL COURT if appeals council DENIES YOU TOO! i had my lawyer for almost 4 years until he quit me saying, i could not take your 1st one any further; he didn't have what it takes to represent me there!
so make sure that's one question you ask. if you go to federal court, the entire process can take between 6-9 years to get there and a decision made! my 2 apps took 5 full years.
after lawyer quit me, i represented myself since i was doing all the work and i was very dissatisfied with lawyer/his staff; many incompetents were fired during this time.
it took a LONG TIME TO DO THINGs, and this was noted for everything i was doing giving amount of hours etc. good luck!
also as you go along, you are going to want to read your file or disinissues web site says it's now put on CDS and you can get them.
just make sure you get the SSDI MDS/PHYSICHIATRIST'S REPORTS TOO so you can use what they are holding against you, and have proof showing they are WRONG!
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
Thanks Betty, she goes for her psyche exam next week.
I'm having all her SSDI/MDS exam notes sent to our respective doctors.
My daughter is hoping to be well before any process concludes. I would shutter to think that she would have to go another 6-9 years like this.
She is going to venture from the home this semester and take ONE class at the community college.
We have arranged for Dial-a-Ride. It's a 50 minute class of sign language. She took an 8-wk summer class and found her brain could retain it.
This is a big step for her. No...it's HUGE!
It's been over two years since she has been in a classroom.
quote:Originally posted by kelmo: What are your experiences with this LOVELY process?
I am on SSDI and have been for several years. This is what I learned: SSA workers are pressured to turn down all apps the first time, no matter what.
The ones after that--the appeals--are given as short shrift as possible.
The philosophy appears to be that those who REALLY need it will keep trying. That is not true, of course.
I could tell that I was just being played with because the responses to each appeal were simplistic and beyond absurd.
I had gone to a lawyer, and she had warned me that that was going to happen: I was to just live through it (without having to pay her), then at a certain point, when it was time for an actual hearing, I was to return to her.
Then what happened? I got a court date with an alcoholic judge that hates women and most especially my lawyer. He throws out all her cases.
So she transferred my case to a partner, which forced a change of docket so I could appear in front of a different judge. This time I was assigned a "hangin' judge" who turns everyone down.
What to my wondering eyes--especially since I usually have routinely bad luck--this judge had developed a bad back and a sudden case of compassion for others' pain. She questioned hard, but my lawyer had prepared me well: she awarded me disability.
The lesson learned? Never even try to do this alone. You need the best SSDI lawyer in town.
Do it. It's CHEAP. Posts: 13 | From Santa Fe, NM | Registered: Aug 2007
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