Information for SSDI application

Hi Sharon, I am currently in the same boat you are. I’ll share with you where I am right now with the process. I applied in march and got my first denial in june. 80-85% of people are denied at least once. I strongly suggest you have a SS lawyer. Mine is a former senior attorney with SS and boy has he enlightened me about the process. We are now on appeal which he said would take another 60-90 days. If we get another denial we file for a hearing. Counsel is very supportive and stresses PATIENCE. They are confident about the outcome but say it could be a year before final. You’ve got to hang in there and be as thorough as possible with the questions on their many forms. I’m sure someone will come on that’s already been through the whole process..Good luck! Vicki

Sharon:

I have CIDP and applied for SSDI in Nov. 05. I was approved on my initial application, in May 06. I believe my initial application was succesful due to:

1) I had a one page letter from my doctor on top of my medical records that concisely outlined my physical limitations from CIDP, stating the many things I cannot do. The letter stated that my condition may improve slightly or worsen over the next 12 months, but in all regards renders me unable to perform work.

2) My medical records included a 12 month, every month history of muscle strength grades on the 0 – 5 scale for all the areas tested in a neurological exam. This history easily demonstrated persistent, profound weakness.

3) The SS Admin sent me a form to fill out about 3 months after I submitted my initial application online. I chose to fill this form out in “handwriting” which at that time was practically illegible, from hand paralysis. I figured that was good demonstration….

I received good advice prior to applying in that the doctor’s cover letter was crucial, and to not just rely on the name of the disease you have as proof of disability, but more on exactly what it is that the disease prevents you from being able to do.

Best of luck to you –

I wold love to see the type of letter you used to have your dr signed I am getting ready to go on short term disabilitiy and during tha time I am applyhing for SSDI. SO I need a good letter for my dr to use for my employer for the STD that will then end up growing up into the good letter for the SSDI that tells my problems. I would love to be able to use yours as a template kind of and then just change it for the problems that are happening to me. O did you fid a good example.template somewhere else ina book or somehting Havent a hrd time wrigin but hopefully I can get someone else to type it up for me if I cant get typing better. Thankis.

Sharon,

I had posted some links on the old forum, I will see what I can find for you.

Jerimy

This first link isn’t related to SSI/SSD but it contains links to many programs for help/assistance and I wanted to make sure you had it, still looking for any other links I had saved:

[B][COLOR=#002060][FONT=&quot]needymeds.com [/FONT][/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#002060][FONT=&quot](cut and paste link into browser)[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#002060][FONT=&quot]NeedyMeds is the best source of information for people who need help with the cost of medicine and other healthcare expenses. [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#002060][FONT=&quot]This site is like the Yellow Pages. We do not supply medications or financial assistance but we do provide information so you can find programs that will help you.

Also just in case you didn’t have this link [B]cidpusa.org/ [/B][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#002060][FONT=&quot](cut and paste link into browser)[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#002060][FONT=&quot]
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