Do You Need Help With Your Disability Claim?

Social Security Disability Attorneys and Advocates can help you in all phases of the social security disability claim process. Contact an advocate today for your FREE case evaluation!

Archive for February, 2010

Brain AVM and Receiving Social Security Disability

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Arteriovenous malformation is what the letters AVM stands for. An AVM is a tangle of poorly formed and abnormal veins and arteries (blood vessels). An AVM has a higher rate of bleeding than normal blood vessels.

A brain AVM is when this occurs in your brain. It is an abnormal connection between veins and arteries in your brain that disrupts the normal flow of blood between these blood vessels.

Fortunately, a brain AVM is extremely rare. They happen in less than 1% of the general population of the United States.

Researchers believe that a brain AVM takes place during the development of a baby inside its mother’s womb. However, researchers do not know why this happens to some babies but not others.

There are risk factors that may increase your likelihood of having a brain AVM. Anyone can be born with a brain AVM, but boys are more likely to have one than girls. Signs and symptoms are more likely to happen before the age of 50. This is because a brain AVM tends to stay stable once you reach middle age. Pregnancy may begin or cause signs and symptoms to get worse in women because there is an increase in blood volume and flow during this time.

A brain AVM many times does not cause any signs or symptoms until it ruptures, and there is hemorrhage (bleeding) in your brain. There are several signs and symptoms that may be an indication that you have a brain AVM. Some of these are:

  • Loss of consciousness or collapse
  • Sudden onset of a severe headache
  • Seizures
  • Some type of motor paralysis
  • Sensory disturbance
  • Vomiting
  • Nausea
  • A pulsing noise in your head
  • Severe unsteadiness
  • A whooshing sound that can be heard when your skull is examined with a stethoscope
  • Numbness or weakness that is progressive
  • Problems with your speech
  • An inability to understand others.

You or a loved one may have a brain AVM. This malformation and/or complications resulting from or other conditions along with it may be why you or your loved one is disabled. A brain AVM may be why you are not able to work.

If this is your situation, you may need assistance. You may need financial help.

You or your loved one may have decided to apply for the financial assistance that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits. In fact, you may have already done this and been denied by the Social Security Administration.

If you or your loved one plans on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, here is something for you to consider. People who have a disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who are not represented by a disability attorney.

Please do not delay. Contact the disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Aphasia and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Aphasia is a language disorder that involves damage to the portions of your brain that are responsible for language. For most people, this involves the left side (hemisphere) of your brain.

Aphasia usually happens suddenly. Many times it is the result of a head injury or stroke, but it can also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor.

This disorder affects the understanding and expression of language, as well as the writing and reading of it. Aphasia may occur at the same time as other speech disorders, such as apraxia of speech or dysarthria that also come from brain damage.

Although anyone can get aphasia, most of the people with this disorder are middle-aged and older. Women and men are equally affected by aphasia. It is estimated that approximately 80,000 people get aphasia each year. About one million people in the United States currently have aphasia.

There are four main types of aphasia. They are:

  • Expressive aphasia – The person knows what it is that they want to say, but they have problems writing or saying what they mean.
  • Receptive aphasia – The person sees the print or hears the voice, but they cannot make any sense out of the words.
  • Anomic aphasia – The person has trouble using the right word for places, objects or events.
  • Global aphasia – The person cannot write or read, understand speech or speak.

The amount of disability you have depends on the severity and the location of the brain damage that is the cause of aphasia.

The effects that aphasia will have on you depend on the location and severity of the brain damage. Depending on these factors, you may:

  • Say unrecognizable words
  • Speak in short, incomplete sentences
  • Speak in sentences that do not make sense
  • Interpret figurative language literally
  • Write sentences that do not make sense
  • Not be able to understand other people’s conversation.

The effects caused by aphasia may have caused someone you love to be unable to work. Aphasia may be the cause of your loved one’s disability.

If this is the case, your loved one may need help? You may need financial help in caring for your loved one?

Where will that financial assistance come from? Who will provide the help that your loved one needs?

Have you applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits on behalf of your loved one from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by aphasia? Was your loved one denied?

If you are thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, you will need a disability lawyer like the one at socialsecurityhome.com to represent your loved one in this process. This is true because people who have a disability attorney on their side are approved more often than those people who do not have a lawyer.

Do not put this off. Contact the disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Osteomyelitis and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Osteomyelitis is the medical term that is used to refer to infection in a bone. Infections can start in one of your bones if some kind of trauma exposes your bone to germs. Infections can also reach one of your bones by spreading from a tissue that is close by or going through your blood stream.

Osteomyelitis usually affects the long bones in your body. These are your upper arm bone or your leg bones. Osteomyelitis can also affect your pelvis and spine.

Osteomyelitis can either be an acute or chronic condition in adults. In children it is usually an acute condition. Osteomyelitis affects around 2 out of every 10,000 people in the United States.

Osteomyelitis can be caused by a variety of bacteria and fungi. The most common is staphylococcus aureus. Other causes include:

  • Bacteria in your bloodstream that gets in a localized area of your bone
  • A minor trauma that can result in a blood clot around your bone and then a secondary infection
  • A soft tissue infection or a chronic open wound
  • Any kind of open injury to a bone where it pierces your skin
  • An infection from another place in your body that spreads to your bone through your blood stream.

There are several signs and symptoms that may be an indication that you have osteomyelitis. Some of these are:

  • Fever that is abrupt
  • Chills
  • Nausea that is a result of being sick with an infection
  • Sweating excessively
  • Tenderness and/or pain in the affected bone
  • Swelling of your legs, feet or ankles
  • Malaise (general feeling of sickness, discomfort or uneasiness)
  • Changes in your gait (the way you walk)
  • Warmth, redness and swelling in the affected bone
  • Lower back pain if your spine is affected
  • The drainage of pus through your skin
  • Lethargy or irritability in young children
  • Chronic fatigue.

You or a loved one may have been diagnosed with osteomyelitis. This condition and/or complications resulting from or other conditions along with it may be why you are not able to work. It may be causing you or your loved one’s disability.

Because of this, you may need assistance. You may need financial help.

You or your loved one may have applied for the financial assistance that you need by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by osteomyelitis and/or complications resulting from or other conditions along with it. Were you or your loved one denied by the Social Security Administration?

If you or your loved one is considering appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, always remember this. People who are represented by a disability attorney like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who do not have a disability lawyer.