Social Security Disability Benefits | Disability Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Social Security Disability Benefits’

Sleep Apnea and Receiving Social Security Disability

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Do you wake up feeling weary and sluggish after a full night’s sleep? Do people tell you that you snore loudly? Do you get sleepy during the day? If the answer is, “Yes”, to these questions you may have sleep apnea. Apnea is Greek for “without breath.”

In this potentially serious sleep disorder, breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. These breathing pauses in your sleep can happen hundreds of times during your sleep and can last often times for a minute or longer. Usually, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a choking sound or loud snort.

Sleep apnea is usually a chronic condition that disrupts your sleep 3 or more nights each week. You often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep when your breathing pauses or becomes shallow. This results in poor sleep quality that makes you feel tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

There are 3 main types of sleep apnea. There is obstructive sleep apnea, which is the most common type. This kind of sleep apnea occurs when your throat muscles relax. Central sleep apnea happens when your brain does not send proper signals to your muscles that control breathing. The third type of sleep apnea is complex sleep apnea. This is a combination of both obstructive and central sleep apneas.

Some of the main risk factors for getting sleep apnea are high blood pressure, a thick neck, obesity, a narrowed airway, a family history of sleep apnea, being male, smoking, use of alcohol, sedatives, or tranquilizers and being over the age of 40. However, sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children.

The effects caused by obstructive and central sleep apnea are similar making it difficult to determine which type you have. Some of these effects are:

§ Loud snoring

§ Awaking with a sore throat or a dry mouth

§ Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)

§ Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)

§ Abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath

§ Morning headache

§ Observed episodes of pauses in breathing during sleep.

Sleep apnea and/or complications resulting from it may be why you or a loved one is unable to work. This disorder may be the cause of your disability.

Consequently, you may need help. You may need financial aid.

Have you or your loved one applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration? Were you or your loved one denied?

You or your loved one may decide to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, think about this.

You or your loved one will need a proven disability lawyer like the one at socialsecurityhome.com to represent you in the appeals process. This is true because people who are represented by a qualified disability attorney are approved more often than people without a lawyer.

Do not wait. Contact the reliable disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Tags: Sleep Apnea, Sleep Apnea as a disability, Social Security Disability, social security disability attorney, Social Security Disability Benefits, Social Security Disability Lawyer
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Sleep Disorder and Receiving Social Security Disability

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

You may wonder what a sleep disorder is. A sleep disorder is a medical disorder of your sleep patterns. It is any difficulty that you have related to sleeping. This includes trouble staying asleep or falling asleep, excessive total sleep time, falling asleep at inappropriate times or abnormal behaviors associated with sleep.

There are more than 100 waking or sleeping disorders that have been identified. These can be grouped into 4 main categories:

Problems with staying awake
Sleep-disruptive behaviors
Problems with falling and staying asleep
Problems with staying on a regular sleep schedule.

Out of the over 100 sleep disorders that are divided into 4 main categories, there are 4 common sleep disorders.

Insomnia – It is often a sign or symptom of other problems. It refers to the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep at night. It also refers to daytime fatigue and waking up earlier than usual.
Sleep apnea – The primary sign or symptom is excessive daytime sleepiness. Some people will not admit to sleepiness but feel fatigued. Other indications of sleep apnea are snorting, snoring and gasping sounds while you sleep. The person who is sleeping with you notices these. Headaches in the morning and restless or unrefreshing sleep are also signs and symptoms.
Narcolepsy – Excessive daytime sleepiness that is relieved by naps is a sign of this sleep disorder. Other indications are loss of muscle control (cataplexy) that happens with emotion like anger or laughing, the inability to move when waking up or going to sleep (sleep paralysis), dreaming during naps and having dream-like hallucinations as you fall asleep.
Restless leg syndrome – The primary sign or symptom is an irresistible urge to move your legs shortly after going to bed, in the middle of the night when you wake up, or even when you are wide awake during the day. Twitching or “creepy-crawly” feeling in your arms, thighs, calves, or feet are symptoms. Twitching or kicking leg movements while you are asleep or awake are also indications of this sleep disorder.

You or a loved one may have a sleep disorder. Sleep disorder may be the cause of you or your loved one’s disability.

If this is the case, do you need help? Do you need financial help?

Have you or your loved one applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by sleep disorder? Were you or your loved one denied?

If you or your loved one is thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, you will need a confident disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com to represent you in the appeals process. This is true because people who are represented by a caring disability attorney are approved more often than people who are not represented by a lawyer.

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

Tags: sleep disorders, Social Security Disability, Social Security Disability Application, Social Security Disability Benefits, social security disability review
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Polycystic Kidney Disease and Receiving Social Security Disability

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a progressive, genetic disorder of your kidneys. It is a kidney disorder passed down through families in which multiple cysts form on your kidneys, causing them to become enlarged. These clusters of cysts are noncancerous round sacs containing water-like fluid.

Polycystic kidney disease is not limited to just your kidneys, although your kidneys usually are the most severely affected organs. This disease can cause cysts to develop in other places in your body.

Polycystic kidney disease is also referred to in other ways. It is referred to as cysts – kidneys, kidney – polycystic, and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

Approximately 7 million people have this disease worldwide. Around 600,000 people have polycystic kidney disease in the United States. It is the 4^th leading cause of kidney failure in America. Polycystic kidney disease is the most common life-threatening genetic disease.

There are two main forms of polycystic kidney disease. They are the autosomal dominant form and the autosomal recessive form. The autosomal dominant form is much more common but less severe. The autosomal recessive form is far less common but more severe. There is a rare form of polycystic kidney disease that is referred to as “PKD3″.

Polycystic kidney disease is passed down through families as a genetic disease. It is usually an autosomal dominant trait. Children have a 50% chance of getting this disorder if one parent carries the gene.

There are several signs and symptoms that you may experience with polycystic kidney disease. Some of these include:

Blood in your urine
Excessive urination at night
Back or side pain related to enlarged kidneys
Abdominal tenderness or pain
Increase in the size of your abdomen
Joint pain
Drowsiness
Painful menstruation for women
High blood pressure (link to page High Blood Pressure and Disability)
Nail abnormalities
Kidney stones
Kidney infections
Kidney failure.

You or a loved one may have polycystic kidney disease. It may be the reason you or your loved one is disabled and unable to work.

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

Have you or your loved one tried to get that financial assistance by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by polycystic kidney disease? Were you or your loved one denied?

You or your loved one may be planning on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, remember this.

You or your loved one will need the representation of a caring disability attorney in what can be a long and trying process. The reason for this is because people who are represented by a confident disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than those who do not have an attorney.

Do not wait. Contact the accomplished disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Tags: Social Security Disability, social security disability attorney, Social Security Disability Benefits, Social Security Disability Lawyer
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Multiple Sclerosis and Receiving Social Security Disability

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, potentially disabling disease that affects your central nervous system. Your central nervous system is made up of your brain and spinal cord.

Multiple sclerosis is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are those in which your immune system attacks parts of your body as if they are something foreign.

With multiple sclerosis, your body mistakenly sets white blood cells and antibodies against proteins in your myelin sheath. This is a fatty substance that insulates nerve fibers in your brain and spinal cord. This leads to injury and inflammation to your myelin sheath and ultimately to your nerves that it surrounds. This in turn may lead to multiple areas of scarring (sclerosis). Eventually, this damage can block or slow your nerve signals that control your strength, sensation, vision and muscle coordination.

Multiple sclerosis affects an estimated 300,000 people in the United States and probably more than 1 million people around the world. Women are twice as susceptible to multiple sclerosis as men. Most people experience their first signs or symptoms between the ages of 20 and 40.

Multiple sclerosis is unpredictable and varies in severity. Multiple sclerosis can range anywhere from being relatively mild and benign, to somewhat disabling, to devastating with permanent disability.

The effects that are caused by multiple sclerosis vary widely, depending on the location of your nerve fibers that are affected. Some of the ways that you may be affected are:

Blurring of your vision or double vision
Pain or tingling in parts of your body
Dizziness
Electric-shock sensations that happen when you make certain head movements
Fatigue
An unsteady gait in your walking, tremor or lack of coordination
Weakness or numbness in one or more of your limbs
Partial or complete loss of vision.

These effects may keep you or a loved one from working. Multiple sclerosis may be the cause of you or your loved one’s disability.

If this is true, you or your loved one may need assistance. You may need financial help.

Have you or your loved one applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by multiple sclerosis? Were you or your loved one denied?

You or your loved one may plan on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you decide to do this, here is something that you need to think about.

You will need an established disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com to represent you in what can prove to be a long and trying process. The reason this is true is because people who are represented by an experienced disability attorney are approved more often than people who do not have a lawyer.

Do not wait. This may affect you or your loved one for the rest of your life. Contact the good disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Tags: disability, Multiple Sclerosis, Social Security Disability, Social Security Disability Benefits
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Graves’ Disease and Receiving Social Security Disability

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Have you ever heard of Graves’ disease? It is the most common form of hyperthyroidism. In fact, Graves’ disease is responsible for 50 to 60% of the 500,000 people a year who are diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in the United States.

Graves’ disease can occur at any age to either men or women. However, it is far more common with women than men, usually beginning after the age of 20.

Graves’ disease is a type of autoimmune disease that causes your thyroid gland to produce too much of the hormone thyroxine. An autoimmune disease is one in which your body’s immune system mistakenly attacks your own body. In the case of Graves’ disease, your immune system produces antibodies that stimulate your thyroid to produce too much thyroxine.

There are many ways in which Graves’ disease may affect you. Sometimes you can have this disorder without any signs or symptoms. These effects can occur slowly or come on suddenly. They are sometimes confused with other medical conditions. Some of the most common effects of Graves’ disease are:

Unintended weight loss
Frequent bowel movements
Trouble getting pregnant
Lighter menstrual flow
Muscular weakness
Hand tremors
Fatigue and weakness
Trouble sleeping
Irritability
Sensitivity to heat
Rapid heartbeat
Changes in how your eyes look or your vision.

Graves’ disease is the only type of hyperthyroidism that is associated with bulging of your eyes and the tissue around your eyes swelling. In rare cases, you may develop a reddish lumpy thickening of the skin in front of your shins called pretibial myxedema. This condition is usually painless.

Graves’ disease and/or complications resulting from it may be why you or your loved one is not able to work. It may be the cause of your disability.

If this is the case, you or your loved one may need help. You may need financial assistance.

Have you or your loved one thought about applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by Graves’ disease? Have you or your loved one already done this and been denied by the Social Security Administration?

You may be wondering what to do next? What options do you have? Do you have any recourse?

One step that you or your loved one can take is to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you decide to do this, here is something that you need to keep in mind.

You or your loved one is going to need the help and assistance of a diligent disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com in what can be a long and arduous process. The reason this is true is because people who are represented by a dependable disability attorney are approved more often than those people who are without a lawyer.

Do not hesitate. Contact the accomplished disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Tags: Disability Attorney, Graves' Disease, Social Security Disability, Social Security Disability Benefits
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Receiving Social Security Disability For Your Chronic Liver Disease

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Chronic liver disease is an umbrella term that can refer to any one of a number of liver diseases. These liver diseases are slow progressing. They usually continue for a long period of time.

The result of chronic liver disease is a progressive destruction of your liver. There is also a regeneration of your liver parenchyma that leads to fibrosis and cirrhosis. This destruction of your liver will probably take place over a period of several years.

The effects of chronic liver disease can reach a stage where they are debilitating. In fact, you or a loved one may be at a point, right now, where you cannot work. Chronic liver disease and/or complications caused by or associated with it may be the reason for you or your loved one’s disability.

There is an extensive list of liver diseases that fall under the heading of chronic liver disease. Some of these include:

Cirrhosis
Alcoholic liver disease
Hepatitis B and C
Liver cancer
Epstein Barr Virus
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Primary sclerosing cholangitis
Wilson’s disease

The signs and symptoms of chronic liver disease do not usually appear until the disease has progressed for a while. Then you may begin to be affected by several signs and symptoms. Some of these are:

Loss of appetite
Fatigue
Nausea
Dry mouth
Jaundice
Mental confusion
Excessive thirst
Abdominal pain and tenderness.

Have you or your loved one thought about applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by chronic liver disease and/or complications caused by or associated with this condition? Have you or your loved one already done this and been denied by the Social Security Administration?

You or your loved one may be wondering what to do next? Do you have any recourse? What options are open to you?

One option that you or your loved one have open to you is to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you decide to do this, here is something important for you to think about.

You or your loved one is going to need a qualified disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com to represent and advise you in what can prove to be a long and exasperating process. The reason for this being true is because people who have a proven disability attorney on their side are approved more often than those people who do not have a lawyer.

Tags: disability lawyer, Social Security Disability, Social Security Disability Benefits
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Social Security Administration using Nationwide Health Information Network to gather medical information

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

In March, the Social Security Administration became the first government entity to begin using the Nationwide Health Information Network Information Network (NHIN).

NHIN was developed to establish a nationwide service to share quality, secure, common information in a timely manner and allow medical providers to share a wealth of information for better medical care. The goal of the Social Security Administration is to receive and evaluate medical records in minutes instead of weeks or even months.

The Social Security Administration processes on average three million Social Security Disability applications each year and requests over fifteen million medical records from medical providers across the United States. Unfortunately, each of the over 900,000 medical providers who currently provide medical information have to gather the data manually.

The federal government and the private sector partnered together to create a system which will allow a secure exchange of medical information between patients and medical care providers. The immediate access of medical information will hopefully decrease the time it takes for the Social Security Administration to receive medical records, which is currently one of the main barriers to making timely Social Security Disability decision.

According to Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, the NHIN system is a “safe and secure method for receiving electronic medical records and will allow us to improve our service to the public by cutting days, if not weeks, off the time it takes to make a disability decision.”

This is great news for the 2.6 millions individuals who apply for Social Security Disability benefits as well as everyone involved in the medical documentation process. With the development of the NHIN system, medical professionals will be able to spend less time in the labor intensive process of gathering and submitting medical records and more time treating patients.

How does the Nationwide Health Information Network Information Network (NHIN) work?

NHIN will allow the Social Security system to send electronic messages to certain medical facilities listed as treating facilities on the patient’s Social Security Disability application. The electronic message will automatically request the medical record and the treating facility will respond by providing the medical information on line. Within minutes, all relevant medical information will be easily viewed and evaluated by the Social Security Administration. Medical codes may also be assigned to certain medical conditions which will allow the disability examiners to obtain the records and evaluate the Social Security Disability applications more quickly.

The Social Security Administration has developed new technologies in the last few years including NHIN, the online application process and hiring more employees in an effort to speed up the Social Security Disability determination process. This is good news for the millions of unemployed, disabled Americans who are waiting for Social Security Disability benefits.

If you are one of the millions of applicants waiting for a decision, or if you have been denied Social Security Disability benefits, hiring a Social Security Disability Attorney can increase your chances of being awarded Social Security Disability benefits at all stages of the disability application process.

Tags: National Health Information Network, social security administration, Social Security Disability Benefits, Social Security Disabiltiy
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Can A Social Security Disability Attorney help speed up my Social Security Disability Hearing or Social Security Disability Decision?

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

There are only a few scenarios in which a Social Security Disability Attorney can help speed up a Social Security Disability Hearing. It is important to understand that the main goal of hiring a Social Security Disability Attorney is to increase your chances or winning your Social Security Disability claim, not expediting the Social Security Disability process. That said, listed below are several ways a Social Security Disability Attorney may be able to help expedite your Social Security Disability Claim:

Ensure all updated medical information is gathered in a timely fashion and sent to the Social Security Administration prior to all appeals.
In certain limited cases a Social Security Disability hearings may be scheduled more quickly if the claimant can prove they are in dire need. The Social Security Disability Attorney can work with the claimant to submit the necessary paperwork: dire need letter, past due notices for rent, utility bills, eviction notices and medical prescriptions. There must be serious financial need to warrant an expedited Social Security Disability hearing.
If you have had a Social Security Disability Hearing scheduled you may be able to expedite the decision by requesting an on-the-record-review (OTR). This OTR request will ask that the Social Security Disability claim be reviewed before the Administrative hearing is held. The main benefit of the on-the-record-review is that you may get approved more quickly with out waiting for the decision of the Administrative Law Judge at the Social Security Disability hearing. OTR Reviews are only approved if your physical or mental health condition has gotten substantially worse and your medical information is up to date and can substantiate your worsening health claim.
The last way to speed up the Social Security Disability hearing is to have a United States Congressman or United States Senator launch a congressional inquiry. A Social Security Disability hearing may be expedited for a claimant if a staff member requests it either by calling or writing. This is difficult to do, but has had limited success.

In most instances a Social Security Disability Attorney will not be able to move your Social Security Disability claim through the Social Security Administrative process faster than you can with out Social Security Disability legal representation. What the Social Security Disability Attorney can do is increase your chances of winning Social Security Disability benefits at all levels of the Social Security Disability process.

Most ssdi.htm”title=”SS Disability Insurance” >Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income claims are denied at the initial application level and the reconsideration level. If your Social Security Disability claim is appealed to the Administrative Law Judge level and you are scheduled for a Social Security Disability hearing, representation by a Social Security Disability lawyer can greatly increase your chances of success.

A Social Security Disability Attorney has the experience to gather, read and evaluate your medical documentation and prepare the information for the Administrative Law Judge in the format he requires. The Social Security Disability Attorney can evaluate your mental and physical health impairments and help the Administrative Law Judge evaluate how it compares to the Social Security Impairment Listing and determine the amount of your residual work capacity.

The most important thing a Social Security Disability Attorney offers is the expertise to navigate the Social Security Disability hearings, decipher and answer all the Administrative Law Judge questions and answer questions regarding your work capacity. If there are vocational or medical experts who are providing expert testimony for the Administrative Law Judge, your Social Security Disability Attorney can respond to the experts and provide additional information which the Administrative Law Judge can use to make his decision.

Tags: disability lawyer, Social Security Disabilitty Attorney, Social Security Disability Application, Social Security Disability Benefits, Social Security Disability case, Social Security Disability Process, social security disability review, Supplemental Security Income
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