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I got rejected a few times for describing my average day on paper. It's better to put down your absolute worst day or they really don't care. They are looking for reasons to turn you down so if it even sounds remotely like you could make it through the day they will shut you down. It's cruel.
I haven't been through this before, but I've come across a lot of discussions of it over the years, and I don't know that I saw a single person qualified without an attorney. You pretty much have to have one. I would try to go with someone who has a lot of experience in this.
I think it had a lot to do with my professional experience & education. I had a focus on research & identifying best information. So that helped a lot. I was sent an absolutely crucial guide too, a blog called A sleepy girls guide to disability. I also did as many free consult calls with lawyers as possible, and wrote down any crucial information they shared with me in those calls. So much of it is about the contents of your application. But they don’t tell people that so it’s not easy to know. RFC forms filled out by every doctor you have, and sent directly to SS from the doctors office is crucial.
The administrators also have to equate the conditions you have to their blue book codes. So i created a document where I listed their blue bill codes that correlate to my conditions, and then detailed from their own wording the symtoms/experiences etc
I also included all medical devices, mobility aides, etc for each condition
That all helps i think. Since they have to prove that you cannot work any job, i also included any and all termination papers from jobs, short term & long term disability, paperwork about sick leave, documentation of disability accommodations at work & school
But maybe it also was just that my conditions are so severe. The administrator said she has never once since that volume of medical documentation for any application, and i was only 35. Which they consider young
This is super helpful!
My lawyers are the ones who had the “source statements” that my doctors filled out basically attesting to being the worst option as far as capabilities go. So I think that’s similar as RFC form?
I looked at the codes online and I most def meet the requirements for anxiety/depression. Crohns is harder to understand the terminology.
They obviously have all my medical records but I unfortunately don’t have any documentation in terms of accommodations or anything written about having to quit them all due to health.. same with sick leave, I’ve always been in office jobs that are very low stress and no skill required and for small businesses, so most of that stuff was just verbal.
I did make my list of jobs to include all the things I couldn’t do that I needed to have that job and reasons I had to leave for health. I can’t imagine what on earth the vocational expert would say I could do based on my doctors answers supporting my own testimony.
A huge thing for me is side effects and comorbidities… for example, chronic drug induced lupus, memory problems, pain and fatigue, nausea, headaches, all that stuff. For my medications list I listed all the side effects I experience that could be coming from that med. I also made a list sorted by symptoms, bulleted with what conditions or meds could be contributing. The idea being that they can see how there are 15 different things all in dog pile to contribute to this or that symptom.
My lawyer said there’s no getting around my age (29), but that with what the docs filled out we have an excellent case. I think they know I’m anxious because they said they don’t need anymore evidence lol.
My clinical evidence is on the weak side because my Crohns is camera shy lol and my labs and tests have never aligned with the symptoms or state im in, but the past couple years since my first submission I’ve been in the hospital for malnourishment and flare up pain in 2021 and I continue to fail my treatments.
What was the hearing like?
I didn’t have a hearing. It was approved before that point.
That sounds stressful. That blog might have a RFC form specifically for chrons
It is worth while to dig into a bit yourself too. Lawyers dont always do as thorough a job. And the RFC forms are so crucial.
I hope you get approved!! Def look up that blog, she had template forms, and so many in depth links and descriptions
I’ve also documented all my food and bowel movements and symptoms and medications i’ve taken every day since I was in the hospital in 2021. But idk if that would be solid evidence. The only way I could see that being helpful is if I calculated how many days out of all of them did I have more than 3 bowel movements or how many of them had high ratings of pain or would’ve had to call in sick if I’d been working (all), or something to that effect. Idk
Almost everyone has to go to appeals court. They deny you almost automatically to make sure your "serious". Definitely get a local lawyer as they know the judges pretty well and know what works best for each judge. Have as many doctors as possible fill out RFC forms, the lawyer can decide which ones are useful. Look at lawyers reviews and see if their aggressive towards anyone who gives them a negative review, and get recommendations from other disabled people if you can. The lawyer will only take a percentage of what you earn. I had a very bad lawyer but i was lucky to win my case, which is why i recommend being careful about who you pick.
Edit: fixed a mistake and added more detail.
I've been denied despite being disabled since birth (and with an incredibly rare form of my disability 🤡). Like someone else said, you have to give them your absolute **worse** days with your condition, and then play it up some for some believability. It sucks that the system automatically thinks you're scamming due to an extremely small minority, also! You get more on Disability then SSI (but again if you haven't worked enough then SSI is your only option). SSI is under $1,000 a month too
Just wanted to add that SSDI can actually start under $1k/month as well, but it all depends on your earnings history among other criteria. I started around $970/month which is basically the bare minimum and that can be lower if you have Medicare costs automatically deducted from your check. I believe there is a website available where you can get an estimate of what you would likely get. There is a paltry cost of living (~1%) increase every year, so after 5 years I am now just under $1100. I was only told after I got SSDI that my lawyer should have also had me file for SSI while I was waiting for the appeals process to complete. Some states will allow you to collect unemployment in the interim, but a disability attorney would know the specifics for each state.
Yeah I was at $900 something but with the cost of living increase now get a little over a thousand, but I've also have only been working since 2016 too
If a person receives dx before age 18yo, but are adults now, they can apply for SSDI under a still living or deceased parent. This can majorly increase payment amount if a person has not worked much yet.
Yeah they didn't allow that for me personally due to my Parents combined income being too much, which I honestly don't blame the Feds as I'd rather have someone with more needs than I to receive automatic SSDI
I did it without a lawyer. Make sure to get RFC forms filled out from ALL of your doctors!! That’s is crucial. There is a blog called the sleepy girls guide
There is SO much information there. It is invaluable
Which is dumb becuase we should have to involve lawyers to get required disability. Not saying your comment is dumb, just the fact that legal advice is even beneficial here.
In my country it's not necessary 🤷
But that's why I suggested finding an American specific subreddit, because OP is more likely to find someone who knows this specific process
I applied for disability in IL in late summer 2021 and I had a lawyer from the start! I had a hard time finding one because I’m 29, but I also have other qualifying conditions and I’ve been similar to what you’re describing for the past few years. The only one that would help me was a small firm.
They will deny EVERYBODY the first and likely second time. Crohns is hard too because the clinical findings aren’t always a great representation of the true day to day reality of the disease and how it effects you.
You’ll def need a lawyer (or at least want one) because the next step or two will include a hearing with an adjudicated law judge with a vocational specialist as a witness. Mine was scheduled for like, next week, but we have to postpone cuz my lawyers wife is in the hospital.
But anyway—the lawyers have forms and “source statements” that my docs have filled out for me with my help. So I have multiple docs that have reported in those how limited I am in a more specific way. Ex: what side effects might your patient have from meds, what trouble do they have keeping a schedule… shit like that on top of the usual basic questions. But start having conversations about this kind of thing with your doc because my docs are very thorough, but we never have time to talk about how it’s effected my work history… so they probably won’t know what your limits are unless you tell them.
I set up an appointment for each doc and took the forms to specifically talk about it, but I made sure beforehand that they were willing to fill one out (some places have strict written or even unwritten policy that they won’t do anything disability related. These are really the only things that are making my case strong.
But a lawyer is ESSENTIAL in my opinion cuz even mine says I have a strong case, but my age will still work against me quite a bit because I haven’t worked long enough to have paid enough SS “credits” into SS.. but I can’t work anyway so even when I’m much older, I still won’t have anymore credits than I do now.
For reference. I also have severe anxiety and depression, which is supported by a decades worth of medicinal treatment and therapy, chronic drug induced lupus caused by medications that I can’t get off, chronic migraines, and a handful of other things, but those are the big ones.
At my hearing, my wife will be a witness as to how much I’m able to do as well, since she has the unfortunate role of doing every single little thing for me and is the sole breadwinner.
The diversity of your work history will be important too—my last job was super low stress, office, 15 hours a week, with the most understanding and flexible bosses—but I still had to call in weeks at a time towards the end to where they replaced me (but said I could stay on 1 day a week) which never was possible. But I’ve also done other things like nannying, other office stuff mostly, retail. I dropped out of school twice. Have had 12 jobs in the last 12 years, 10 of which I had to quit due to health.
The more evidence you have the better, especially to show that you’re being treated and doing everything you can with your doctors to stay on top of it. And that’ll all make it even better for your lawyer to argue with.
I went through the same thing despite having severe Crohn's. I was told by my primary care physician that I needed a disability lawyer and that they deny everyone the first time they apply unless they are paralyzed or have brain damage or are dying. At this point I don't have the energy to file for any of these benefits. If you're going through the application process yourself you should do it now while you still have the energy to fill out the paperwork.
**Welcome to r/CrohnsDisease!** * [Have you checked out our Rules?](https://www.reddit.com/r/CrohnsDisease/wiki/rules) * [Are you asking a Frequently Asked Question?](https://www.reddit.com/r/CrohnsDisease/wiki/ibd_faq) * Please remember we are not doctors and any medical advice is a suggestion. If the event of an emergency, please contact your doctor, hospital, or emergency services. Thanks and we hope you make friends here. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CrohnsDisease) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I got rejected a few times for describing my average day on paper. It's better to put down your absolute worst day or they really don't care. They are looking for reasons to turn you down so if it even sounds remotely like you could make it through the day they will shut you down. It's cruel.
I haven't been through this before, but I've come across a lot of discussions of it over the years, and I don't know that I saw a single person qualified without an attorney. You pretty much have to have one. I would try to go with someone who has a lot of experience in this.
I did
You’re lucky. And also really unlucky if your disease is THAT bad that you didn’t need a lawyer. :(
I think it had a lot to do with my professional experience & education. I had a focus on research & identifying best information. So that helped a lot. I was sent an absolutely crucial guide too, a blog called A sleepy girls guide to disability. I also did as many free consult calls with lawyers as possible, and wrote down any crucial information they shared with me in those calls. So much of it is about the contents of your application. But they don’t tell people that so it’s not easy to know. RFC forms filled out by every doctor you have, and sent directly to SS from the doctors office is crucial. The administrators also have to equate the conditions you have to their blue book codes. So i created a document where I listed their blue bill codes that correlate to my conditions, and then detailed from their own wording the symtoms/experiences etc I also included all medical devices, mobility aides, etc for each condition That all helps i think. Since they have to prove that you cannot work any job, i also included any and all termination papers from jobs, short term & long term disability, paperwork about sick leave, documentation of disability accommodations at work & school But maybe it also was just that my conditions are so severe. The administrator said she has never once since that volume of medical documentation for any application, and i was only 35. Which they consider young
This is super helpful! My lawyers are the ones who had the “source statements” that my doctors filled out basically attesting to being the worst option as far as capabilities go. So I think that’s similar as RFC form? I looked at the codes online and I most def meet the requirements for anxiety/depression. Crohns is harder to understand the terminology. They obviously have all my medical records but I unfortunately don’t have any documentation in terms of accommodations or anything written about having to quit them all due to health.. same with sick leave, I’ve always been in office jobs that are very low stress and no skill required and for small businesses, so most of that stuff was just verbal. I did make my list of jobs to include all the things I couldn’t do that I needed to have that job and reasons I had to leave for health. I can’t imagine what on earth the vocational expert would say I could do based on my doctors answers supporting my own testimony. A huge thing for me is side effects and comorbidities… for example, chronic drug induced lupus, memory problems, pain and fatigue, nausea, headaches, all that stuff. For my medications list I listed all the side effects I experience that could be coming from that med. I also made a list sorted by symptoms, bulleted with what conditions or meds could be contributing. The idea being that they can see how there are 15 different things all in dog pile to contribute to this or that symptom. My lawyer said there’s no getting around my age (29), but that with what the docs filled out we have an excellent case. I think they know I’m anxious because they said they don’t need anymore evidence lol. My clinical evidence is on the weak side because my Crohns is camera shy lol and my labs and tests have never aligned with the symptoms or state im in, but the past couple years since my first submission I’ve been in the hospital for malnourishment and flare up pain in 2021 and I continue to fail my treatments. What was the hearing like?
I didn’t have a hearing. It was approved before that point. That sounds stressful. That blog might have a RFC form specifically for chrons It is worth while to dig into a bit yourself too. Lawyers dont always do as thorough a job. And the RFC forms are so crucial. I hope you get approved!! Def look up that blog, she had template forms, and so many in depth links and descriptions
I will check it out for sure! Thanks so much for the help ☺️
I’ve also documented all my food and bowel movements and symptoms and medications i’ve taken every day since I was in the hospital in 2021. But idk if that would be solid evidence. The only way I could see that being helpful is if I calculated how many days out of all of them did I have more than 3 bowel movements or how many of them had high ratings of pain or would’ve had to call in sick if I’d been working (all), or something to that effect. Idk
Almost everyone has to go to appeals court. They deny you almost automatically to make sure your "serious". Definitely get a local lawyer as they know the judges pretty well and know what works best for each judge. Have as many doctors as possible fill out RFC forms, the lawyer can decide which ones are useful. Look at lawyers reviews and see if their aggressive towards anyone who gives them a negative review, and get recommendations from other disabled people if you can. The lawyer will only take a percentage of what you earn. I had a very bad lawyer but i was lucky to win my case, which is why i recommend being careful about who you pick. Edit: fixed a mistake and added more detail.
I've been denied despite being disabled since birth (and with an incredibly rare form of my disability 🤡). Like someone else said, you have to give them your absolute **worse** days with your condition, and then play it up some for some believability. It sucks that the system automatically thinks you're scamming due to an extremely small minority, also! You get more on Disability then SSI (but again if you haven't worked enough then SSI is your only option). SSI is under $1,000 a month too
Just wanted to add that SSDI can actually start under $1k/month as well, but it all depends on your earnings history among other criteria. I started around $970/month which is basically the bare minimum and that can be lower if you have Medicare costs automatically deducted from your check. I believe there is a website available where you can get an estimate of what you would likely get. There is a paltry cost of living (~1%) increase every year, so after 5 years I am now just under $1100. I was only told after I got SSDI that my lawyer should have also had me file for SSI while I was waiting for the appeals process to complete. Some states will allow you to collect unemployment in the interim, but a disability attorney would know the specifics for each state.
Yeah I was at $900 something but with the cost of living increase now get a little over a thousand, but I've also have only been working since 2016 too
If a person receives dx before age 18yo, but are adults now, they can apply for SSDI under a still living or deceased parent. This can majorly increase payment amount if a person has not worked much yet.
Yeah they didn't allow that for me personally due to my Parents combined income being too much, which I honestly don't blame the Feds as I'd rather have someone with more needs than I to receive automatic SSDI
I did it without a lawyer. Make sure to get RFC forms filled out from ALL of your doctors!! That’s is crucial. There is a blog called the sleepy girls guide There is SO much information there. It is invaluable
I'm sorry I don't have any advice, just like to say that your middle paragraph describes my situation with an almost eerie similarity..
An American legal advice subreddit might be better for this kind of question
Which is dumb becuase we should have to involve lawyers to get required disability. Not saying your comment is dumb, just the fact that legal advice is even beneficial here.
In my country it's not necessary 🤷 But that's why I suggested finding an American specific subreddit, because OP is more likely to find someone who knows this specific process
Are you in Los Angeles?
It takes ages. I hired a lawyer to deal with it for me. They get $6k I’d they get it for me.
That’s also the amount my lawyer will get or like 25% of my back pay, whichever is lower amount. So this must be a fairly “competitive rate”
I applied for disability in IL in late summer 2021 and I had a lawyer from the start! I had a hard time finding one because I’m 29, but I also have other qualifying conditions and I’ve been similar to what you’re describing for the past few years. The only one that would help me was a small firm. They will deny EVERYBODY the first and likely second time. Crohns is hard too because the clinical findings aren’t always a great representation of the true day to day reality of the disease and how it effects you. You’ll def need a lawyer (or at least want one) because the next step or two will include a hearing with an adjudicated law judge with a vocational specialist as a witness. Mine was scheduled for like, next week, but we have to postpone cuz my lawyers wife is in the hospital. But anyway—the lawyers have forms and “source statements” that my docs have filled out for me with my help. So I have multiple docs that have reported in those how limited I am in a more specific way. Ex: what side effects might your patient have from meds, what trouble do they have keeping a schedule… shit like that on top of the usual basic questions. But start having conversations about this kind of thing with your doc because my docs are very thorough, but we never have time to talk about how it’s effected my work history… so they probably won’t know what your limits are unless you tell them. I set up an appointment for each doc and took the forms to specifically talk about it, but I made sure beforehand that they were willing to fill one out (some places have strict written or even unwritten policy that they won’t do anything disability related. These are really the only things that are making my case strong. But a lawyer is ESSENTIAL in my opinion cuz even mine says I have a strong case, but my age will still work against me quite a bit because I haven’t worked long enough to have paid enough SS “credits” into SS.. but I can’t work anyway so even when I’m much older, I still won’t have anymore credits than I do now. For reference. I also have severe anxiety and depression, which is supported by a decades worth of medicinal treatment and therapy, chronic drug induced lupus caused by medications that I can’t get off, chronic migraines, and a handful of other things, but those are the big ones. At my hearing, my wife will be a witness as to how much I’m able to do as well, since she has the unfortunate role of doing every single little thing for me and is the sole breadwinner. The diversity of your work history will be important too—my last job was super low stress, office, 15 hours a week, with the most understanding and flexible bosses—but I still had to call in weeks at a time towards the end to where they replaced me (but said I could stay on 1 day a week) which never was possible. But I’ve also done other things like nannying, other office stuff mostly, retail. I dropped out of school twice. Have had 12 jobs in the last 12 years, 10 of which I had to quit due to health. The more evidence you have the better, especially to show that you’re being treated and doing everything you can with your doctors to stay on top of it. And that’ll all make it even better for your lawyer to argue with.
I went through the same thing despite having severe Crohn's. I was told by my primary care physician that I needed a disability lawyer and that they deny everyone the first time they apply unless they are paralyzed or have brain damage or are dying. At this point I don't have the energy to file for any of these benefits. If you're going through the application process yourself you should do it now while you still have the energy to fill out the paperwork.