[Hashi/bipolar mom]

I have a friend that is on disability due to Bipolar and the meds she is on. Anyone else? How hard was it for approval? What did you have to have to file for it?

[Crazy Hitch]

Yeah good question.

I've read quite a few posts here about this so I think you'll be enlightened with the responses from members to this thread.

[CopperStar]

Based on people I have known, either briefly or closely, it seems to be a pretty big roll of the dice, although that is not how it's supposed to be. I have seen people with moderate struggles get disability relatively smoothly and people with severe disability have to fight tooth and nail. And everything in between and vice versa. It seems to be a poorly run system. So if you are struggling and get very judgemental attitudes on your first attempt, don't give up.

[mom2trips+1]

Originally Posted by Hashi/bipolar mom

I have a friend that is on disability due to Bipolar and the meds she is on. Anyone else? How hard was it for approval? What did you have to have to file for it?

I was diagnosed in 2007 and have lost my last 3 jobs due to bipolar decompensations/hospitalizations. I applied for SSDI in January and was approved in March. This was my first time to apply. I think it helped that I have been seeing psychiatrists since 2007. I think it helps to have a "paper trail" that clearly documents limitations that the illness has on every day activities as well as job duties. I called all my prior and current psychiatrists and let me them know I was applying and to please send the requested information in the timely fashion. I also think it helps if your current pdoc has written in his/her chart that you are unable to work. It also helps if you are also seeing a therapist. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Mom2trips+1

BP1, mixed with rapid cycling. PTSD.
Depakote, abilify, wellbutrin, cytomel, xanax.
ECT 2015

[lunaticfringe]

I was recently approved for SSDI and it was relatively hassle free. The process took 5 months total and I never had to go through any legal dealings or anything like that.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I'm on SSDI. I was actually approved in just 12 weeks (or 10?) through a thing where their computer screens everything and if there is no chance you won't be approved they don't make you go through all the hoops. It's apparently not common to be approved for this with mental health; my county had never seen it before.

What helped me I think was: 1) my psychiatrist had been seeing me for 9 years and had been documenting knowing this day was coming for years while supporting my working as long as feasible 2) my therapist was the same although a little less time. He also filled out a form about what I could and couldn't do that was pretty blunt. 3) There's a form that you fill out about what you can and can't do that you need to emphasize what you CANNOT do although it's natural to try to emphasize what you can do. I spent my career filling out Medicare/Medicaid paperwork and knew what that should look like (ie say things like "I am able to go to the store but I have to wear earplugs because it is too noisy, go at times it is less likely to be busy, limit how often I go to once a month, shop from a list although I still have difficulty following my list, and it usually exhausts me so much that I take a 3 hour nap upon returning home" or "I pay my bills but sometimes need assistance in understanding what is due and how the billing is supposed to read. I have a history of many late payments and bills going to collections when i did not have help". 4) I had tried hard to work but had changed jobs every 1-2 years and had been fired twice in 11 years. 5) I'd been through vocational rehab 4 or 5 years prior to disability application and they'd recommended I go on SSDI then. Since that agency is linked to the agency that makes disability decisions in my state that should have been fairly powerful. 6) My situation at the time I applied was really, really bad. I'd had 2 hospitalizations in the previous few months, one 2 weeks long over Christmas and I was on a suicide prevention plan that was pretty strict and still was not doing well at all so my level of functioning was very, very low.

I was shocked when I was approved but so glad. I think the system is so unfair because things like the computer scan that approved me may not pick up on people just as sick as I was if their paperwork doesn't have the right words in it or if there isn't as extensive a trail of paperwork.

My advice to help with that is send EVERYTHING, every medical record you can possibly come up with include in the application. They collect them all so you don't have to run around doing it and the more information the better. I listed every dr I'd seen as far back as they let me go.

Diagnosed in 1992, approved for SSDI and Medicare upon application in 2003 without dispute or legal representation. My impression from conversations with my doctor at the time was that a documented long-term history of bipolar disorder was essentially guaranteed qualification for SSDI due to the destructive nature of the disease. Medicare was a huge relief, as I was living in California after the COBRA from my last corporate job expired. No health insurer would cover an applicant with a bipolar diagnosis, so if you could show three rejection letters from different insurance companies (you actually had to formally apply to three different insurers for the sole purpose of getting rejected), California would allow you into the state-sponsored 'Maximum Risk' insurance program, originally established to cover chronic smokers and with annual reimbursements limited to $80,000, the cost of a single broken leg, ambulance ride and staph infection. If you should ever have any doubts as to the seriousness of our ailment, remember that the State of California once classified it as a Maximum Risk.

[Polibeth]

I got disability in 2010 - with a LONG history of hospitalizations, ECT, med changes, etc. My pdoc at the time suggested it. I was denied the first time and had to wait about 12 months for a hearing with a judge. He ruled in my favor and I got back pay.

[Blue_Bird]

I'm on it, I was approved 3 months after applying. It has really helped me a lot. I have history in the mental health system since I was 14 up until now and I applied for disability at around 19 or 20 years old, I'm 21 now

[CopperStar]

Man this is a bummer, I hope I can work again after I start my medication(s). My pdoc asked me how many times I've been hospitalized (outside of just ER trips) and I was embarrassed to say never, because then we had to talk about why I've had multiple psychotic episodes but nobody took me to the hospital. So like what has my mother ****ed me over in yet another way then? Good grief.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I got it last year after applying and getting denied I appealed and was approved. Took close to a yearish.

I have review in August and Im praying I don't lose it. if I do I will be out of therapy and unable to buy meds again.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

HallieBeth-I was up for review in April and still haven't been reviewed. Apparently that review is a suggestion, not a definite. I keep trying to get a better answer than that but that's the best I've been told. Really bugs me since it makes me anxious and I'd like it to be over with. I guess though that the delay has given a lot of ammunition with this last 6 months.

[raspberrytorte]

In real life I know someone who needs to be on disability (for MI), but keeps on getting denied (he seriously cannot work).

And then I know someone else on disability (this one for physical reasons) who could probably hold a job.

I just don't understand how the system works.

When I was first hospitalized (this was going on ten years ago now) the inpatient doctor said I absolutely could not work and recommended I should go on disability, and was confident that I could get it. I was manic at the time though and declined of course. Lol!

Now I'm thinking about applying since working has been so hard for me lately (because of all the paranoia ******** and the stress). But I don't think I'd be able to get it because I've held the same job for ten years. I DO have a pretty extensive paper trail though, and I have been hospitalized three times. I don't know. Just thinking about it.

[meganb22]

I applied. I was not approved. I could have appealed it, but I didn't see the point. My mom is helping me out financially and I do plan on working soon. Admittedly, I'm not the most worse off person with bipolar and I'm sure there are lots of worse cases then mine. I'm not sure exactly how they pick and choose who to give disability to, I'm assuming it's along the lines of Einey Meeny, Miney, Mo. *I'm not bitter* LOL.

But seriously, I don't know the stats for how many people get approved, but I'm going to assume not many do. Or if they do they had to appeal the first rejection or applied again at a later date. The government doesn't want to pay out money unless they absolutely have to. Don't even get me started on what I think of our government and how they deal with mental health

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I believe something like 40% of applicants get approved eventually. (Not sure what year those figures are from). Most have to appeal, usually up through court. The first appeal is supposed to mostly be a formality. The court appeals are approved at 75% according to what I just read.

The number may have gone up and it varies by state (which shows the process has issues). Back when I applied applications were up because of the recession and people were applying for disability out of desperation.Since my state was hit hard by the recession they were up to 3 years behind in appeals and were doing appeals on skype with judges from other states to catch up.

Applications in general are way up still as baby boomers age and that is stressing the whole system. Unless a way is found to move money around in 2016 there will be 20% cut in pay for everyone because of lack of funding. HOw that will happen is still being debated as far as I know. The scary thing is that I've written to my congressmen and they don't fully understand all the issues related to this so they don't know how critical it really is.

[pinkviolet]

I am from Canada, so our system differs a bit. I have been since psy since the age of 18th. I have had too many dépressions to count, and chronic anxiety plus panick attacks around the age of 27 years old when I spoke out about the sexual abuse I had with my father.

After that everything came crashing down. I decided to work contract as I never was certain if I could handle a day to day permanent employment. If the contract was for 3 months I could give myself a push but with a lot of missing days. My other way than meds to relieve the stress was wine on the weekend then it progressed to 2 to 3 times a week plus the weekend.
I was struggling and I often took 2 weeks to a month of a break in between contracts to reenergize myself.

So as said in previous threads I had a medical tract record since the age 18 and it is only around 2008 that I took a permanent job in the gov. and sadly lasted 5 months and one has to complete the first 12 months to become permanent. I was depressed, lived so much anxiety that I had a burnout then went on a sick leave. In August 2010 I went back to work in another section but lasted 6 months. Ended up on social assistance when I ran out of umemployment benefits. It took me 4 long years on social assistance with disability to get on the government disability.

So yes it is possible when I applied it took 6 months but needed to show all the therapy I had taken, all my doctors, psychiatrist, psychologist till one psychiatrist and my psychologist agreed that I could not work anymore.

Good luck to you.

Sylvie

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

I believe something like 40% of applicants get approved eventually. (Not sure what year those figures are from). Most have to appeal, usually up through court. The first appeal is supposed to mostly be a formality. The court appeals are approved at 75% according to what I just read.

The number may have gone up and it varies by state (which shows the process has issues). Back when I applied applications were up because of the recession and people were applying for disability out of desperation.Since my state was hit hard by the recession they were up to 3 years behind in appeals and were doing appeals on skype with judges from other states to catch up.

Applications in general are way up still as baby boomers age and that is stressing the whole system. Unless a way is found to move money around in 2016 there will be 20% cut in pay for everyone because of lack of funding. HOw that will happen is still being debated as far as I know. The scary thing is that I've written to my congressmen and they don't fully understand all the issues related to this so they don't know how critical it really is.

They'll know how critical it is when 10 million people who can no longer afford medication are unleashed, heh.

[Hashi/bipolar mom]

Thanks for all ya'lls personal experiences with it! Good info!

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I figured out exactly what it would cost to not medicate me, see my therapist, possibly pay my psych co-pay and then put me inpatient and it was about the cost of the 20% cut. I pointed that out. I am not sure it was understood fully how sick people will be without being able to afford meds or treatment versus food.

Originally Posted by CopperStar

They'll know how critical it is when 10 million people who can no longer afford medication are unleashed, heh.

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

I figured out exactly what it would cost to not medicate me, see my therapist, possibly pay my psych co-pay and then put me inpatient and it was about the cost of the 20% cut. I pointed that out. I am not sure it was understood fully how sick people will be without being able to afford meds or treatment versus food.

Well I know this is cynical thinking, but frankly as horrifying as it is, prisons are like businesses. And they are loaded with mentally ill people. So if we cut costs to the point that people can't afford psychiatric medications, then I imagine there will be a spike (whether acknowledged or not) in people with mental illness winding up in prison. The statistics on just mentally ill people in prison for no other reason that they were caught self-medicating illegally are probably appalling.

[BipolaRNurse]

I got approved on the first try. I filed all my papers in November and got my first payment in May. It could be because I used an attorney, but I also have physical issues along with my MI and I had to see their MD to find out what I could and could not do. I never did have to see their psychiatrist though; the documentation on my bipolar must have been excellent, and then of course I'd been hospitalized and re-diagnosed bipolar 1 late last year, which I'm sure didn't hurt my case any.

My review is in three years. I'm doing much better now, but that's partially because I don't have the pressure of trying to hold a job. In three years I'm going to be that much older as well.....who'd hire a 60 year old who's been on disability for years? Now I'm just trying to figure out something I can do instead of sitting in front of the TV waiting to die, lol

[BeyondtheRainbow]

At this point don't worry about reviews. Apparently they are years behind on them. I have been due for mine since April and have gotten evasive responses from them several times because I, with multiple anxiety disorders, was anxious. I looked it up yesterday and the number of people on SSDI has gone way up and they are like 500,000 reviews behind with no money budgeted to let them catch up. This happened in the 90s and a big chunk of money was allotted to let them catch up but right now with the whole SSDI program under duress and with possible huge cuts in a little over a year they are just struggling along. So reviews are not getting done on time; it sounds like they are random. I'm just not worrying about it anymore because although like you I was doing better without the stress of work my most recent episode, currently about to enter month 7, is enough to show that I can't work. Psychotic home health workers aren't really safe....for anyone. At the time I got my disability asthma was also a HUGE issue for me and not being in people's homes makes an enormous difference but I also can't work around chemicals so facility work isn't possible either. I am just not that worried about the review at all, even if it happens.

I just was officially dismissed from my post-student loan discharge monitoring last week and that's a good feeling. The loans were considered paid 3 years ago but I had to meet guidelines until 3 years had passed and I have. And I'm not any closer to working now than then so I am so glad that was an option. $700/month to student loans would have been rough on SSDI. (If I wanted to eat and take meds).

[Victoria'smom]

I'm on ssi but it's for CP.

[Sonorotto]

Originally Posted by Hashi/bipolar mom

I have a friend that is on disability due to Bipolar and the meds she is on. Anyone else? How hard was it for approval? What did you have to have to file for it?

Hi again Hashi,
We do get disability. We worked at Social Security in the claim review department. The timeline for a response has gone from 12 months to 4-6 months. Sometimes sooner. Google ssa.gov disability checklist. Have as much info as possible. Like docs names, address, phone, fax...same for places you have worked. The better prepared you are the sooner you get a response. You can apply for it online now to further expedite your application. It is not unusual to be turned down the first time you apply. If you want to go into your local SSA office, call first and see if you can make an appointment. If your are physically unable to go to a location they may take your claim over the phone.
You will need to have all the Diagnosis's for all of your conditions. Belatedly we noticed you are on Synthroid. In a previous post you mentioned some issues with your Left hand(?) - this may be caused by synthroid. Its listed as a side effect on the manufactures website. You might have more success with Levoxyl. When you file for disability, you should include your thyroid condition. Physical and mental health issues up your chances of approval. Google ssa.gov disability bluebook. That is a resource for approved disabilities.
Hope this helps you! Take care!

[BeyondtheRainbow]

If you are fairly organized and know the drs you have seen and their addresses, what conditions you have and who diagnosed them, everywhere you've ever been treated for anything as far back as you can come up with symptoms, you may not need to use an agency for the first round. I decided to not do that until I needed court and since I never went to court I didn't have to pay anything for an attorney. I was pretty comfortable with government forms because of my job and felt comfortable that I could list the relevant information (thank God I've kept a running list of meds and cocktails for the last 10 years and 10 years ago the list was easy enough to go all the way back to my first meds) and also what I've been diagnosed with and where I was treated. I have allergic asthma, meaning I'm allergic to chemicals and they can trigger serious asthma attacks (although thank God we have that controlled pretty well now; it was awful for a while when it was new 5 years ago) and I had seen drs at one hospital for one visit that wasn't helpful but having seen them plus the dr I really saw and my family dr having had me do both a test for asthma and a blood test for allergic asthma and my family dr having written my pulmonologist a 3 page letter about the complexities of treating someone bipolar who can't do steroids, can't do the most likely treatment for allergic asthma, and everything he'd tried. That letter helped I'm sure even though I never saw it.

The biggest thing if you do it yourself is that EVERYTHING counts. My ankle instability counted even though it wasn't really affecting my ability to work if I wore a brace. Asthma counted. The fact that I was allergic to many home patients' homes but can't work in an institution with industrial cleaners counted. Issues I'd had with menopause that required surgery and had made me miss a lot of work counted. They maybe didn't really help me get disability but it gave me a huge pile of paperwork and that seems to be good.

You give them the information and they request the records so you just have to be able to fill out the form to do it yourself. I wouldn't have ever gone to court without an attorney but never regretted doing it the other way.