Happier on SSDI?

I wish you the best of luck. I have been fighting them from July of 2014. Besides depression and anxiety, I also have severe medical problems. My wife has to help me to the bathroom, bathe me, etc. and the have turned me down twice and the I heard the usual, next is the judge. a little over a month ago, they sent me paperwork, saying they were going to try and make a decision without seeing a judge. I am just like, yeah, what is the rationale behind this. I would love to go in front of the judge, so he can see me for himself and make his decision! But, like you, I was lucky and had employer paid disability insurance, it was in our UAW contract. They have to pay me until I turn 65 or if SSDI approves me but if SSDI approves for less than I am getting, MetLife still has to pay me the difference. It helps, but it was almost 75% pay cut!!! Good Luck!!

Hi BI-POLAR MAMA
Gosh one thing after another for us all. the max the lawyer can get is 6,000.00 so when they get to that what next put u on the bottom I don't know. I'm tired of doctors lawyers and Ins Co . I don't feel free like when I was able to work.

I was relieved that I didn't have to work anymore but find I'm bored staying home all the time. And money is an issue for me so financing hobbies, etc to be impossible. So I'm depressed most of the time but still know I made the correct choice.

Are you located in the US? What exactly is disability insurance? Is it through your work, or AFLAC or some type of other company?

Sorry about your denial. I hope something comes through for you.

Yea im in the us.
Disability insurance is through an insurance company like state farm, metlife, and others.

If you can get it, i recommend doing so! You never know what could happen, and this guarantees an income while disabled or not able to fully work.

I got my degree, had a computer design engineering career for 15 years. Things were going down hill at work with projects ending. I ended up transferring to an area that just didn't fit me (non-technical). I felt like a glorified secretary getting an engineers salary. I hated the work but the director wouldn't let me transfer back to technical when a position opened up.

I was driving 1 1/2 hours to where the company moved to. I could hardly make it from Thanksgiving to Christmas break. I felt horrible, massive anxiety, couldn't think or function. I would sit in my office with my door closed & just cry. Aerospace was holding a national conference for the area of the company I had moved into SEPG (lol can't even remember what the acronym stands for but basically policies & procedures). We were all required to put together a presentation to be submitted to the conference for consideration. Not knowing the topic, I just took all the buzz words, threw them together & put more words here & there & my presentation panel was accepted. I never told a soul in the department it was accepted but the manager found out when others were accepted.

I was so wiped out over the 2 week Christmas holiday & didn't recover by the 1st of January. I kept calling in sick. Went to my md. She put me on a heart monitor, gave me busbar & I just kept calling in sick. They the Northridge earthquake hit. The freeway I had to take to get to work collapsed. For a week I didn't have to worry about going to work but decided to give it a try riding with a neighbor who worked at the same company. It was a 6 hour drive to work. No chance they allowed work at home. 12 hours driving+ 9 hours at work...they wouldn't allow me to not take a lunch hour.....21 hours a day leaving me 3 hours to sleep. I was already having a breakdown. This just put the breakdown over the top. I went out on long term medical leave of absence to keep my insurance. Determined it was a psych problem so insurance made me get a pdoc & psychologist. No help.

Can't remember when I tried for workmanship comp but that didn't happen through court. After the first year of being out of work, depression set in along with suicide attempts. I was in the hospital more than out. My pdoc was the one that encouraged me to go for SSDI. paperwork filled out. Back around 1996, I was approved immediately, no lawyer needed.

20 years later I'm still on disability. Think it automatically changes over to social security at 65...1+ year. Think they reviewed it once & made it permanent. It was strange going from totally functional to totally non-functional in only a few months. When I was first out of work I looked for work but aerospace had crashed in Calif & public sector wasn't interested in hiring high priced aerospace engineers even if we were willing to take a salary cut.

At the time I had no idea the depth of where my depression was coming from. Everyone thought it was my overreacting to the loss of my career & that was where my first pdoc was coming from so he couldn't understand my suicide attempts

It was better to be on SSDI than to be without income but I really loved my career so I totally missed it & miss it but no way I could handle the high level of stress but in reality, living with my H those years without work to hide in, I didn't realize how badly my bad marriage was effecting me until just a few years ago after finally leaving.

Glad I have disability based on my engineering salary though it's still tight with the expenses I have after leaving my marriage & buying the farm I've always wanted. I still have days that are non-functional after dealing with my almost ex. Just reinforces my understanding that my problems are situational....but still can't function under the stress like I could before the breakdown

Thank you for sharing your story. You've been through so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me.

First of all I want to say you are doing the right things if you want to file for SSDI. And second of all "Hang in There!" Truly!

I was in a similar position as you are now. I was in bad place with BP, also had a hard time keeping my jobs but also in finishing school over the decades; I had also lost touch with most of my friends and family because of it. I was alone. It had come to a head as the depression was the worst it had been with random manic spells. I filed. I was denied. I appealed; it was denied. It went to hearing and with more extensive paperwork needed to be completed. Meanwhile I went out on long-term disability with my employer because I could no longer function.

I wasn't sure I could trust the lawyer and had no idea if others could understand what I felt or was going through since it is not an obvious disability. The lawyer pointed out the social patterns and work history were symptoms that were obvious no matter what was going on inside. The hearing did take awhile. The judge asked some basic questions during it to clarify my paperwork and my current status since the paperwork had been filed so long ago. They wanted an update. You may need more documentation closer to time to help support where things are at that time, say from a physician. I also took notes into the hearing about what my days are like. My memory was not so good over such a long period of time so it helped to have the notes and I explained this as well as to why I was using them.

I got approved. I was lucky. It took another 4-5 months before the money came in. ood advice I was given by the attorney was to be be sure when you get the initial lump sum/back payment that you refile your taxes for those back years during the next tax time, ESPECIALLY if you had other income during that time including paychecks or disability insurance. Better to get it taken care of and no nasty surprises later. He recommend a tax accountant or H&R Block, which is who helped me.

SSDI was a blessing for a long time. It helped me to buy the time I needed to get help with treatment and the right meds, to focus on my care and myself to find balance. It allowed to me to, once more level and at peace, to take up hobbies again, volunteer jobs, and then to return to school in my case. I eventually returned to work after well over a decade in my case, this is not the same for everyone and for some this not the right path.

I am still trying to decide if this has been a mistake but I am just getting by mentally; though they are happy with my performance, it is a struggle but near as much as it was by far so I am taking things one moment at a time. There was a trial work period that I used, but I am still in the 3 year period of eligibility for expedited reinstatement and nowhere near the 5 year extended period of reinstatement. It is nice that there is that fallback if need that.

Best words of wisdom given to me: do what you need to to take care of you first and foremost! SSDI is just a mean to help you in situations such as this. Fight for it, do not sugarcoat how well you are though, just be honest in the hearing as to how things are. It can be worth it to help with your goal of getting the help you need and the place you want to be. It is not for everyone but it can help if you put SSDI to use. You have worked, you have earned this benefit. I hope it comes through.

Hang in there and wishing you all the best as you move forward.