Chronic pain patient, improved, written off as cured. Not true. Help doctors?

I have had lifelong problems being heard about this. Although educated and come across as capable, my dirty little secret has been the amount of time I have to sleep in order to present the more attractive side to the world. Then, I married and had a baby, assuming there must be some way I could do what "we all" do. But I should have known what anything involving sleep deprivation would do: make swiss cheese of my brain. Then the pain hit and made 8 years of this past decade 24-7 misery .Although I did my best to act positive, esp. with my baby, I hated life and myself, felt doomed. For the life of me I couldn't organize my thoughts, easily manipulated by family members over use of my credit. I have improved the past few years but everyone from doctors to Social Security wants to say: "End of story." My attempts to re-enter the workforce have ended in failure. I only have about 20 useable hours a week, and it takes much warm water pool therapy, rest, and meds to keep them. My life is a total mess; my only hope is continuing school, but with the financial floor about to give out there are too many other tasks!  How can I help doctors and Social Security understand the difference between cured and improved, and is there anything else I can do about this? Thanks!