• Be sure to list all your symptoms and medical conditions. You may be more likely to be approved for something other than your primary diagnosis. For example, I know of a number of fibromyalgia patients who were approved for SSDI based on their Migraines or depression rather than their fibromyalgia.
• The SSA will request your medical records from your doctor(s). The fact that your doctor says you're disabled is not enough to qualify you to receive SSDI benefits. Your medical records will need to show a history of your symptoms, diagnoses, test results, and treatments as well as physical limitations and dysfunctions. It's best if you've been seeing one doctor for a long period of time. This provides an easily traceable record of the progression of your condition, tests done, treatments tried, etc.
• You need to be seeing your doctor on a regular and fairly frequent basis to show that you're seeking treatment for ongoing problems. Just going to the doctor once a year is probably not going to be enough to convince them that your condition is severe enough to prevent you from working.
• The kind of notes your doctor has made in your file can make a big difference in the SSA's decision. Unfortunately, just noting that you have a herniated disk or fibromyalgia is not enough. They want to know how your condition has affected your ability to function and do your job. Pain is subjective and difficult to prove. What carries more weight is comparisons between what you used to be able to do and what you can do now. Help your doctor make good notes by being clear about the physical limitations your condition has caused you and how it has impacted both your daily functioning and your work. For example, “My old job required me to sit at a computer all day. Now I can't sit for more than 20 minutes before the pain is so bad I'm not able to concentrate.”
• Get copies of your medical records and submit them with your SSDI application. Although this is not required, it can speed up the processing of your claim significantly. One of the main reasons SSDI claims take so long to process is because they are waiting to receive your medical records from your doctor. Applications that come in complete with medical records are processed much more quickly. It also helps ensure the SSA has all of your information to consider. If enough time passes and the SSA hasn't been able to get your medical records, they will make a decision based on the information they have. In order for you to have the best chance of being approved, they need to have all of your records.
