Social Security Disability Lawyer Blog

Type 1: Also known as juvenile diabetes, Type 1 diabetes typically occurs before one reaches the age of 30. In Type 1 diabetes, the body fails to produce insulin and requires one to inject insulin.

Type 2: Also known as adult onset diabetes, Type 2 diabetes affects those over the age of 30. Type 2 diabetes results from insulin resistance, or the body's failure to use insulin properly.

Gestational Diabetes: Gestational diabetes occurs when pregnant women who have never had diabetes before have a high blood glucose level.

Fortunately, diabetes is listed in the Social Security Administration's (SSA) blue book. However, in order to be approved for disability benefits based on the diabetes listing, a claimant must not only be diagnosed with diabetes; he must also demonstrate evidence of neuropathy, acidosis, or retinitis.

Neuropathy refers to tingling and numbness in the hands and arms or feet and legs. The tingling and numbness must interfere with one's ability to walk or use his arms and not improve over time or with medication. Acidosis refers to changes in blood chemistry that occur as a result of fluctuating blood sugar levels. Retinitis refers to the vision problems that result from the damage that diabetes causes to the capillaries in the back of the eyes.

To put it simply, one must display significant and permanent diabetic complications in order to meet the SSA's diabetes listing. However, even if your diabetes isn't severe enough to meet the listing, you may still have significant functional limitations that make you unable to work. You will be approved for benefits if it is determined after your medical history and work history are reviewed that such functional limitations deem you unable to perform past work or other types of work.

You can help your case by reporting your symptoms in detail to your doctor. Since the SSA focuses on work activity limitations, talk to your doctor about how your diabetes has affected your ability to carry and lift objects or your ability to sit or stand for extended periods. Make sure that your doctor takes note of these limitations in your medical records. In addition, talk to your doctor about pain, visual problems, mood swings, or other diabetes symptoms you are experiencing that have affected your ability to concentrate and carry out work-related activities.

Do You Have Diabetes?

If you have diabetes and want to apply for Social Security Disability benefits, let us help you win your case. Contact us for a free evaluation.

Heart Truth and Lies: It Is Easy To Get Lost In A Maze Of Information About The Globe's No. 1 Killer

For both women and men of any age, cardiovascular disease could be the first killer. It kills more and more people than ALL kinds of cancer tumors joined together. If you are black or over sixty five, your risk of a heart attack is greater, however it's an equal opportunity destroyer. Any one, everywhere, everytime could have a cardiac event [1].

Myth #1: Solely older adults need to be concerned about their heart.The things that can certainly provoke heart disease build up over the years. Being a couch-potato, boredom over eating and not doing exercises are generally bad habits that may begin in childhood days. Alot more docs are starting to find out sufferers of heart attacks in their twenty's and thirty's as an alternative to sufferers usually in their fifty's and sixty's.
Becoming physically fit and at the proper weight is not going to make you safe from heart attacks. Though, both working out regularly and keeping an ideal bodyweight does help. In the end you must look at your bad cholesterol and blood pressure level. A really good blood cholesterol (or lipid profile) amount is lower than 2 hundred. A very good blood pressure level is 120/80.

Myth #2: I'd feel unwell if I had high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels.They name these, "silent killers" because they exhibit NO signs or symptoms. 1 / 3 of all older people have hypertension. Of those, one-third do not know they've already it.
High-cholesterol is a way of measuring the fats maintained by your blood stream. Fats might be dropped anywhere in your own body, but may congregate all-around organs. Including your heart. This predisposition might run in family members. So, even if you're at a good bodyweight and don't smoke, have your cholesterol and blood pressure analyzed on a regular basis. And once isn't enough [2].

Myth #3: Women and men DON'T experience the same signals.Men and women CAN have exactly the same indicators and symptoms, but they typically will not. Women are more likely to have the subtler symptoms though males often experience the type of heart attacks you watch in the movie films. But, either gender CAN have any indicators and symptoms.
These subtler signs and symptoms, as well as jaw achiness, nausea, difficulty breathing and extreme low energy, have a propensity to get defined away. "My jaw hurt because my lunch time sandwich was on whole-grain bread and I needed to chew very hard," or , while clutching their stomach, "I shouldn't have had that extra piece of pizza." "Half of ladies don't have chest pain in anyway," declares Kathy Magliato, a heart expert at California's St. John's Health Center. Put all the little signs at the same time and pay attention to your physique.
Surely, both males and females may have the "grab-your-chest-and-fall-down-gasping" kind of heart attack, however you already know, it's not the only way.

Myth #4: As long as my blood sugar level is under control, Type two diabetes will never be a heart risk.While maintaining your sugar level with a standard range (80ml-120ml) will keep you significantly more healthy, just having the added blood sugar in your system takes its toll on arteries. You'll need working out and eating healthier to help take control of your diabetes, but don't forget to examine your blood pressure level and cholesterol levels, too.

Myth #5: My health care provider would order tests if I were at risk for heart problems.Quite often, most of us forget to inform the physician about the little pains we're feeling. The physicians, not knowing some of the things we consider as insignificant, may pass over heart exams.
"Mammograms and Colonoscopies are often recommended," says Merdod Ghafouri, a cardiologist at Inova Fairfax Medical center in Virginia, [3] "and are usually very important, but heart tests typically are not regularly executed." A cardiac scan can find plaque build-up in the arterial blood vessels even before you realize you have got a problem.
Do you have the motor oil pressure and transmission liquid tested in your car? Have other precautionary protection done? Doesn't your only heart require as much consideration as your car?

Links to Additional Resources About Heart Disease:

- [1] The Web MD is a good quality resource for trusted and timely health and medical information and facts. They have a high-quality post covering coronary heart beliefs
- [2] Mediterranean Recipes is a free website managed by Trisha that explains her cooking passion to help persons discover how to cook healthy foods to avoid heart disease. She provides a nice easy heart healthy recipes section
- [3] Circulation is the section of the American Heart Association associated to coronary heart journals, they have a high-quality document in .pdf that discusses the link between tryglicerides and heart disease
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Even the most deserving claimants can compromise their chances of receiving benefits by not appearing truthful and believable enough during their hearings. Here are 5 tips that will help you boost your credibility and help to ensure that you receive the benefits to which you're entitled.

1. Be specific

If you want to appear credible at your hearing, be as specific as possible when answering the ALJ's questions. Be prepared to provide detailed answers to questions like, "How much weight can you carry?" or "How far can you walk?" Here are some more questions that you might want to practice answering prior to your hearing.

2. Dress conservatively

Although Social Security Disability hearings are less formal than appearances at state or federal courts, you should still take care to dress conservatively. Dressing too formally should be avoided, as well, because it could send the message that you're still capable of getting a job and working.

Try to dress in a nice, respectful way at the hearing. The ALJ will not take your testimony seriously if you wear clothing that doesn't command respect. In other words, shorts, flip flops, and tank tops are not an appropriate outfit for a Social Security Disability hearing.

3. Don't exaggerate your symptoms

At your hearing, the ALJ will inquire about the pain you experience as a result of your disability. For example, you may be asked to classify your pain on a scale of 1 to 10. If you consistently state that your pain is a 10, the ALJ may think you're exaggerating and question the credibility of your testimony.

To boost the credibility of your testimony, talk about when you experience the most pain and when the pain subsides. For example, your pain may be severe at night or in cold weather but lessen at other times. It's highly unlikely that you're in severe pain 24/7.

4. Be polite, but don't smile too much

It's important to act polite at your hearing, but don't make the mistake of smiling too much. If you're too smiley and happy-looking at your hearing, the ALJ may think your condition is not as severe as you say it is.

In addition, if you feel the need to cry at all during your hearing, let those emotions out. A good number of claimants cry during their hearings because the process of applying for Social Security Disability benefits can be so exhausting on an emotional level.

5. Sit or stand as necessary

If you experience pain when you sit continuously, feel free to change positions often during the hearing. Don't feel like you have to sit down the entire time. In fact, it's better that you don't because the ALJ could use it against you if you say in your testimony that you have difficulty sitting for more than a few minutes, but you sit through the entirety of your one-hour hearing.

Do You Have More Questions about What to Expect at Your Hearing?

If you merely state that you have pain without going into detail, it will be hard for you to win your case. To ensure that caseworkers, physicians, and other individuals assigned to your case will fully understand the extent of your condition, you need to describe what kind of pain you feel in detail and explain how it limits your ability to function in everyday life. Describing your pain to your doctors is important since their reports and records will be evaluated by the Social Security Administration.

Keep a Journal

One way to strengthen your case is by keeping a journal that details the extent of your condition and how it affects your everyday life. The journal should be dated and describe the pain and ailments you experience each day. Be sure to include the time and date of all incidents, such as body pain, headaches, or seizures. Take note of the duration of these incidents and what circumstances triggered them. Be as descriptive as possible, but keep it simple and be cautious about describing your feelings, so you don't come across as being melodramatic. There's no need to write in a formal style, either. All you have to do is describe your pain and how it affects your everyday life.

Tips for Describing Your Pain

When you're describing your pain in your journal, saying something like, "My leg hurts," is not sufficient. Below are some factors you should address when taking note of your pain:

 Severity. On a scale of 1-10, how does your pain rate, if 10 were the most painful and 1 were the least painful?
 Duration and frequency. How often do you experience the pain? Do you feel it sometimes or all the time? How long does it last?
 Type. Is the pain dull or sharp? Does it ache, shoot, or throb?
 Triggers. What circumstances (e.g. carrying something heavy, sitting in front of your computer for too long, reading) trigger your pain?
 Effects. What effects does the pain have on your everyday life? For instance, does it make it difficult for you to interact with other people? Does it prevent you from sitting or standing for long periods? Does it make it impossible for you to read or write?
 Medications. Are you taking medications for the pain? If so, do they bring you relief? Do the medications help with all of your symptoms, or only some of them? Do the medications cause any side effects?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) began offering video hearings in order to ease the backlog of Social Security Disability cases. The SSA recently announced that it wanted to reduce the waiting time for eligibility determinations to nine months by 2013, and video hearings are helping them reach this goal.

Advantages of Video Hearings
Hearing dates are typically set sooner when a video hearing is scheduled. This is a welcome change since many claimants have had to wait over a year just to have a hearing scheduled.

Furthermore, video hearings facilitate hearings for claimants who have medical conditions that make it difficult for them to travel. Video hearings have significantly reduced travel times for many claimants. Additionally, video hearings make it easier for witnesses and other people to accompany claimants. All in all, video hearings are becoming increasingly common because of the convenience factor.

Video hearings are typically held in rural areas, where a hearing office could be located hundreds of miles away from a claimant. In busy urban areas, video hearings are typically not held since most people live just a few miles away from the hearing office and could get there just as easily.

Disadvantages of Video Hearings
There aren't any blatant disadvantages to video hearings. A video hearing would only be disadvantageous if you personally prefer having an in-person one. Some claimants would simply rather have a traditional hearing because they want to be in the same room and face-to-face with the ALJ. And then there's the fact that some people just feel uncomfortable testifying via video.

Ultimately, it is up to you whether or not your hearing will be conducted via video or in person. If video hearing equipment is used in your area and the SSA contacts you to schedule a video hearing, you can object. Bear in mind, however, that if you do so, it may take several more months for your hearing to be rescheduled. If you're tired of waiting and just want to get your hearing over with, it would be in your best interest to accept a video hearing and schedule it immediately.