# My disability visit was today...



## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

I had my appointment at the pain clinic with Dr. Oliver today for SS disability. Gang, I don't know how you do it. It was awful. He spent 5 seconds with me, did not check all 18 tender points, did not say 1 word to me, and said I don't have FM and muttered under his breath on the way out "You'll have to try to get it on something else". It was truly horrid. I'm now mad as all he!! and bawling my eyes out. Everyone told me it would be bad, but I had no idea.


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## Bewitched (Jul 24, 2002)

How terrible!I'm so sorry you went through that.They don't spend much time with anyone and the only way to get disability,unless you are terminally ill,is to get a lawyer when you appeal your case.I got turned down twice and now i am waiting for my hearing date for my final appeal.The lawyer said that 80% get turned down the first few times.It's such a terrible system and it's so frusterating.Do you have a doctor that confirmed that you have FM?If so,that will help later on if you hire a lawyer.Hang in there!I'm right there with you!


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Thanks! I'm feeling better now, but it's still quite depressing. Well, you know how it feels...Do I give up and just try to struggle through? Or keep trying to fight a system set up to screw me over? Well, I have a great internist who diagnosed me. I'm going back to see him in a couple of weeks. You're right, it won't work until a lawyer gets involved. And I knew that. Somehow it was just so demoralizing for a real M.D. who should know better to treat me like a moldy piece of bread. You keep fighting Bewitched, and I'll keep fighting right with you! Gang we have got to get this system changed - It really sucks!!!!((((hugs))))


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## weener (Aug 15, 2000)

Hi MrsM, I'm so angry after reading your posts I'm spitting nails. I'm not sure is that what you spit anyways, what an arrogant so and so. I admire you for trying to get SS Disability. I should have tried many years ago, but didn't want the stress. I wish the medical profession would support us instead of writing us off.It is the same way in Canada. A friend of a friend who had fm tried several times and finally got it. So don't give up. She found a understanding rheumatologist who believed in her and fought for her. I have something for that damn pain specialist


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Eef, I hear you Weener, I'm half tempted to stop my claim - It is so much work, and SOOOO much added stress...That being said, you could still pursue a claim if you wanted, depending on how long it's been since you became disabled. I think you have a grace period of approximately 5 years. But it is so much work, I'll probably be stuck in bed for a day or so just from the stress!!







Thanks for hating the "doctor" with me. I really wanted to knee him in the groin. (But thought it would hurt my case







)


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## squrts (Aug 14, 2000)

sorry mrs.m.,when you see your doc,have her/him write you a strong letter stateing your disability and take it to an s.s.i.lawer.they dont get paid unless you do.get rested up real good,grab your battle ax and go get em!!thoses docs suck,i wish you could have been prepaired,but ya just dont know till you see them.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Thanks Denny! I'll definitely try to get rested (hehehe) and I'm going to cry on my doctor's shoulder the 29th. Good advice, I'm going to try my best, I guess a "stubborn streak" can be a good thing.


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## Feisty (Aug 14, 2000)

Oh, Mrs. Mason, I am so sorry you had to experience that. There's just no excuse for what he did!One thing I have learned through the years of dealing with Doctors, both for myself and for our son, is that if they say something that I don't understand or make a comment similar to what your Doc said to you, I say two words to them--- *"Hold it"!* And believe me, they stopped dead in their tracks. Then I repeat to them what they said to me in the form of a question and I demand more of an explanation.It's really hard to do at first, but it does make a difference. Try to remember to be as assertive as possible if you have to go thru this again somewhere down the line.Damn Doctor


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## Clair (Sep 16, 2000)

awww MrsM  This doctor was an insensitive a**hole pure and simple - personally I would call up or write a letter to your social security department and kick up the biggest fuss you can. He treated you with absolutely no respect or consideration - and he has totally belittled your whole experience.He needs putting down a peg or two IMO







perhaps I should come over and trap his nuts in his desk drawer then he'll know the meaning of pain.







I think it will look better for you if you get a letter off your consultant and copy this to the social security alongside your complaint about this so called doctor's bedside manner.....also copy it to this so called specialist and underline what a horrible man he is.I know right now you are feeling like you don't have the energy to go on and fight for your rights, but it is important you do - you owe it to yourself and other FM sufferers in your position to not let the social security wimp out of their commitments and responsibilities.Hang in there girl, you can do it! we are rootin' for ya!Clair {{{{{hugs}}}}}


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Feisty, I like that idea! I've never been very assertive, but I've found the longer I'm sick the more assertive I become. I'm going to practice saying *Hold it!* so that next time I need it, it'll be there for me.







Thanks Clair, I'm asking a lawyer what exactly I can do since he didn't palpate all the tender points. As a matter of fact, I looked more closely at the tender point chart, and discovered he palpated 6 of the 18 points. I'd love to write a nasty letter or 2 (or 3 hehe). I'm gonna try, I feel the same way you do Clair, I _have_ to go the distance now that I started. I owe it to the rest of you. Though it's gonna be a long haul







Thanks for the support, it means the world to me. I've been surprised how much your support has helped me. Surprised in a good way though!


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## Susan Purry (Nov 6, 2001)

MrsMason, I'm sorry it was so badI strongly suggest that you write a formal letter of complaint to whichever medical service the doctor is employed by to do benefit claimant medical visits, and to whichever government dept sorts this all out. Hopefully you will have been given some info about making a formal complaint when you were asked to attend a medical visit. In my opinion, you need to make a formal, written complaint for two reasons 1) the doctor did not do adequate work to confirm or deny the extent to which your illness disables you, and 2) the comment "You'll have to try to get it on something else" is unacceptable, as he was implying that you were seeking benefit without needing it for Fibro/CFS etc. That's just my opinion anyway. I'm sorry it was like this. I hope that you can proceed successfully with your claim despite this experience.


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## Mio (Dec 19, 1999)

Hi MrsM,what a crappy doctor! I know the system isnï¿½t the same in Sweden and US, but I can relate to what you are going through. I had huge problem with my social insurance office and their doctors. They have got alot of criticism, because of their behaviour. I was very stressed out by fighting with them, but my own doctor as well as my husband were at my side, and that made it easier. I have finally got a disability pension, itï¿½s not much money but Iï¿½m feeling more calm now. I know the social insurance office wont harass me anymore. People with other illnesses than FM and CFS get a more objective treatment, I think...Itï¿½s very unfair, we didnï¿½t choose to get sick and we are being punished by the state over again. I hope it will change...Hang in there and talk with your internist. Get her/him to fight for you and if you can, get in contact with a lawyer.  Mio


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## squrts (Aug 14, 2000)

i agree susan,that coment was slanderous!more people need to call these docs on this behavior.unfortunatly,people who are really sick are in no shape to do so at that point.when we recoup though,we really should do SOMETHING!i doutb i will tho.just dont have the strength.


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## Susan Purry (Nov 6, 2001)

> quote:unfortunatly,people who are really sick are in no shape to do so at that point.


That's SO true Denny!I've had to do so much very hard work on benefit applications, and after filling in each application, my M.E/CFS takes a nose-dive because I have had to overexert myself. This is even with extensions - many months to fill in the forms. It's the same with sorting out housing. People who are too ill or disabled to work, still have to do a lot of work to get their financial & health needs met.







And of course, making complaints means just yet more work. What a conundrum.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

YES!!! It's so nice to "be around" other sick people who understand this stuff!!! I feel like saying "Look, if I felt like doing all this paper work and leg work, I wouldn't need to do it!!!!"


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## moldie (Sep 25, 1999)

I hate to say this, but I do think that these SS doctors have been versed to deny fibro claims. I am sure there has been a deluge of these claims for the past 10yrs since a name has been put to it. Since there is no definitive test for fibro that shows up on X-ray or Lab, and it does not lead to death, it is a difficult support the claim. My lawyer said on fibro alone, she probably wouldn't have taken my case. What has to be proven is your inability to maintain any full-time/part-time job without calling in sick 2 or more times in a one month period due to your illness. In my case, I was able to receive a closed period of disability because a doctor was able to come to the conclusion that I was unable to work due to the amount of uncontrollable stooling I was having because of the supra-infection I had gotten from being on antibiotics (let me tell you, I went through a number of doctors before I got one who came to this conclusion - some as insulting as yours). It was a closed period, meaning the payments ended when my condition improved enough after treatment - when I wasn't uncontrollably stooling over two days/month.It seems pain is not considered because that is subjective. It cannot be proven just how much pain you are experiencing because that doesn't show up on any "tests" either.What many people with fibro get it on is depression. (How that shows up on tests, I'm not sure, so go figure). In some cases, I guess it does, but for many it doesn't (especially the situational kind). I guess it depends on what the therapists has to say about you, and how much medication you have to be on to function even at a minimal capacity. I can totally understand the way you felt when that doctor responded to you in that manner MM. The SS doc that I was sent to totally disregarded the reason I had even come to him for (which was the stooling problem). First he focused on my fibro, which he told me was a "fad" diagnosis like cfs. He would not even entertain the fact that I had a supra-infection from being on the antibiotics, even after I told him that my treatment for the fungal infection with an antifungal med. had worked.  He also didn't believe in food sensitivities that had been diagnosed and improved after avoidance. So, my case was "dead in the water" so to speak. I have found that with this particular healthcare facility, doctors stick together. However, I also think that they are afraid of lawsuits. My illness was due to a medication I received from a doctor at that facility and went undiagnosed for a couple of years. I even ended up having a hysterectomy unnecessarily in hopes it would help stop the bloating, abd/pelvic discomfort, and stooling problems perhaps from too much estrogen that was being produced because of endo. problem. I still feel too exhausted to work, and IBS problem is constantly a struggle to balance. Can you prove exhaustion? Apparently, some rehab facilities have a grueling test they perform over 4-6hr. period. I don't think we had a facility before in our city that had this, but I recently went back to a fibro meeting where a new doc. from our town spoke about this. I am considering having him do one on me, because if I do go back to work, I want to know just how much I will be able to tolerate. I also know a woman who got her disability based on the outcome of this test. I also was told that your chances of getting disability increases if you are over 50yrs. old. (I will be 51 the same day you go see your doc. to cry on his shoulder MM). I was thinking of trying to get a doctor to order a stress test on me before I found out about the rehab doc., and perhaps I will still go this route first. Before I had my hyster, I asked my gyno if she thought I needed to have an echo done first because of some of the symptoms I was having. It showed that I had mild to moderate mitral and tricuspid valve insufficiency. It seemed no problem for surgery so they went ahead but I never met with the doctor who read my test to talk to me about it (no one said I should). I'd like to have a stress test done so they can okay/reccommend an exercise program for me. Also, if I fail it, there will be clear documentation from a credible specialist. This might further help my case. Yes, a disability lawyer should be helpful to you. They usually work pro-bono. You pay their expenses (travel, communication by mail, telephone, paper supplies, etc.), but you don't pay them per hour, unless you win your case and then you pay them a percentage of what you get. They say that it is best route to go from what I read. If a lawyer is willing to take your case, then it is more credible with a judge. Get this; I had such a crabby judge at my hearing that he had my lawyer practically in tears. (I think he was shipped in from Indiana to WI if I recall -no kidding either). It ended with that he needed more proof/documentation. My lawyer said she didn't think I had a chance with him, and that we might as well let it go. "No way!" I said, "I think I have a case, and I'm going to give one more doc. a try to document my case."I tried a GI doc at a well-known medical facility. He said he really didn't get into that, so thankfully I was bold enough to ask if he knew anyone that did that he could refer me to. Bingo! He sent me to a rheumatologist at their rehab center there. First, he diagnosed me with fibro (a very thorough exam), looked at my records that I had, and agreed with me that indeed it was a supra-infection from the antibiotics that had caused my stooling problem. He wrote a very convincing letter to the judge stating his diagnosis. I took a copy to my lawyer and said I thought it would really help my case. She told me not to get my hopes up. She sent it to the judge, and he okayed it! My lawyer was so astounded that she didn't even charge me a fee for her expenses! I think she knew that if I had listened to her, she wouldn't have gotten one dime and she was grateful.Anyway, I'm guess I'm saying don't give up if you really think you have a case. I hope some of these suggestions might work for you MM. Ahh, yes, I remember my most horrid GI doctor of all when I was deep into my stooling distress who said to me: "Maybe if you were a happier person, you wouldn't be having these problems." I felt like hitting him over the head with his cane and saying: "Maybe if you were a happier person, you wouldn't have to use this cane!" But, instead I just sat there fuming. I also have learned to be a little more assertive in my old age MM, and today, I don't know if I would have let this one go like I did back then without coming back with a sharp retort.Good luck MM! Don't wait too long. I waited almost three years, and if I had tried after six months for it, I would have gotten more disability payment. I also thought I had five years. UM


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## moldie (Sep 25, 1999)

Just to clarify, the percentage to the disability lawyer is taken out of your winnings. You don't actually "pay" them that by making out a check (SS does that, however, for their expenses you would most likely make out a check from the bill the lawyer sends you at the end, I suspect). I think they get 20% of what your winnings if I recall correctly? Or, whatever is agreed upon/by state statutes? Not sure exactly how this works in long-term disability claims.


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