Post-polio sequelae (also called post polio syndrome, or PPS) are often disabling symptoms that occur in many polio survivors later in life, about 35 years after the initial poliovirus episode. The symptoms may include overwhelming fatigue, muscle weakness, chronic muscle and joint pain, sleep disorders, as well as difficulty swallowing and breathing.
Post polio sequelae…
There is an excellent article in the Los Angeles Times entitled When pain becomes chronic. Here is an excerpt:
Pain is usually a symptom of something else — a scraped knee, a broken arm, appendicitis. Treating the pain makes the patient less miserable, but it’s just a stopgap measure until the underlying problem is
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Every now and then I see a claim involving mental impairments where the GAF score assessed in the clinician’s treatment notes is higher than you want to see as a disability lawyer.
A GAF score of 65, for example, normally would not denote a disabling mental impairment. However, most of the GAF scores in a disability…
I have a claim coming up for a hearing where one of the claimant’s impairments is interstitial cystitis (IC). IC is a chronic bladder disorder characterized by pelvic pain. IC occurs ten times more frequently in women than men, and is often associated with other impairments, such as fibromyalgia.
In my research for this case, I…
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a basis for Social Security disability, and Social Security Ruling 99-2p sets forth the policy for evaluating disability claims involving chronic fatigue syndrome.
One of the problems with chronic fatigue syndrome is that no one really knows what causes it. However, the New York Times has a fascinating article today, entitled Is…
Fatigue is a frequently encountered symptom in Social Security disability claims. Fatigue can be a component of many conditions, including fibromyalgia and Lyme disease. Fatigue is often secondary to conditions involving chronic pain, because it is exhausting to be in pain all the time. Fatigue can also be secondary to severe depression. And of course, there is chronic fatigue…
Autism is certainly a basis for a Social Security disability claim, and there is a listed impairment for “Autistic disorder and other pervasive developmental issues” See Adult Listing 12.10 and Childhood Listing 112.10.
Typically we see autism as the basis for a childhood disability claim. However, we also see it quite a bit with a…
The First Circuit has a new memorandum decision which discusses fibromyalgia symptoms in the context of a Social Security disability claim.
In Johnson v. Astrue, 597 F.3d 409 (1st Cir. 2009), the Court heard an appeal of an ALJ’s denial of disability benefits. The ALJ in her decision discounted the opinion of Dr. Ali,…
Fibromyalgia is a medically determinable impairment, and can therefore provide a basis for a Social Security dsability claim.
However, many patients report that their doctors do not take fibromyalgia seriously. This was the topic of a recent fibromyalgia article in the Sacramento Bee, a California newspaper. Here is an excerpt:
Controversy swirls even as
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When talking with Social Security disability claimants, I often hear a statement like "I can't work because I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder" (or degenerative disc disease, or fibromyalgia). The claimant makes the statement like the matter is settled. The reasoning seems to be: since there is a doctor's diagnosis of my impairment, my disability claim should…
