Is Fibromyalgia a Disability Under Social Security Disability Rules?
You know how debilitating fibromyalgia can be. But when your fibromyalgia is disrupting your ability to earn a living, you still wonder, “Does Social Security Disability cover fibromyalgia as a disability that deserves financial assistance?”
Fibromyalgia is notoriously difficult for someone who hasn’t experienced it to understand. But yes, it’s possible to qualify for Social Security Disability for fibromyalgia and get crucial economic relief.
It’s just not easy.
The Slepian Ellexson Social Security Disability lawyers in Arizona can help. We’ve worked on thousands of disability cases, including people seeking disability for fibromyalgia in Phoenix, Tucson and across Arizona, and we know what a fibromyalgia disability claim needs to be successful.
Most importantly, we listen to you and what you’re going through.
To win benefits for you, we help you document your fibromyalgia symptoms, we pinpoint the daily activities that your fibromyalgia restricts you from doing, and we tie it all to your ability to hold a job.
The main requirement to get disability for fibromyalgia is that you must be unable to work.
Millions of people in the United States have fibromyalgia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people can continue working with treatment, so our task is to prove to Social Security that your symptoms are so severe that they rule out work.
How to Prove Your Fibromyalgia Disability Claim
When you’re applying for Social Security Disability benefits for fibromyalgia, you need medical evidence confirming severe symptoms.
These kinds of symptoms that you may be experiencing can go into your fibromyalgia disability claim:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Difficulty focusing and thinking (“fibro fog”)
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Pain in multiple places throughout your body
- Sleep problems
- Stiffness
Building a strong Social Security Disability claim for fibromyalgia starts with getting medical treatment and documenting your symptoms.
The Arizona disability lawyers at Slepian Ellexson suggest seeing a rheumatologist who treats fibromyalgia. Medical records from a specialist can be valuable evidence in a disability claim.
You should also gather medical evidence (reports, test results and more) from any other health care providers you see: doctors, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists or psychologists, pain management specialists, and other medical professionals.
It’s also a good idea to keep a regular journal of how you struggle with fibromyalgia. Write down details of the pain you endure, the drain on your energy, the inability to get through everyday activities.
Tell your doctor about your symptoms and be specific. If you have to lie down during the day, tell your doctor how often this happens and for how long each time.
Having a skilled fibromyalgia disability attorney helps. We can guide you and help you organize your information.
You pay no attorney fee until you win benefits.
And we don’t charge just to talk to you about your situation and see how we can help.
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Special Challenges with Fibromyalgia and Disability Benefits
Fibromyalgia and Social Security Disability have a different history than many other impairments that qualify for benefits.
For a long time, Social Security didn’t recognize fibromyalgia. Think about how hard it is to explain what you experience to friends and family and magnify that to a giant government bureaucracy.
Fibromyalgia still doesn’t have a specific listing in Social Security’s main index of qualifying conditions for disability benefits. But in 2012, Social Security did issue a decision that it will approve disability benefits for fibromyalgia under certain conditions.
Social Security calls fibromyalgia a “medically determinable impairment,” meaning if you can get independent medical sources, beyond your own reporting of symptoms, to confirm that your condition is debilitating, then you can get disability benefits.
These are some special considerations Social Security laid out for fibromyalgia and disability benefits:
- You must show you have a history of fibromyalgia pain lasting three months or longer in the past. (For all disability claims, your doctors must confirm that your condition will also continue for at least a year.)
- You must show that you experience pain or tenderness in at least 11 specific places on the body, out of 18 points that Social Security spells out, or that you have widespread pain with other fibromyalgia signs, symptoms or co-occurring conditions.
- For a disability claim based on fibromyalgia, you need your doctors to rule out other diseases or conditions that might be causing your symptoms.
It may be, however, that if you have another disorder like lupus or multiple sclerosis, you could have a strong disability claim for that impairment.
Having more than one medical condition is also important to explain to Social Security in your disability application, and it adds support for your claim.
Fibromyalgia is a case where Social Security may also pay special attention to sources other than your medical providers.
People who know you—friends, family, neighbors, past employers, co-workers, teachers, religious congregation leaders and others—can testify or write about how they’ve seen fibromyalgia impact your life.
Your Slepian Ellexson fibromyalgia disability lawyer in Arizona helps you build your case, so it’s less work and stress on you.
Contact a disability lawyer for fibromyalgia.
Denied Disability Benefits for Fibromyalgia? You Can Appeal.
With a complex condition like fibromyalgia, it’s easy to get denied disability benefits, at least at first.
That’s partly because most people get denied initially. Nationwide over several years, Social Security has rejected about 80 percent of first-time applications.
Fibromyalgia disability claims can be even trickier.
You should appeal the denial, because during an appeal you may have a better chance of finally winning benefits.
Your fibromyalgia disability benefits appeal may include testifying for a disability judge. This hearing is a chance to convey the severity of your health limitations in a way that’s hard to do on paper.
You’ll definitely want a skilled fibromyalgia disability lawyer for this, someone who has handled similar cases before. This is some of what goes into your disability benefits appeal for fibromyalgia:
- Analyzing why you were denied.
- Adding medical evidence to improve your case.
- Requesting a hearing with a Social Security administrative law judge.
- Preparing documents and arguments for the judge.
- Testifying for the judge.
- Cross examining medical and job experts who may testify about you.
No matter how much work it takes to build your appeal, you still pay no attorney fee until you win benefits.
Your disability lawyer can make this go much more smoothly and successfully for you.
The mission of the Tucson and Phoenix disability attorneys at Slepian Ellexson is to see you enjoy more stability and peace when fibromyalgia alters your life.
