Medical Disability Issues: Things You Need To Know

This page is a table of contents for medical-disability issues. Please use the links below to discussions of: specific diagnoses, such as disability and arthritis, headaches, disability and chronic back pain or disability and bipolar disorder. There are also links to specific medical disability symptoms, such as pain, daytime naps, fatigue or frequent and urgent peeing.

Please read FIRST the discussion of medical evidence and disability evaluation about how the Social Security uses medical evidence as part of its 5-step disability evaluation process. Remember the Turtle? Turtles don’t jump over things well, they go over them ... carefully.

ATTENTION: You can’t get social security medical disability benefits unless your medical problems – SSA calls them medical impairments – make you unable to work.

So . . . if you can’t work simply because …

• 1. people discriminate against you; or
• 2. you don’t have a driver’s license; or
• 3. you have to take care of your family; or
• 4. there are no jobs in your area; or
• 5. other non-medical reasons

. . . you do not qualify medically.

Episodic Medical Problems:

Many medical problems are episodic - they come and go. If your symptoms become frequent, and you cannot work when during flares up, you may be disabled.

You NEED to document the frequency of problems and the severity. I recommend keeping a "symptom calendar," either for an individual problem, or for all your medical impairments.

Please go here if you have: Severe Headaches.

Specific Medical Issues:

Please click here for a discussion of disability and bipolar disorder.

Reading and thinking are work, but ... just like that Turtle, you can do it.

Need help with Disability and Medicare?