FACTS ABOUT SLEEP APNEA AND FILING FOR DISABILITY



Facts about Sleep Apnea and Filing for Disability



 
These selected pages answer some of the most basic, but also some of the most important, questions for individuals who are considering filing a claim for disability benefits.


  • How to apply for disability and the information that Social Security needs

  • Who will qualify for disability and what qualifying is based on

  • Requirements for disability - Qualifications Criteria for SSD and SSI

  • How to Prove you are disabled and win your disability benefits



  • Facts about the condition

    1) It is estimated that nearly 20 million Americans are affected by sleep apnea, with 85-90 percent left undiagnosed and untreated. Men and the elderly are more likely to have sleep apnea than younger people, children, and women.

    2) There are three different types of sleep apnea ' obstructive, central, and complex. Complex sleep apnea is a combination of both obstructive and central. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type, characterized by daytime sleepiness and loud snoring.

    3) In one single hour of sleep a sufferer of sleep apnea can have up to 30 or more breathing pauses, otherwise known as "apneic events".

    4) Many people go years before they are diagnosed with the condition. If no one is there to see sufferers struggling for breath and having pauses in breathing, it can be very challenging to know the disorder is present.

    5) The most prominent signs of sleep apnea are daytime fatigue, early morning headaches, lack of concentration, irritability, and daytime sleepiness. It can also cause memory issues.

    6) One of the biggest death risks for those with sleep apnea is falling asleep while driving and having a motor accident. Also, heart disease, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, arrhythmias, and congestive heart failure are all at an increased risk for sufferers of sleep apnea.

    7) Losing weight, quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol and muscle relaxants, can all benefit those with sleep apnea. Sleeping at a 30 degree or more elevation, breathing machines such as the continuous positive airway appliances, and oral appliances to keep the airway open during sleep can help.


    Qualifying for disability benefits with this condition

    Whether or not you qualify for disability and, as a result, are approved for disability benefits will depend entirely on the information obtained from your medical records.

    This includes whatever statements and treatment notes that may have been obtained from your treating physician (a doctor who has a history of treating your condition and is, therefore, qualified to comment as to your condition and prognosis). It also includes discharge summaries from hospital stays, reports of imaging studies (such as xrays, MRIs, and CT scans) and lab panels (i.e. bloodwork) as well as reports from physical therapy.

    In many disability claims, it may also include the results of a report issued by an independent physician who examines you at the request of the Social Security Administration.



    Qualifying for SSD or SSI benefits will also depend on the information obtained from your vocational, or work, history if you are an adult, or academic records if you are a minor-age child. In the case of adults, your work history information will allow a disability examiner (examiners make decisions at the initial claim and reconsideration appeal levels, but not at the hearing level where a judges decides the outcome of the case) to A) classify your past work, B) determine the physical and mental demands of your past work, C) decide if you can go back to a past job, and D) whether or not you have the ability to switch to some type of other work.

    The important thing to keep in mind is that the social security administration does not award benefits based on simply having a condition, but, instead, will base an approval or denial on the extent to which a condition causes functional limitations. Functional limitations can be great enough to make work activity not possible (or, for a child, make it impossible to engage in age-appropriate activities).



    Why are so many disability cases lost at the disability application and reconsideration appeal levels?

    There are several reasons but here are just two:

    1) Social Security makes no attempt to obtain a statement from a claimant's treating physician. By contrast, at the hearing level, a claimant's disability attorney or disability representative will generally obtain and present this type of statement to a judge.

    Note: it is not enough for a doctor to simply state that their patient is disabled. To satisy Social Security's requirements, the physician must list in what ways and to what extent the individual is functionally limited. For this reason, many representatives and attorneys request that the physician fill out and sign a specialized medical source statement that captures the correct information. Solid Supporting statements from physicians easily make the difference between winning or losing a disability case at the hearing level.

    2) Prior to the hearing level, a claimant will not have the opportunity to explain how their condition limits them, nor will their attorney or representative have the opportunity to make a presentation based on the evidence of the case. This is because at the initial levels of the disability system, a disability examiner decides the case without meeting the claimant. The examiner may contact the claimant to gather information on activities of daily living and with regard to medical treatment or past jobs, but usually nothing more. At the hearing level, however, presenting an argument for approval based on medical evidence that has been obtained and submitted is exactly what happens.


    About the Author: Tim Moore is a former Social Security Disability Examiner in North Carolina, has been interviewed by the NY Times and the LA Times on the disability system, and is an Accredited Disability Representative (ADR) in North Carolina. For assistance on a disability application or Appeal in NC, click here.







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