i’m schizoaffective with an anxiety disorder. ive been waiting a few months to hear back about a short form review.
here’s me:
i’ve been inpatient for psychosis three times, once at the state psych ward. ive gone to the ER a few times for anxiety and panic attacks. i work sixteen hours a week and make 900 monthly, about. i have panic attacks and have trouble sitting, walking, and standing, for extended periods. i look strange when i socialize or go out in public, a lot. lots of pacing. manic attacks that last a few hours but haven’t been up all night type of problem for some time now. auditory hallucinations to a small extent. sometimes borderline delusional but mostly just paranoid sometimes. stress causes both anxiety and manic attacks. i see my pdoc and therapist either one at least once a month. most of the time i think i can work full time in at least certain jobs, not many jobs, but it’s those occasional times that i dont think i should that trumps it all, because if i can’t sustain it, i shouldn’t even think of working full time.
how much do you think i should worry about getting kicked off?
I’m scared to death of it, but less so now that I’ve had my first review. I was a nervous wreck when I found out I’d be having a review about a year and a half ago. I have sza, anxiety disorder, OCD, post laminectomy syndrome, coccydynia, intractable migraines, a full thickness chondral defect in my left knee, arthritis in both knees and in my lumbar spine, degenerative disc disease, hypothyroidism, essential tremors, fibromyalgia, and tardive dyskinesia. I don’t see as many doctors as I used to, and that makes me nervous- what if they think I’m better because I’m not being seen as much? I stopped taking pain pills for my back- does this mean they’ll think my back has stopped hurting? I take less migraine meds now because my insurance won’t cover as much- will they think I don’t need them? But still, I’m better than I was before the first review.
I worry about that from time to time. I think some of the people in town are grousing about me getting a job. If it wasn’t for my back and for my med’s I would happily dig ditches, if that kind of work is available. I’m wondering if I could find some old man in declining health who has a neighborhood beautification business, but who is so decrepit he can’t do the physical work any more. There are a couple of problems with that, though. The first problem is that the med’s mess up my body’s temperature regulation mechanisms. I’m a lot more susceptible to hyperthermia in summer, and hypothermia in winter. If it was a perfect 60 degrees outside all year long I wouldn’t have that problem. The other problem is my back. Sometimes when I clean the restrooms at the clubhouse I’m getting to the limits of my tolerance for pain. It hurts. Of course, if I lost about 60 -75 lbs. that might go away. I do worry about them taking my disability away. If that happens I guess I’ll have to eat out of trash cans. I’ve done it before.
Not really. I’ve been on SSDI for about 8 years with only one review. I see the pdoc often and I think they know that winter time gives me lots of depression and summer makes me hotter than heck. And if they did decide to give me the boot there would be a hell of a fight. I have GBs and GBs of records on file.
I’m not sure what to tell you OP. If they see you are working and you haven’t been on SSDI long they may question the severity of your disability. But there is always a dispute process so try not to get too excited.
if anyone is curious or wants to compare to me, i got my review approved for continued benefits. i’m pretty happy about it. they just gave me a short form and i told them about my monthly doctor viisits and a couple ER visits and my job that ive had for a few years as i mentioned. so now i’m good for another three years. and, now that i’m good for awhile, most of my student loans will be discharged in a few months, making me even more happy.
I wouldn’t worry about losing your disability, the review is something that they do and if you haven’t heard anything in months that’s probably a good thing. No news is good news. Ive been on disability for years and have filled out alot of review forms.