Any longhaulers successful getting Social Security Disability or SSI?

Just a couple of suggestions from a prior SSA employee: If your medical condition is not clear cut, write a journal of how your medical issues affect your daily life. Just a couple of day's worth should be sufficient. Start with when you get up in the morning and document all your activities and how your illness played a role.

For financial assistance provided to someone applying for SSI: Pay for things that are not required for daily life. For instance, pay the phone bill, internet bill, cablevision rather than pay the electric bill or the rent. Don't give cash on a regular basis. "Infrequent and irregular" financial assistance is generally acceptable.

The appeals process for SSA is a very long process. Too few administrative law judges to handle all the appeals.

I wish you all good luck. It's hard.

Donna

What are you doing now for work? I have been a long hauler since 11/2020 and I just can’t work I have changed jobs 3 times and never worked a full year. I wish a lawyer would take us all as a case for disability.

I am working as a grocery bagger/cart getter and at self checkout in a small grocery store. Town population of 16,000. 3 days a week, bagger shifts 4 hours, self checkout 6 hours. Minimum wage. After about 2-3 hours of each shift I am overheating, my internal thermometer is still broken. My legs, back and feet hurt. I am feeling tired, SOB and headache begins. Just trying to do this is exhausting. When more customers come up, my anxiety increases, head gets full feeling, ringing increases. My word finding and hearing gets muffled. I smile and banter with customers, inside I am not doing well.
It's been a month. I sleep poorly every night from the beginning of this PCS, my days off I am exhausted.
It has to be done. I can't trust myself to work in the medical field.
Reading, writing and concentrating is exhausting and I don't comprehend or remember a lot.
Sorry to ramble.
Going to try a nap before my 4 pm shift.
If you find that lawyer, let me know.
A malpractice suit would be good way to go.

I am not working. Last time I worked back on September 26, 2023, I picked up the Covid from a customer that had a high viral load and I have not been back since due to having Covid for 3 weeks, then pulmonary and fatigue and other problems that keep dragging on. I understand why you cant work, It is a lot! I am barely scraping by and I am living on cc's mostly.
It would be nice to see if a lawyer could help us.

I literally have tears bc I too did the same thing and had to file bankruptcy. I couldn’t keep up with payments bc the more you owe the higher the payment and that crept up on me. I have fatigue, fibromyalgia, sensory neuropathy (that’s is what they said when my toes turn a purple color), migraines, I’m sure more it’s hard to keep track. I’m sick now and this is the first time I’ve been sick since Covid however I’ve had Covid 5 times. I work in a healthcare facility and can’t escape all these germs with our immune system being compromised. If anyone else would like to chime in if they have approved disability and who they used let us know please!! I’m not giving up on this bc we need to be able to pace ourselves.

My loved one has had chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) since she was a preteen. She finally filed to get SSDI in 2021, after suffering with it for decades. CFS is VERY similar to long-covid (there’s a ton of overlap in symptoms). She lost the case initially and then lost the appeal before the CA judge with an attorney representing her at that point. The attorney appealed the judge’s decision and fortunately it got tossed out by the new HI judge that it was before and he heard the case and allowed new evidence to be added. There were more witnesses and additional testimony about her disabilities from when she was a teen all the way through the time of the hearing 2 decades later. The judge allowed more evidence to be added after the hearing, about absences in HS and also medical records since the prior hearing in 2022. The judge gave a fully favorable ruling that she was disabled before she turned 22 (a key point, as she’s never been able to work and is claiming off mom’s work record) and that she has been continuously disabled through the current time.

The key for her was getting a GOOD SSDI attorney to help her once she lost the initial case (most claimants lose the initial application for disability). It also helped that she had letters from people who had been her room mates who could write about the extent to which she was unable to function. Good medical records and continuing to see medical providers is also important.

Attorneys fees are capped by SSA statute, so you can get the best disability attorney who will accept your case. Michael Kalish was the attorney she hired and she was satisfied with him. He only does SS disability cases.

By the way, if anyone ever needs to contact SS, do NOT use the toll-free number that SSA provides for you that is 1-800-772-1213. You will either be hung up on after the recording tells you that the wait is in excess of 120 minutes and please call back or you will be put on hold forever.

Try to search around and find a LOCAL toll-free number for your state’s SS#. They are MUCH more likely to answer your phone call in a more timely manner and make an appointment if needed for you to come in and present any documents they need (like ID, passport, marriage license, banking info). We called our local toll-free number after a bit of digging around on the internet and were answered in about 20 minutes or less and got an appointment on Tuesday, 2 workdays from now!