Social Security Disability Benefits for Chronic Fatigue in Illinois and Indiana
When you have chronic fatigue syndrome, you’re always waiting for, or recovering from, an ambush.
If it stops you from working, you could apply for Social Security Disability benefits. But as you know, everything you try to do with chronic fatigue is complicated.
Symptoms creep up on you, most often right before or after a stressful experience. You can be left nearly bed-ridden for days, weeks, even months. It can come with aches and pains, brain fog and memory loss.
No one truly knows what causes it. Doctors often won’t diagnose it until they’ve ruled out all other conditions. In the meantime, you’re left exhausted, feeling slow, and trying to figure out how to face the day.
Chronic fatigue, also called myalgic encephalomyelitis or exertion intolerance disease, may feel like the flu, and can be so debilitating that you can’t work. When a medical condition prevents you from earning a living, Social Security Disability benefits are supposed to provide a financial lifeline.
Securing those benefits is a challenge when you’re suffering from an “invisible” disorder like chronic fatigue syndrome. Social Security not only denies two-thirds of first-time disability applicants with all kinds of impairments; it also doesn’t officially recognize chronic fatigue among its list of medically determinable impairments.
That leaves the burden on you and your doctors to prove that chronic fatigue has diminished your ability to function and that you are qualified for benefits through Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Don’t give up hope. This can be done. In fact, despite not officially calling chronic fatigue a “disability,” Social Security does provide guidance on how to qualify for disability benefits with chronic fatigue.
At Nash Disability Law, Social Security is all we do. We’ve helped thousands of people in Chicagoland, Illinois and Indiana. And if you’re not local to us, we can help you, too. We represent clients across the country.
We can help you build a strong case for benefits that can lead to a more stable life.
And we will do this without any charge until you win benefits.
WE’VE HELPED MORE PEOPLE IN THE CHICAGO AREA WIN BENEFITS THAN ANY OTHER LAW FIRM.
How to Qualify for Disability Benefits with Chronic Fatigue
When it comes to medical impairments eligible for Social Security Disability benefits, chronic fatigue is a special case.
Social Security doesn’t define it in its listing of recognized impairments, but it does use the diagnostic criteria of the disorder by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
Under the CDC’s criteria, chronic fatigue has these qualities:
- A definite start time—not lifelong
- Cannot be explained by another disorder
- Is not the result of exertion
- Cannot be alleviated by rest
- Greatly diminishes your previous ability to engage in normal activities
Next, your condition must meet four or more specific symptoms that have continued for at least six consecutive months:
- A general malaise that lasts more than a day after you exert yourself
- Impairments to your short-term memory or concentration that keep you from performing normal activities
- Sore throat
- Tender lymph nodes
- Muscle pain
- Joint swelling or redness
- Unusual headaches for you
- Unrefreshing rest
In the end, your condition must meet Social Security’s baseline definition for a disability: that your symptoms together are severe enough to keep you from working for at least 12 consecutive months.
That’s a lot to prove, but you don’t have to go it alone.
The skilled disability attorneys at Nash Disability Law are experts in complex medical cases, and we can help you tell your story to Social Security, avoid mistakes, and give you the best chance at the financial relief you need to focus on feeling better.
You pay no attorney fees until you win your benefits. For more than 40 years, our Chicago disability lawyers have helped people take steps to a brighter future.
Get a FREE chronic fatigue disability claim evaluation.
What You Need to Prove You’re Eligible for Disability Benefits with Chronic Fatigue
Chronic fatigue is often called an “invisible” illness because its individual symptoms look like many other recognized disorders.
Proving you have myalgic encephalomyelitis or exertion intolerance disease is largely about ruling out other possibilities.
This requires an extensive medical review by a licensed physician. Social Security will want to see a full catalog of your symptoms that can be attributed to chronic fatigue.
They will want to know how your symptoms impact your “residual functional capacity,” or RFC, which is what you can still do while living with this disorder.
Similarly, Social Security will want to see how you respond to different treatment options for chronic fatigue.
If you can’t do your job or any job, and the treatment plans don’t appear to improve your ability to work, you may be able to get approved for disability benefits and the monthly financial support that comes with them.
In addition to your medical history, Social Security will want evidence of your recent work history that shows you have either paid enough into the system to qualify for benefits under SSDI or that you have few financial resources, which could make you eligible for SSI.
Take the guesswork out of what Social Security looks for with chronic fatigue.
Nash Disability Law has long experience with the health networks, workplace conditions and Social Security offices across Chicago, Illinois and Indiana.
We can build the most compelling case to get you the benefits and greater financial stability when you’re coping with chronic fatigue syndrome.
