Getting financial assistance can lighten your stress and improve your life when fibromyalgia stops you from working.
You can get this kind of support from Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, which provide monthly disability checks to help you pay for your essential needs and let you focus on your health.
Can you get disability for fibromyalgia? Yes.
But like the health condition itself, a fibromyalgia disability claim can be confusing, frustrating and hard.
That’s because this is a poorly understood health problem. Other people can’t see, feel or understand how you feel with fibromyalgia. Your symptoms may change from day to day.
To get claims examiners to understand and award you SSD benefits, you have to nail down your explanation and your evidence that fibromyalgia is making it impossible for you to work.
We can help. The disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law know the Social Security Administration (SSA) rules and requirements that you must meet to be eligible for disability benefits with fibromyalgia.
You’ll need medical evidence and work history information that show your fibromyalgia is so severe, it will prevent you from working for at least 12 months.
Our disability attorneys remove the burden from you by handling the legwork of proving to the SSA that you’re eligible for disability benefits.
In fact, we’ve helped more Chicago area people win benefits than any other firm.
The SSA used to consider fibromyalgia a subjective condition—one that’s very difficult to prove, so they routinely ignored it.
As patients with fibromyalgia know, this illness is often not well understood even by your own family, friends and health care providers. A strong bias against disability for fibromyalgia is hard to overcome.
But in 2012, the SSA finally recognized fibromyalgia as a debilitating health condition that can qualify for disability benefits and it provided guidelines on how to prove your case.
To win disability benefits for fibromyalgia, your case must be severe enough to keep you from working for the long term.
“Fibromyalgia is a complex medical condition characterized primarily by widespread pain in the joints, muscles, tendons, or nearby soft tissues,” Social Security said in its ruling.
To qualify for SSD benefits with fibromyalgia alone, you must have a history of widespread pain—pain that includes all parts of your body and has lasted more than three months.
In addition to that, Social Security requires a physical examination to test 18 tender points on your body. These sites (nine per each side of your body) are:
Your doctor will press on each tender point to test for pain as part of the exam.
No matter what health condition you have, most people get denied disability benefits when they first apply, and they have to appeal the decision to win.
If you want to know whether you have a strong claim for disability benefits for fibromyalgia, you can start by talking to our SSD lawyers free of charge.
Get a free fibromyalgia disability benefits evaluation. »
Here’s one thing that makes getting Social Security Disability claims for fibromyalgia complicated: Even though Social Security said it recognizes this condition, it hasn’t placed fibromyalgia on its main list of impairments that qualify for disability benefits.
That means rather than following specific guidelines for a condition in the list, your disability application must show how your fibromyalgia prevents you from performing any work activity on a consistent and reliable basis, based on your age, education, training, and work experience.
For fibromyalgia, these are the kinds of evidence that make a strong case for disability benefits:
You can also submit non-medical evidence in the form of statements from people you know who’ve seen how fibromyalgia affects you. Think about who might provide good observations to Social Security:
Whether your documentation is from doctors or acquaintances, the key is that is must be “objective.” It has to come from someone other than you. While your own reports of pain and limitations in your functioning are important, you need independent confirmation of what you’re saying.
That’s what your evidence is for. The Chicago disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law help you put all of this together.
In its 2012 decision to acknowledge that fibromyalgia is a real impairment that can prevent someone from working, Social Security said an important step for your doctor is ruling out other conditions.
“Other physical and mental disorders may have symptoms or signs that are the same or similar to those resulting from fibromyalgia” the decision said. “Therefore, it is common in cases involving fibromyalgia to find evidence of examinations and testing that rule out other disorders that could account for the person’s symptoms and signs.”
If it turns out that other disorders besides fibromyalgia are causing your health problems, disability benefits are still possible.
In fact, you may have other conditions that make as good or better of a case for disability benefits than fibromyalgia. And a combination of different medical issues may be what truly makes it impossible to work—and therefore possible to qualify for benefits.
These are some other symptoms and conditions that, whether they are related to your fibromyalgia or not, could support your claim for disability benefits:
The experienced team of Chicago disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law have helped people get disability benefits for just about any medical condition you can think of.
For every condition, we know what kinds of symptoms Social Security will recognize and what kinds of medical evidence will confirm those symptoms.
As with fibromyalgia, you don’t have to have a medical issue on Social Security’s official list to get disability benefits.
Applications for disability benefits often center on specific symptoms you have and how they interfere with work.
No matter your diagnosis, Social Security will want your doctor to evaluate what it calls your “residual functional capacity” or RFC. There is a form your doctors can complete to confirm how your fibromyalgia and other conditions affect your ability to work.
RFC is a measure of the fundamental tasks you can perform despite your health limitations.
In looking at all of these factors, Social Security will ask your doctor to assess whether you can do sedentary, light, medium, heavy or very heavy work.
Doctors often don’t know exactly what Social Security is looking for to confirm your residual functional capacity, but we do.
Talk to Nash Disability Law to see what your path forward getting disability benefits for fibromyalgia may look like.
Our Chicago disability lawyers guide people through the process of getting Social Security Disability for fibromyalgia all the time.
This is some of the advice we give for a successful disability benefits claim:
Why else should you work with a lawyer when you need disability for fibromyalgia?
Several reasons: Your lawyer takes on the heavy work of applying for disability benefits and relieves the stress on you. Your lawyer helps you avoid mistakes. Your lawyer can improve your chances of winning benefits. One government study found people who had representatives like lawyers in their disability hearings were almost three times more likely to get approved.
You can get a skilled disability attorney working on your case for no fee until you win disability benefits.
Even when you do win disability benefits, your attorney’s fee is limited by Social Security’s rules. And it comes out of back pay you’re awarded when you win, not your pocket or your future benefits.
So, getting a disability attorney for your fibromyalgia claim is at little risk to you, with a lot of potential benefits.
Our disability law firm has helped thousands of people win disability benefits, including people diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
We know how to collect the medical evidence you need to show Social Security that your symptoms—pain, fatigue, difficulty concentrating (“fibro fog”) and more—mean you can’t work and you deserve help.
And often, fibromyalgia goes along with other health problems you may be facing.
Showing you have a combination of serious medical conditions is another way to help you qualify for Social Security Disability benefits.
An experienced disability lawyer can take everything into account that might help your claim—and mesh your situation with SSA’s many written rules and biases.
If the pain from your fibromyalgia is so intense that you can’t work, and it’s been diagnosed by a doctor, let us help.
Whether you need to apply for the first time or appeal a denial of benefits, our disability attorneys take the time to understand what you’re going through with fibromyalgia.
You shouldn’t have to worry about how you’ll put food on the table when you’re already dealing with this.
Disability benefits can restore peace, dignity and a measure of independence to your life.
Thank you so very much for your help with my disability claim. Please thank each and everyone who helped in getting this done. Every time I had questions and had to call you for advice, whomever I spoke with at the time was very helpful and polite and most of all caring. Once again, Mr. Nash, thank you so very much.
Thank you for all your help with my disability case. I felt very confident after discussing my claim with your attorneys. The representation I had for my court date was wonderful. I know I couldn’t have done all that you did on my own . I am very appreciative for all the hard work, time and care you gave to me!
As the Holiday season is upon us it reminds me of how very thankful I am to you all for providing the legal services you perform so well. Because of your work and dedication, even as my physical health gets worse as the years pass I am allowed the dignity to remain living in my own home. Being independent and staying in my own home provides me a good and decent life. Because of your efforts I have joy and hope in my life .
Thank you for letting your staff help me with my Social Security disability case. I am very happy with the outcome. Please, thank your staff for me. Lot of people do not know about trying to get Social Security disability benefits without a lawyer. They think it will happen and they will have all the money to themselves. I know I was one of them (smile). But thanks to T.V. I saw your commercial and made the call. God Bless you and your staff.
