Friday, April 13, 2007

List all medical conditions that cause functional limitations

I am sometimes asked if one should mention only their main medical condition when pursuing Social Security Disability or SSI. No, you should list all the medical conditions you have that cause functional limitations. Some have said they feel if they list to many medical conditions that they think SSA will give less credibility to their most debilitating condition. What you have to remember is Social Security when determining if you are disabled is required to look at all your conditions combined and how it limits you from being able to work. So even though your main medical condition might cause you the most limitations any other limitations from other conditions added on to your main disability limitations may make the difference in your case. An example is, suppose you have a serious back injury that you consider to be your main disability and it severely limits your physical abilities. If you also suffer from asthma although in this case not disabling in itself it does limit you from certain types of environments like dust or smoke. You may also suffer from depression that also might not be disabling by itself in your case but does cause you some limitation in certain areas like memory and concentration. These additional limitations from your less severe conditions could make the difference in your case.