by attyjg on June 18, 2012
Pfizer Pharmaceutical has recently released a new web site called CampaignAgainstMigraine.com to help educate migraine patients about different medications and treatment options that might be available to them. Obviously, Pfizer is a large drug manufacturing company – their migraine medications include Relprax (a triptan class medicine) – but this site is valuable in that it describes the types of migraines commonly seen, migraine triggers, questions for one’s doctor and even a migraine diary.
The migraine diary form can be especially helpful for Social Security disability claimants. Disability judges will award benefits in migraine cases but they want to see on-going treatment records as well as evidence regarding the frequency of your migraine headaches.
Social Security defines disability in terms of your capacity to perform the duties of a simple, entry level job. Click here to learn more about how Social Security defines the term “disability.” If you are likely to miss 3 or 4 days per month, or if you are likely to need unplanned breaks from work once or twice a week, most vocational witnesses who appear at hearings will testify that you would not be reliable enough for competitive work.
If you are able to keep a regular migraine diary over a period of months or years, that diary can serve as valuable evidence in your case
by attyjg on September 5, 2011
How do you describe to a Social Security judge what it is like to experience migraine headaches? Describing headaches is a difficult task at best, but you can assume it will be more difficult when you add in the stress of testifying in a Social Security courtroom before a judge.
One of the keys to successful testimony is to remember how Social Security looks at “disability” in a migraine case – your inability to perform a simple, entry-level job because of symptoms associated with your migraines, medication side effects and symptoms from any other medical condition you may have.
Another way to think about what you want your testimony to accomplish – how do I show the judge that I would not be a reliable worker? that I would miss too many days of work and that I would have too many unplanned absences during the days I was there.
Here are some tips about how to prepare your testimony:
- discuss duration and frequency of your headaches – even though your migraines may not follow a set pattern, for purposes of your disability hearing, decide how you will answer the judge’s questions about the frequency and duration of your headaches. Do not say “I get bad headaches all the time and they can last all day.” Instead, say something like this: “I get severe migraine headaches at least once every 10 days. When I feel a migraine coming on, I immediately take XYZ medicine and sometimes that will reduce the severity of the headache and it will only last five or six hours. If I don’t catch it in time, my headache will last at least eight to ten hours. During cold weather, the frequency of my headaches increases and I have them every 7 days. If I am under stress, they could happen every 3 or 4 days. Under the best of circumstances, my migraines will last five or six hours, at worst they can last eight to 24 hours.”
- discuss severity of your headaches – do not say “when I get a migraine, it feels like a toothache.” Instead, say something like this: “when I get a migraine, the pain in my head is at a 9 or 10 on a ten point scale. The pain is so bad that I cannot tolerate light or noise and I immediately go to bed, pull the shades down and avoid any light nor noise.” [click to continue…]
