What Symptoms Should I Document for an Idiopathic Hypersomnia Disability Claim?
When you apply for disability benefits, you need to document all idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms you suffer from and detail how they impact your ability to work.
Now isn’t the time to downplay your symptoms. Some people suffer for years and get used to working through their health issues.
We understand that instinct, but you need to be clear about how debilitating this ailment is, how often you experience symptoms and how they interfere with work tasks.
Symptoms Social Security will look for include:
- Excessive daytime sleepiness that doesn’t improve, even after eight to 10 hours of sleep
- Exhaustion that doesn’t improve after daytime naps
- Sleep inertia, a severe difficulty waking up, sometimes referred to as “sleep drunkenness”
- Prolonged grogginess, disorientation and confusion from sleep inertia
- Brain fog that makes it difficult to remember information, concentrate or pay attention
Just saying that you suffer from these symptoms won’t be enough. You need to have evidence backing up your idiopathic hypersomnia disability claim.
Our Georgia disability lawyers can help you learn more about what the Social Security Administration (SSA) looks for and what you can use to make your disability claim more convincing.
What Evidence Supports an Idiopathic Hypersomnia Disability Claim?
Medical records are the core of your claim, but they aren’t the whole story.
Your disability claim also should make it clear that your symptoms make it difficult to perform work tasks and that they cause struggles in your everyday life.
To give a claims examiner a complete picture, you’ll need items like:
- Results of sleep studies like a polysomnogram and multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT)
- Information about any treatments and therapies tried, and their effectiveness
- Evidence that you’ve stuck to a prescribed treatment plan
- A list of prescription medications that you take, their effects and their side effects
- Results of CT scans or electroencephalogram (EEG) tests to check for other medical conditions
- Neuropsychological tests that show how your lack of sleep affects your capabilities
- Medical evidence that rules out treatable conditions like sleep apnea
- A doctor’s assessment of your everyday functioning
- Statements from friends, family, co-workers and others who have witnessed your health issues firsthand
- Evidence of disruptions to your work, like the need for a reduced workload or frequent sick days
It can be difficult to gather and organize all this evidence, especially if you’ve suffered from this disorder for years and have seen multiple specialists in an effort to address your symptoms.
An Athens Social Security Disability lawyer can help you identify evidence that can strengthen your idiopathic hypersomnia disability claim.
Some disability lawyers will tell you to apply for disability on your own and come back if you get denied, but we’ll work with you from the very beginning of this process to build a persuasive case for the SSA.
Is It Difficult to Win Disability Benefits for Idiopathic Hypersomnia?
It can be, mainly because Social Security doesn’t have a specific entry for idiopathic hypersomnia in its list of impairments. You can still successfully apply for disability if your health stops you from working a substantial amount at any job.
The key to your claim is your residual functional capacity (RFC), which measures what you can still do despite your health impairment.
A claims examiner will want to understand your physical and mental limitations and how your disorder interferes with your ability to work.
Do you fall asleep at work or need unscheduled breaks to rest? Can you concentrate on work tasks and remember instructions? Can you safely drive or operate machinery? Can you stay on task through a full workday?
These are the kinds of questions that the SSA will want your disability claim to answer.
If you’re tired all the time and you can’t stay focused, that impacts your ability to do any type of work. Still, Social Security might think you can do sedentary work like a desk job despite your impairment.
You need to show that your idiopathic hypersomnia is debilitating enough to prevent you from doing even that kind of job, and that will be challenging.
This isn’t a unique hurdle for idiopathic hypersomnia disability claims. The reality is that it’s almost always difficult to win disability benefits.
Recently, only around 35% to 40% of initial claims have been approved. That means most people get denied disability benefits and need to fight for them on appeal.
That’s why you should start working with the Athens disability lawyers of Silver & Archibald as soon as you think you have a valid disability claim.
We’re the top disability firm in Georgia, measured by how much we win in benefits for our clients, and that’s according to the government’s own numbers.
We’ll help you build a convincing idiopathic hypersomnia disability claim from the first steps. Our team will take the time to listen to your story and how your health problems have affected you.
Let us help you find hope for a more peaceful future.
Get to Know Silver & Archibald Disability Attorneys
Legal cases involving your health struggles are highly personal matters. When you’re looking for help, you want someone who treats you with the personal care, respect, and dignity this moment requires.
Answers to Common Questions About Social Security Disability
Social Security Disability is a huge program with a vast set of rules. As a resource for you as you sort out your disability claim, the disability lawyers at Silver & Archibald have prepared answers to some of the most common questions people have.
Common Disability Benefits Questions »
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