r/SSDI

does anyone have any advice about how I should go about my appeal I used to get ssi when I was younger but at some point when I was 19 I tried working and had canceled my benefits and now me 24 I’m trying to get back on ssi my adhd is keeping me from working and now I have a newborn so now I really need to focus on my newborn im not really good at this stuff especially when it comes to know what To do with about appealing my ssi denial

Over the last few weeks I have seen a few comments on posts about needing two years of mental health records for mental health claims. DDS is going to request the same records date range regardless, but lets take a look at where this "two year" messaging comes from and where it has become distorted.

DDS will request one year prior to your protected filing date or your potential onset date. In concurrent T2 and T16 cases, it will be the earlier date. Depending on a few narrow circumstances, they may request something earlier, but this is usually for some targeted test or specific exam.

With the mental listings, there are three component paragraphs: A and B on all listings, and C criteria. The "A" criteria is symptoms or requisite criteria that is specific to the impairment. The "B" paragraph is the functional criteria that is divided up into four components: 1. Concentration, persistence, and pace. 2. Understand and remember. 3. Social function. 4. Adapt. To outright meet a listing, you need to have two "marked" or one "extreme" limitation in these areas. (The ratings are non, mild, moderate, marked, and extreme.)

The final paragraph is not applicable to every listing. The "C" criteria is for disorders that are serious and persistent. The gist of the paragraph is that when someone has been engaged in very intense levels of treatment for two years but have a limited response to treatment and remain in a somewhat fragile state, they can still meet the listing without marked limitations. The paragraph has two parts, needing both "Medical treatment, mental health therapy, psychosocial support(s), or a highly structured setting(s) that is ongoing and that diminishes the symptoms and signs of your mental disorder" AND "Marginal adjustment, that is, you have minimal capacity to adapt to changes in your environment or to demands that are not already part of your daily life."

The C criteria is commonly applied to schizophrenia/ delusional/ psychotic disorders and bipolar disorder. The people meeting this criteria are usually institutionalized or have some type of supportive housing because it has been well demonstrated that they cannot function alone. Having shorter mental health holds is NOT equivalent to this criteria. Also, many people who do meet this are not applying themselves and are doing so with the aide of the agency giving them care.

Alleging an earlier onset date will not change the dates of records requested. If you are worried about applying because you do not have two years of records, you do not need them. If you are waiting to apply because you read that on here, you are doing yourself a disservice.

My portal now says step 4. We have made the decision to approve your appeal as of July 6th 2026. What happens next? I can’t get any other information from the website. I have it set up to get electronic stuff. But the last message in my inbox is a hearing notice reminder. I have yet to receive a single piece of mail from social security. Will it still take a while to get paid? Do they actually call to verify your banking info? Ugh I just want to know how much I will get. And good luck to everyone. I want to see us all approved!

Firstly, I want to thank those in this subreddit community who gave me insight, advice, guidance, and encouragement. I’ve learned so much from you all and I’m so grateful to have had y’all as a part of my journey and story.
I believe in tenacity, perseverance and determination. These are three things I had to have when fighting for my truth, reality, and livelihood. I was denied, denied, and denied again and that was with representation. Then, when my attorney told me that I should just start back over from scratch, I knew there was something wrong with the picture. I had to let them go.
So, due to the limited amount of time I had before my first ALJ hearing, I had to represent myself. I had no clue what to expect for this over-the-phone hearing. I also didn’t know that my judge had only a 12% approval rating…actually the worst in the state. Of course, I was denied and luckily my case was remanded. It’s a shame I had to go back before the same judge to be heard again. This time though, I had representation. He was fantastic. I knew immediately he was a gift from God when I realized we had the same initials…MK. He took me in, under his wings and sat beside me for my second hearing (face to face) and declared he would fight for me until the end. After this second hearing and being denied again, my case was once again remanded. Then, I got the letter with the name of my new judge. Just seeing this new name gave me hope. And so, on May 19th, I had a phone hearing and felt so at ease. When I heard the VE say there were no jobs available that I could work, I felt the tears well up in my eyes. It was only seven days later that I found out I had been approved!!!!
Yes, this was a hard fight. But, I told myself I would not give up and I would appeal, appeal, appeal. And, I must say, I am so glad I did. It was that voice from God that helped guide me down this turbulent road. I’m so looking forward to receiving my first check on Tuesday and my backpay sooner, than later. 🩵🩵🩵

Does SSA computer track how often disability recipients go to the doctor, by monitoring how often you use Medicare/Advantage Plan? And then throw a CDR red flag if you don't go?

I applied for SSDI back in October. I have close to 1,000 pages of medical records from my GP, neurologist, psychiatrist, pain management, orthopedic surgeon, gastroenterologist, therapist, and hospitals among others. I had both a physical and mental health status exam last month. Both were about an hour and extremely throughly. I’m still on Step 3 where it says they are requesting medical records. I’m guessing since I had the CEs I should hear soon, but I keep reading they are generally not good :( I did apply with the help of a lawyer because my health problems don’t allow me to stay on top of things like I want to.

61k owed and SSDI cancelled?

I have been on SSDI for 13 years and this Friday I opened mail (letter dated 22nd of last month, I had been busy with school) to something very scary. They claim I have been overpayed for substantial gain activity for the entirety of the last 5 years and that I owe them 61 thousand dollars. My SSDI has also been cancelled, so I am unable to pay rent or buy food. This will also impact my mobility to get to and from work and school.

I have worked a few hours over my limit once or twice but it was my understanding that is allowed? I for sure have not worked over my limit every month for the past 5 years.

I did what research I could and found I was supposed to turn in paystubs monthly, I had no idea and thought they automatically knew my income or my employers reported it to them.

I am frankly scared, struggling to focus on anything else and feel like my world is crashing down.

What do I do?

Applied April 2025, approved for SSDI July 2, 2026. Onset changed to May 2021. Denied SSI in June 2026-applied at same time as SSDI. I was told that I am being given one month of SSI. How is this if portal says approved SSDI July 2026 and it said denied SSI in June 2026. Will it holdup the SSDI pmt in August? Will I get backpay back to 2021 minus the 5 months. They backdated medicare to April 2026 and that equals 3 months of payments I did not ask for. This is all so confusing. If they are changing SSI denial to one month how is it helping me now? Do they send out SSI checks after July 1st? I will not get SSDI until end of August and SSI has already went out this month. They know I have a desperate situation. Has anyone had this happen? Any advice is appreciated.

Hello,

I receive SSDI and am suing a former employer for wrongful termination due to discrimination. Will this lawsuit if it leads to a settlement impact my SSDI?

just had my SSDI ALJ hearing. The judge who has a 62% approval rating just asked one hypothetical and the VE found I could not perform my previous work and found zero jobs in the National Economy. I’m 62 years old. What are my chances of getting approved?

I was on SSI from 2021 till march 2024, I was 16-19. They did a review in march 2023 and found me not disabled. I appealed, it was denied. I did the ADJ hearing and that just came back and was an unfavorable decision. I have been dealing with chronic migraines since I was 11. I have been dealing with severe mental illness since 12. I have been to 2 residential inpatient facilities at 14 and at 17. I have attempted suicide probably at least 20 times. I have uncontrollable mood swings, irritability, rage, inability to listen or respect authority figures, huge social anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety and adhd. I was looking for representation for over 6 months and absolutely no one would represent me. So i represented myself and i did a lot of research on what i needed to say and went through all of my daily impairments and struggles to function, my work & school history (work history is non existent. The judge i got was the worst for my area, with a 28% approval rate. Even the VE said there were no jobs i could work with my limitations and how much i would need to miss work due to appointments. I'm also ,new but, currently going to a neurologist to figure out some migraine things , my MRI's have been concerning and I'm getting more done. and could possibly be diagnosed with MS, because my mom is also looking down the neurologist route and it's currently looking like she has MS. I just don't know if it is even worth it to keep trying for this or to start over. I know how hard it is for young people to get approved.

Anyone use them? My LTD pushed me to use them and I’m aware there’s a good reason they do this but I went with it for initial and appeal. I did much of the work compiling info, asked a ton of questions that either took forever to answer vaguely or weren’t answered and I had to follow up. The reconsideration was filed a week after denial (although I asked explicitly to hold on) and they never explained what the decision meant because I didn’t understand about vocations and not having enough info to make a decision although found disabled, they said I could adjust yada yada.

For reconsideration appeal I had a ton more records, letters of support and such and I’ve been waiting for an answer 4 months and it went to step 4 on 6/29. I hadn’t heard anything until I got an email from Allsup system asking me to fill out a questionnaire and wording was updated with my reconsideration docs deleted and new “hearing appeal” status at 0%.

So, I’m naturally bummed. I texted them asking the reason for my denial and they asked me if I received a letter from SSA. I told them I hadn’t seen it yet but saw the digital notice because the portal is reset to collect new info. They said let them know when I get a letter then texted:

“We were notified this morning. There is an appeal that was released to your Allsup account.
Thank you for your time, have a great day!”

No explanation beyond that, I had to reach out to them. That’s the energy they’ve given me for 9 months.

In any case I immediately contacted the law firm I reached out to during first appeal because I don’t trust them at ALJ. The lawyer is highly rated and nice but about her business which I like. She was honest about how hard it is to get benefits if I held a desk job and have mainly a cognitive, mental and leg weakness (from multiple sclerosis) claim. She asked me to send my neuropsych reports and said they’d only take it on if I had some records they could look at and if my current reps waived their fee. She read my reports and called me back right after an ALJ hearing for another client. She said she’s sending me a packet and looks forward to working with me.

I don’t know how any of this will work just yet with changing legal teams but I’ll be patient. I’d really like to see what the denial says and records they used - I hate that they release status without more concrete details and don’t move the step. Last unsuccessful filing it went to step 4 and 5 within 24 hours. 😕

Logged in today and saw this, posted two days ago - These have been sent to me. Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire Scheduling Text/Email Agreement Letter and Form Telehealth CE Agreement Form

**I’m 100% with the VA.

Title mostly says it all. Have been disabled for close to 18 years for Crohn's and got hit up for a review 3 times in the last 2 years. This time they told me they don't consider me disabled anymore and that "there are no indications that this imposes major limitations upon your ability to function adequately in your usual daily activities.", which is def not true.. and that I'm "able to perform some type of work".

I filed the form to keep getting payments while I'm appealing and they are sending me the packet with the appeal forms, but what else do I need or need to do? I want to get ahead of this and start gathering everything I need.

I just need clarification here. Please help. I was recently Approved for Disability and my Onset date is January 23, 2025. I quit working two full time jobs in 2023 switched to one part time job that was VERY VERY part time. Sometimes and applied for the first time in April of 2024 was denied May 2024 only worked very part time and sometimes a couple months not at all. Reapplied in May of 2025 one at ALJ hearing on June 8th. HOW MANY MONTHS WILL BY BACK PAY BE. I’m about to cry because I feel like I may have been calculating it all wrong this whole time 😢😢😢😢😢!?!?!?!?!?

(3rd time posting because apparently I don’t know what I’m doing.) My attorney called the other day to let me know that after my hearing the judge had sent off for a second opinion from a professional. The psychologist who got it said I was disabled. The attorney said it’s not impossible to still be denied, but that he’s never gotten that and NOT been approved! I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I feel really good about this news. Fingers crossed!

I changed psychiatrist three times in the past year and I couldn’t remember 2/3 of providers info when completing my CDR.

I only have a total of 9 months of records from one provider. Ssa asks for 12 months and consistency.

Does anyone suspect this to be a problem?

I now have the providers info, what should I do

I think it’s been about two weeks since my last update, and I probably won’t have one for a bit. But basically I got sent to the hospital from my cardiologists office because my hr was 143 and I was telling them I was short of breath when walking, so they just wanted to rule out a pe. Which I didn’t have. Because I have a loop recorder, they made me stay a day to talk to electrophysiology and the device rep to interrogate my device and the stupid thing was set to 188 and didn’t have any events showing. I think that’s partly why DDS is saying I have medical improvement. I told the device rep it needs to be lowered to 140 and he even admitted the setting was way too high for my needs. Because when I send in a manual transmission to the office, it confirms tachycardia but not through automated reports. However, I don’t know exactly until I get my file, which I still don’t have and put in for a congressional inquiry as it’s been almost 3 weeks since my request. I really need to see what evidence was used and the DDE.

Also at the hospital, every time I got up to use the bathroom a few feet away or brush my teeth my hr was 130-140 plus on the telemetry monitor, so it isn’t just a one time thing.

I still haven’t heard back from one lawyer and it’s been almost a week, legal aid can’t take my case because I don’t have ssi and their funding only allows for ssi cases, so calling nosscr is my next step I guess.

And then on top of that, my neuro made me do an eeg yesterday because I have told him for years I get these dizzy spells that come out of nowhere and get drop attacks so he wanted to rule out seizures, and I kept twitching during the light strobe portion of the test and the tech asked me if I wanted to stop because I started crying. I told her no, let’s just keep going. I was able to get through it but I was so worn out and my muscles were fatigued in the end. He also did some scans of the cervical and thoracic spine (some arthritis in the neck, some disc dissecstion and bulging disks and c7 radiculapothy) but the bigger thing is I have to also see a neurosurgeon because I have hydrosyringomelia from Chiari I malformation, spanning t7-t10 and tbh likely nothing is going to happen and it’s just going to be left untouched.

And I still can’t take a shower standing up from pots but I have “medical improvement”and trying to fight this is just unnecessary stress I do not need right now. I’m sure I sound like a broken record and I’m sorry. I’m not even an anxious person, I just hate that:

a) this feels like how I felt with being diagnosed with pots all over again and my medicine
(Beta blockers) just aren’t cutting it anymore for some reason, maybe because I keep getting sick all the time and I’ve had one too many viruses. I’m sick with germs every other month and was sick with a virus from April until May. I have had immune system testing and my geneticist says it’s an “adaptive and innate immune issue” secondary to a probable connective tissue disorder, since I have elevated cytokines and low B cells. She thinks that is why I had the viral pericarditis that caused the hyperpots to begin with, and why I have had repeated bouts of sepsis, costochondritis, and just get sick with every bug that goes around. (These are all in the notes which I also sent in as evidence with the appeal paperwork. I hope it helps :/)

My next geneticist visit is in August because I have to have whole genome sequencing and meet with a second geneticist (so I don’t have to pay for wgs and also have a more in depth exam/assessment)

b) it reminds me of kind of like applying for benefits to begin with except you get less help because lawyers are less likely to take cdr cases

c) you don’t hear too many stories about cessations and personal victories so I don’t have that data, and I have never been through this before. And I appreciate those that have given advice and have tried to help this far, truly.

I am going to apply for SSDI.

Here's what the VA awarded me:

• TDIU effective December 17, 2025. This pays you at the 100% disability compensation rate, even though your PTSD remains rated at 70%.
• Special Monthly Compensation (SMC-S) effective December 17, 2025. This is an additional payment above the normal 100% rate.
• Permanent and Total (P&T) status December 17, 2025.

Can I just submit my decision letters or do I need dbq’s and c&p records?

Got this from my lawyer. "Favorable title 2". It won't let me attach the screenshot even though I blurred my info out