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If you are suffering from chronic pain, you likely understand how difficult it can be to convey to others how truly debilitating your suffering is. This difficulty can carry over to the process of applying for Social Security disability benefits in Bellevue.Some chronic pain sufferers qualify for benefits through the residual functional capacity, or RFC. As part of this process, disability claims examiners assess whether your functional limitations prevent you from returning to work full-time.
According to federal court decisions, Social Security must evaluate the limiting effects of your pain. These cases require that the RFC assessors consider the following factors when evaluating how your pain impacts your ability to return to work:
- Location, duration, frequency, and intensity of pain
- How pain affects daily activities
- Factors that aggravate pain
- Type, dosage, effectiveness and side effects of pain medication
- Treatments used to relieve symptoms
Cconsider the following tips for demonstrating your functional limitations:
- Be realistic about how your chronic pain would limit you if you returned to work full-time. For example, if your ability to stand for long periods of time brings with it substantial pain, it is unlikely that you would be able to do this every day at a job.
- Write down all of the things that you do during the day in order to get through the pain. This may include periodically resting to put your feet up, taking a nap, apply hot or cold packs, or standing up to stretch.
- Do not exaggerate or minimize the extent of your pain. Since chronic pain is subjective and only you can truly know how severe your pain is, your credibility is vital.
Fortunately for pain sufferers, you do not have to navigate the disability claim process alone. To learn more about how we can help you with your Bellevue Social Security disability claim, view the testimonials of our past clients.
