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How to Get Financial Relief from Social Security Disability
When you don’t get good sleep, you find out just how important sleeping is for good health. We spend about a third of our lives doing it. We need it to heal, recharge, and be ready to face each day.
Sleep apnea doesn’t let you get vital rest, and it can make working for a living difficult—sometimes even impossible.
Social Security provides disability benefits when health problems get in the way of doing your job. It’s financial assistance that keeps you going in a tough time.
But does sleep apnea count as an eligible disability to the Social Security Disability program?
That’s a complicated question, one that the disability law team at Baynetta M. Jordan, P.C., Attorney at Law, can help you answer.
On the surface, Social Security disregards sleep apnea as a disability. It’s not on the agency’s list of recognized disorders.
Sleep apnea is common, and many people manage it with treatment, such as a CPAP device, so they can continue working. You must be unable to work to qualify for Social Security Disability.
But when you dig deeper, you find that sleep apnea can be combined with—or sometimes leads to—more severe health conditions that more clearly qualify for disability benefits.
Making those connections to build a successful application for disability benefits takes a keen understanding of how Social Security Disability works.
Lubbock disability lawyer Baynetta Jordan knows Social Security. She knows how to document health conditions. She can fight for you and improve your chances of winning disability benefits, whether it’s applying or appealing a denial.
Our team won’t let Social Security wear you down.
We’re the Texas disability law firm that makes sure Nobody Pushes West Texans Around™.
Connecting Sleep Apnea to Disorders that Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits
Living with sleep apnea is a struggle. You wake up often. You might feel panicked, short of breath. You snore. You’re tired and distracted during the day.
Sleep apnea can be a standalone health condition. But often it’s a symptom of a larger health problem—which may be your path to winning Social Security Disability benefits.
Medical experts have found sleep apnea to be a symptom of impairments such as:
- Asthma
- Cardiovascular disease
- Enlarged tonsils
- High blood pressure
- Lung disease
- Obesity
Furthermore, sleep apnea can lead to debilitating conditions such as:
- Arrhythmias
- Behavior disorders
- Cognitive impairments
- Mental health problems
- Strokes and heart attacks
- Thyroid problems
The combination of sleep apnea and other health issues can make an application for Social Security Disability benefits successful. As with every case, you will need to prove that your health won’t let you work and that your condition will persist for at least a year.
If you are wondering if your sleep apnea and its related problems could be eligible for disability benefits, let West Texas disability attorney Baynetta Jordan help you get to the bottom of it.
You don’t pay a fee for a disability lawyer until you win benefits.
We’ll evaluate your evidence, look at your whole picture, and help you chart a path forward.
The Workaround for Social Security Disability for Sleep Apnea
Social Security has a pathway to get disability benefits for health problems that don’t fit neatly into its definitions of eligible impairments, like sleep apnea.
Taking all your symptoms into account, doctors can test their impact on what’s called your “residual functional capacity,” or RFC.
Your RFC is a measurement of your physical and mental capabilities, and often your own doctor can perform the tests. They look for:
Physical impairments. These are limitations on the physical demands of your work. They test how well you sit, stand, walk, lift, bend over, reach, use your hands and so forth.
Mental impairments. These are limitations on your mental capacity to carry out work tasks. They test your ability to understand, remember and carry out instructions. They assess how well you respond to supervision, coworkers, and the mental stress work.
Other impairments. These are catch-all limitations that don’t fit into the other categories. They can include hearing, pain, skin problems, epilepsy, or responses to the environment that limit your ability to work.
These tests consider all your practical, everyday limitations—no matter what medical diagnosis you have—to determine if you’re unable to function well enough to work and earn a living.
The process of getting disability benefits takes a lot of patience and persistence. Having a trusted guide at your side, an experienced Texas Social Security Disability lawyer, makes it easier.
If you live in Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, Plainview, Levelland, or anywhere in West Texas, disability attorney Baynetta Jordan and her team can do the heavy lifting for you: talk to medical providers, gather evidence, engage Social Security administrators, and build your case to give you the best chance of getting back on track when sleep apnea severely disrupts your life.