Anyone who decides to file a disability claim and subsequent appeals is asked by Social Security to complete a disability report. On this disability report a claimant lists all the conditions and impairments that keep them from maintaining full-time employment, the current medical treating sources a claimant visits and a list of medications the claimant is currently prescribed.
Among the things a claimant must provide on the disability report, medications may not seem like a large portion or a heavily considered topic, but it is probably more important than most people are aware of. The types of medication a claimant has been prescribed can tell a lot about the severity of their impairments. As an example, someone who suffers from physical limitations and is prescribed pain medication could take medications that are used for moderate pain, but other heavy-duty pain medications such as narcotics could be used to treat someone with extreme pain conditions.
The same goes for mental health conditions as there are a variety of medications used depending on the severity of conditions and symptoms.
One hidden aspect many people do not consider is the side effects many people suffer from depending on the type of medication they take. Side effects from medications can actually be considered symptoms of your overall condition and should be taken into account in determining whether someone meets Social Security’s disability rules. Consider the following things of how side effects may impact you:
- Does you medication make you extremely drowsy, enough so that it may impact your ability to get to work and perform duties?
- Does your medication impact your concentration levels and your abilities to focus or even impact your memory?
- Does the medication you are prescribed cause digestive issues that result in extra ordinary trips to the bathroom or even cause nausea?
As you can see medications can cause side effects that impact a person’s ability to maintain a full-time job, so informing Social Security of these issues is extremely important.
