Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a difficult and complex process. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Christine Vinson-Rowles was suffering from several ailments, including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and fibromyalgia, when she experienced initial denial. She shares her story here.

This is a true story as told to Allsup. 

 

Fort Lupton woman loses house, husband, health, but not hope…

 

 

Fort Lupton, Colorado — The question for Christine Vinson-Rowles, her doctors and finally, Allsup, was, “Just how sick was she?” More importantly, which of the many illnesses plaguing her would qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits?

 

But that’s getting ahead of the story. Mrs. Vinson-Rowles, 44, began suffering aches and pains when she was just 21.

 

“I always had back aches,” she said of her adult life. “Over the years they got worse. I kept complaining to doctors about my back and neck, so they started doing X-rays and CAT-scans, but nothing showed. About 10 years ago, they ruled out everything but fibromyalgia.”

 

Fibromyalgia wasn’t really recognized by the medical community until during the previous decade or so, and it remains a stumbling block to SSDI benefits now.

 

“Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion. It’s very difficult to diagnose to obtain disability,” said Robert Edwards, an Allsup representative and Mrs. Vinson-Rowles’ eventual representative in court. Many people use the hard-to-diagnose condition to fraudulently file benefits claims, Mr. Edwards said. That is one factor in the Social Security Administration’s reluctance to award benefits for claims based solely on the fibromyalgia.

 

Another disease would prove to be a catalyst.

 

“It started when I was 23 years old,” Mrs. Vinson-Rowles said. “My wrists were swelling, I couldn’t use my hands, and my shoulders were swelling badly. My soon-to-be husband and I didn’t have any money so I just dealt with it.” Then she had tendonitis in her foot and couldn’t walk. Several jobs and years later, she finally found employment that provided much-needed medical insurance. However, she felt that her job as head of commercial sales for a lumber company was in jeopardy. She went to an emergency room for help. The attending physician’s diagnosis: rheumatoid arthritis.

 

She began taking a prescription steroid to block the pain, but flare-ups sometimes kept her out of work for up to a month at a time. Appreciative of her skills and sensitive to her health problems, her boss gave her the leeway she needed to cope, and her husband gladly attended to her needs at home.

 

Cortisone shots provided temporary relief for her swollen, aching wrists and shoulders, but then her knees turned on her, first one and then the other. “When rheumatoid arthritis attacks one side of the body,” she explained, “within a couple of days, it attacks the other side, too.” Thank goodness she had an understanding boss, until his lumberyard went out of business.

 

He gave her a solid recommendation, however, and she only missed a weekend before she began a new job scheduling projects for a truss company. “I explained to (my new employers) my health problems. The boss was really cool and said he could work with it.” But he was promoted a year later and the new boss wasn’t as cooperative.

 

“I developed diabetes at my second job,” she said. “I gained 60 pounds in eight months, but I couldn’t quit eating. The doctor said I had Cushing’s syndrome, which makes you gain a lot of weight around your middle.” The steroids she’d been taking for 20 years caused the weight gain. She stopped taking them and began a regimen of pills and diet to control the latest disease to attack her. But illness continued to plague her and the new boss grew impatient.

 

“As soon as I missed time, he started having a problem,” Mrs. Vinson-Rowles said. “I was getting worse and was on more drugs. I was too out of it to work sometimes. I missed more and more work, until finally he called me in and fired me.”

 

Things didn’t get any better. She drew unemployment for a while but used it up when she couldn’t find even a part-time job. Her situation was compounded when her husband’s injuries from a serious car accident, combined with many other small accidents at work, rendered him disabled, and they risked losing their home. One of their children took it over, moving in and assuming payments. They fled to Salem, Ore., where they lived with her husband’s sister.

 

Her husband filed for disability, a time-consuming and not always pleasant experience, they would learn.

 

“He had a lot of problems and a hard time getting disability,” she said. “The judge at his hearing was difficult.” He eventually got help, but succumbed to his injuries and passed away three years ago. Alone and needing help through the disability claims process, she found Allsup.

 

The process still would take more than two years to complete, but it probably would have been longer if she’d tried to do it without professional help. She returned to Colorado and moved in with family while she awaited the outcome. She hoped Allsup representation would make a difference.

 

Allsup’s success rate is a staggering 97 percent. The company is so highly regarded that in October 2006, the Better Business Bureau presented Allsup its Torch Award for excellence in customer service. Since 1984, the disability advocacy company has helped more than 100,000 people obtain about $1.5 billion in SSDI and Medicare benefits. Mrs. Vinson-Rowles was in good hands, and Allsup would ease her worries over the lengthy time it would take to get her SSDI benefits.

 

“Allsup was very helpful whenever I called,” she said. “They answered all my questions. They would mail out a letter every 90 days or so to let me know what was going on, even when nothing was happening.”

 

Her claim was denied at the initial stage and again at reconsideration. She was headed to a level 3 hearing before an administrative law judge. Recalling her husband’s experience, she was terrified. Learning her Allsup-appointed legal representative would be flying in from Illinois the day of the hearing in Greeley, Colo., taxed her nerves further. What if he doesn’t make it? And what if the judge is as difficult as the one my husband went before?

 

Allsup tries to prevent clients from having to attend a level 3 hearing and most of the time succeeds. But Mrs. Vinson-Rowles’ claim was complex and still tied to the flag-raising condition of fibromyalgia. Her relatively young age also a factor. According to Mr. Edwards, it’s much harder for people under the age of 55 to gain SSDI benefits.

 

Exasperating her difficult case was the fact that although her medical records were consistent, they were not as comprehensive as others that had been reviewed at level 3. The judge wasn’t taking chances; he had questions he felt only she could answer. She stifled her fears and joined Mr. Edwards for her day in court.

 

“At the hearing I focused on her rheumatoid arthritis,” Mr. Edwards recalled. “I also pointed out to the judge that she had a disease that frequently is disabling. There is a consensus that fibromyalgia enhances the apprehension of pain. There are some unusual chemical findings that can increase the sensation of pain, a level of pain that might not severely affect others.”

 

There’s also the issue of visible recognition.

 

“If you look at me, I look fine, so it’s very hard for people to understand,” Mrs. Vinson-Rowles said. “Even family members don’t understand. But the judge we had was very nice. He asked me questions and we answered them. He was very polite and he said ‘Thank you.’”

 

Thanks to Mr. Edwards’ representation and evidence from the combination of diseases, the judge agreed her condition warranted SSDI benefits. She was awarded in May 2007.

 

The SSDI benefits enabled Mrs. Vinson-Rowles to get her financial affairs in better order and make plans to move into an apartment, where she will still be close to her grandchildren and her parents. Both have been a blessing to her.

 

“Some days the only joy I have are the grandkids,” she said—and her father, although she won’t always admit it. “My dad is one of those people who doesn’t believe in medicine of any kind. He says to me, ‘You’ve got to get off of that.’ He’s old-fashioned.” But in the next breath, she says with conviction, “My parents have been a godsend. They only live a few minutes away.” She’s grateful for her family’s nearness.

 

And she’s grateful to Allsup.

 

“I would recommend Allsup to anyone,” she said. “They were so helpful.”