When you apply for long term disability (LTD) benefits, you need to prove that you are disabled (as that term is defined under your policy) and no longer able to perform meaningful work.
What Symptoms and Subjective Conditions Qualify for Long Term Disability?
Many symptoms, signs and subjective conditions, if severe enough, qualify for long term disability benefits. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
Anorexia
An emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a condition that causes severe and ongoing fatigue that is not improved by rest and does not result from another underlying disease. CFS is also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)
Chronic Radiation Enteritis
Chronic radiation enteritis is a chronic condition that develops after radiation is used to treat cancer in the abdominal and pelvic area. Acute radiation enteritis is a side effect that occurs after the last radiation treatment is given and usually clears up within a few weeks. However, some patients continue to experience chronic radiation enteritis for months or even years.
Coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened; fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound; lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle, and does not initiate voluntary actions.
Headaches, including Migraine Headaches
Migraine headaches (or migraines for short) are severe headaches that are neurologically based and usually associated with additional symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, auras (blurred peripheral vision, usually before the onset of a migraine headache), and increased sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines can range in intensity from mild to completely debilitating and can last anywhere from several hours to several days or more.
Insomnia
Insomnia is a sleep disorder in which you have trouble falling and/or staying asleep. The condition can be short-term (acute) or can last a long time (chronic). It may also come and go. Acute insomnia lasts from 1 night to a few weeks. Insomnia is chronic when it happens at least 3 nights a week for 3 months or more
Seasonal Affective Disorder
A mood disorder characterized by depression that occurs at the same time every year.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.
Sleep Disorder
Sleep disorders cause problems while a person is sleeping or trying to sleep. A common breathing disorder during sleep is sleep apnea. An individual with sleep apnea can actually stop breathing for as long as one or two minutes and may do so dozens or even hundreds of times per night. This stoppage of breathing results in broken sleep and all of the other problems associated with a lack of sleep. Most significantly, the lack of breathing can lead to hypoxemia, which is the lack of oxygen in the arterial blood.
If you are unable to work as a result of symptoms, signs, and subjective conditions, you should consult with an experienced long term disability attorney. Unfortunately, long term disability carriers do not make it easy for disabled claimants to receive the benefits that they deserve. If your symptoms, signs, and subjective conditions make it impossible for you to work and you have been denied your long term disability benefits, the legal team at Ortiz Law Firm can help you cut through the red tape and fight for your disability benefits no matter where you live in the United States. Give us a call today to discuss your claim at (888) 321-8131.