When your adrenal cortex works overtime, it produces an excess of corticosteroids. This can lead to all kinds of medical problems, from relatively minor issues, such as obesity, to major issues, such as psychosis, bone thinning, and even heart failure and stroke.
Maintaining a regular lifestyle with adrenal gland disorders isn’t easy, and working on a regular basis is even harder. Perhaps that’s why the Social Security Administration has decided to include hyperfunction of the adrenal cortex as a disability worthy of Social Security disability benefits for those who can meet their qualifications.
The first way to medically qualify is by matching the listing in the SSA’s Listings of Impairments, a sort of guidebook for disabilities. In it, each condition is defined and given a list of criteria that need to be met. Meet these requirements, and you automatically qualify for benefits. Fail to do so… and there’s still a secondary method you can use.
The secondary method is to use the Five Step Sequential Evaluation Process to prove that your condition is just as severe as anything in the Listings of Impairments. Going this route isn’t as simple or straightforward as matching a listing, but it can be done.
Still, since meeting the criteria of a listing is the clearer path, that’s always the route that you should attempt first.
How to Get Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits for Adrenal Gland Disorders
The criteria for getting benefits for adrenal gland dysfunction is not overly complex. The SSA lists adrenal gland functions and disorders in Section 9.00 Endocrine Disorders. SSA evaluates impairments resulting from endocrine disorders in conjunction with listings for other body systems.
The SSA will evaluate the following things relating to your disability:
- They evaluate adrenal-related osteoporosis with fractures that compromises the ability to walk or to use the upper extremities.
- They also look at adrenal-related hypertension that worsens heart failure or causes recurrent arrhythmias.
- They will review documented adrenal-related weight loss.
- Evaluation will also be made for mood disorders
There are also relevant tests that you can take to help your claim:
- 17-hydroxycorticosteroids
- 17-ketosteroids
- Aldosterone
- Blood pressure measurement
- Corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test
- Cortisol
- Metyrapone test
- Pregnanetriol
- Renin
If you test positively, it will go a long way towards proving that you deserve disability benefits.
For a free legal consultation, call 800-562-9830
Remember Equivalent Severity for Adrenal Gland Disorders
Don’t forget that matching a listing isn’t the only way to qualify for adrenal gland disorder Social Security disability benefits. If you are unable to do so, you can always utilize the Five Step Sequential Evaluation Process to prove the true presence of disability caused by your impairment. SSA presumes any person suffering from a condition that satisfies the criteria of a listing is in fact unable to work and earn a living, and is thus disabled.
Get Help from the Board Certified Attorneys at Marc Whitehead & Associates
To prove equivalency, you and your Social Security disability attorney will need to show the SSA that you have been unable to work for 12 months or longer due to problems related to your disability. If you are able to do this, you will win the benefits that you need to survive.
Learn even more about the claims process by reading our Social Security Disability eBook for free and be sure to read through our extensive disability blog for more information on how you can get the Social Security disability benefits that you deserve.
If you need help today, call us at 800-562-9830 for a free case evaluation.
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