Can You Receive SSD Benefits for Headaches?
If you experience severely debilitating headaches, you may qualify for Social Security disability (SSD) benefits. An experienced advocate like the team at Kocian Law Group can help you prove your case.
Headaches can be difficult to diagnose, especially because a diagnosis is often based on a patient’s self-reports of symptoms, rather than on a laboratory finding.
Migraine headaches are the most common headache type for which disability benefits are granted. If you are experiencing the pain and suffering associated with chronic migraines, then you may have found that you cannot hold down a steady job. In order to prevail in your disability claim for migraines, you will need a convincing statement from your treating neurologist and/or other treating physician explaining that your migraine headaches prevent you from keeping a job.
Other types of headaches, such as cluster headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, or occipital neuralgia, may also qualify you for Social Security disability benefits if the headaches prevent you from working. As with migraines, proving that these types of headaches are disabling may require the assistance of an experienced SSD benefits advocate.
During a Social Security disability hearing, you must show it is “more likely than not” that your headaches precludes you from securing substantial gainful employment. If the SSA believes you could perform some available job, it must prove by “substantial evidence” that this is the case.
If you have questions about whether you qualify for Social Security disability benefits, the Kocian Law Group can help. We fight to provide vigorous representation for each of our clients.