Should I keep a written diary of my medical condition??

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The overwhelming answer is yes. In just about every case it will always be helpful for your case and to your SSD attorney in Charlotte if you can keep an accurate diary of events regarding your medical condition. This is even more important in cases where the medical impairment is based on frequent exacerbation’s, most notably seizures or migraines. This is because these types of impairments are only going to be approved if you can show that you have a specific number of seizures or migraines within a specific time period. For example, to meet the listing level severity for grand mal seizures, you would need to show that you have on the average at least one seizure per month. If you have a diary that charts every seizure you have had for the past 2-3 years that shows you meet that requirement it will be much easier to prove that you are disabled. This diary does not need to be formal or have any particular information on it, but of course the more accurate and more elaborate it is, the better and more useful it will be. Most individuals tend to just keep a simple notebook diary of these events, but you can also use a more elaborate spreadsheet if you like. The basic information you want to include would be things like the date, time, how long it lasted, what you did to resolve the exacerbation, and maybe a few simple notes.

Keep in mind that a diary of events is not by itself going to get anyone approved for disability benefits, because you still need to have sufficient evidence consisting of medical records that agree with your diary of events and the frequency of your medical impairment. In fact, it is even better if you can get your doctor to note in your medical file what you have kept in your diary of medical events.

Some other impairments that we see where keeping a diary of events is helpful is asthma attacks, panic or anxiety attacks, headaches/migraines, frequent chest pain, heart palpitations, dizzy spells, sickle cell anemia pain crises, IBS or irritable bowel syndrome or crohns disease, epilepsy or seizures either grand mal or petit mal, and any other medical impairment which occurs on a somewhat regular and frequent basis.

If you have applied for social security disability or are thinking about applying for social security disability and you have a medical impairment that has frequent and regular exacerbation’s you may want to consider keeping a detailed diary as explained above. More importantly, if you have any questions about keeping a medical diary feel free to contact one of our Social Security Disability Attorney’s in Charlotte, NC and we would be glad to help in any way we can.