Headaches and Migraines Disability Insurance Benefits Claim
View Disability Cases Involving Headaches and Migraines Disability Insurance Benefits Claim
Disability insurance carriers often challenge a diagnosis of headaches. How can disability insurance attorneys Dell & Schaefer assist you?
It is the chronic nature of daily headaches that can prevent an individual from being able to work in a job environment with any reasonable continuity. As disability attorneys, Dell & Schaefer have represented long term disability claimants that have been unable to work as a result of headaches and chronic migraines. We often see that a disability company will wrongfully deny a person disabled by headaches because a CT scan or MRI brain is normal.
The reality is that more than 99% of the individuals on disability as a result of headaches and migraines have normal CT scans and MRIs. Headache claims are generally based on subjective complaints. A disability claimant must be prepared to properly document all of the limitations caused on a daily basis as result of the headaches. In conjunction with headaches, it is common that a disability claimant will have secondary medical conditions such as depression, anxiety, sleep disorder, neck pain, eye pain, fatigue, and cognitive limitations.
Disability Attorneys Dell & Schaefer have an expansive understanding of the significant restrictions and limitations that a person suffering with headaches must live with on a daily basis. We have worked closely with top physicians in order to sufficiently satisfy a disability carrier’s threshold of evidence necessary to prove that a client is disabled by suffering headaches.
Not everyone suffering from suffering headaches qualifies for long-term disability benefits; therefore the medical records of each client must be reviewed to determine the level of restrictions.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss your long-term disability claim.
You can contact us for a free initial consultation.
Headache is defined as pain in the head or upper neck. It is one of the most common locations of pain in the body and has many causes. Headaches have numerous causes, and in 2007 the International Headache Society agreed upon an updated classification system for headache. Because so many people suffer from headaches, and because treatment is sometimes difficult, the new classification system has allowed health care practitioners to understand a specific diagnosis more completely to provide better and more effective treatment regimens for their patients.
There are three major categories of headaches:
- Primary headaches,
- Secondary headaches,
- Cranial neuralgias, facial pain and other headaches.
Primary headaches include migraine, tension, and cluster headaches, as well as a variety of other less common types of headache. Tension headaches are the most common type of primary headache; as many as 90% of adults have had or will have tension headaches. Tension headaches are more common among women than men.
Migraine headaches are the second most common type of primary headache. An estimated 28 million people in the United States (about 12% of the population) will experience migraine headaches. Migraine headaches affect children as well as adults. An estimated 6% of men and up to 18% of women will experience a migraine headache.
Cluster headaches are a rare type of primary headache, affecting 0.1% of the population. An estimated 85% of cluster headache sufferers are men. The average age of cluster headache sufferers is 28-30 years of age, although headaches may begin in childhood.
Primary headaches affect quality of life. Some people have occasional headaches that resolve quickly, while others are completely debilitated by them.
Secondary headaches are those that are due to an underlying structural problem in the head or neck. There are numerous causes of this type of headache ranging from head and neck trauma, blood vessel problems (stroke), non blood vessel problems (seizures), infection (meningitis, encephalitis), changes in the body’s environment, psychiatric disorders and eye, ear, nose throat and dental problems to name a few.
Cranial neuralgias, neuralgia means nerve pain. Cranial neuralgia describes a group of headaches that occur because the nerves in the head and upper neck become inflamed and are the source of the head pain. Facial pain and a variety of other causes for headache are included in this category.
The symptoms of headaches can become a disabling condition
The most common symptoms of most headaches include a pain that begins in the back of the head and upper neck as a band-like tightness or pressure. The pain experienced with most headaches is usually mild and not debilitating on a long-term basis. However, the incessant nature of chronic daily headaches makes them among the most disabling headaches due to a individuals inability to focus at work while experiencing these headaches.
People who suffer chronic migraine headaches usually describe them as intense, throbbing or pounding pain that involves one temple. (Sometimes the pain is located in the forehead, around the eye, or at the back of the head). The pain usually is unilateral (on one side of the head), although about a third of the time the pain is bilateral (on both sides of the head). The unilateral headaches typically change sides from one attack to the next. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, facial pallor, cold hands, cold feet, and sensitivity to light and sound commonly accompany migraine headaches. As a result of this sensitivity to light and sound, migraine sufferers usually prefer to lie in a quiet, dark room during an attack. A typical attack may last between 4 and 72 hours.
The symptoms of cluster headaches include episodes which last from 30 minutes to an hour and a half and can occur multiple times per day. Attacks tend to occur at the same time everyday and often wake the person from a sound sleep at night. Patients describe the pain as excruciating and located around or behind one eye. The affected eye may become red and inflamed as a result of the headache. Unlike patients with migraine headaches, patients with cluster headaches tend to be restless during an attack. The attacks are almost always unexpected and will occur at random times.
Those who suffer from chronic daily headaches are also more likely to experience depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and other psychological and physical problems. Aggressive initial treatment and steady, long-term management may reduce pain and lead to fewer chronic daily headaches.
Resources
There are many valuable sources of headache information available. You can also access resources over the internet such as:
Not everyone suffering from suffering headaches qualifies for long-term disability benefits; therefore the medical records of each client must be reviewed to determine the level of restrictions.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss your long-term disability claim.
You can contact us for a free initial consultation.
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Disability benefits cases involving Headaches & Migraines:
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