New York Disability Lawyer Herbert Forsmith Explains Keeping a Pain Diary
A diary is a way for you to keep a detailed record of your symptoms. If you are considering seeking Social Security benefits and you have chronic pain or other disabling symptoms, with good days and bad days, you should consider keeping such diary; a New York disability lawyer can help you to make the best use of your diary when presenting your case.
Here are some examples of types of pain diaries that may be helpful in your case:
- General pain diary. Whenever you feel pain, note in your diary where the pain is localized, whether it has spread to other body parts, the intensity of the pain, how long the pain lasted, what caused it, and what you did to treat the pain.
- Headache diary. You can keep track of the date, time, duration, and intensity of your headaches, as well as related symptoms such as nausea or vomiting.
- Sleep diary. If your pain keeps you from being able to sleep, a sleep diary may be useful. Make a chart tracking down the number of hours of sleep you get each night. Also note the number of hours in which you slept comfortably, the number of hours you attempted sleep but could not, and the number of hours that you slept but did not want to sleep.
Keeping a diary is important so that your testimony during your hearing can be comprehensive and consistent. Don’t just rely on your good memory; make sure you have a detailed record of all the symptoms you experienced over time. A diary will add to your credibility and increase your chances of succeeding in your disability claim.
With the help of a New York disability lawyer, you can decide how to best utilize your pain/symptoms diary in your disability case.
If you are not already represented by a New York disability lawyer and would like me to review your case, please complete the claim evaluation form at the top of this page.
