Living with Epilepsy: Using Social Security Benefits

Epilepsy is a serious disorder relating to stray electrical impulses in the brain.  An epileptic can have seizures or blackouts at any time, without prior warning, and when these happen, the epileptic can be incapacitated for an undetermined period of time.  Many epileptics have died by choking on their own tongues or falling down during a seizure, and some have gotten into serious car accidents and other accidents because a seizure came without warning.  Needless to say, if you are an epileptic you may have trouble finding a job that is safe for you to perform.  There are medications available that can help to control epilepsy, but they do not work for everyone.  How can you receive social security disability benefits for your epilepsy if you have this condition?

Social Security Benefits for Epilepsy

The Social Security Administration does provide disability benefits for epileptic patients, with certain restrictions:

• Most forms of epilepsy are non fatal and seizures are essentially rare occurrences, and the Social Security Administration does not see these minor epileptic events as deserving of receiving full disability benefits. 
• However, if you are an epileptic who suffers from convulsive epilepsy with seizures occurring at least once per month that occur during the day and involve loss of consciousness, or that occur at night and interfere with your ability to work during the following day, and you have undergone at least three months of treatment with no effect on the epilepsy, you can apply for and receive SSDI disability.
• If you have non-convulsive epilepsy, and you have seizures with a frequency of more than once per week that result in either loss of consciousness (blackouts) or that interference with your daily activities and work schedule, and you have undergone the same treatment period of three months with no effect, then you will also qualify for SSDI disability under the Social Security Administration’s current regulations. 

The key here is that you not only have epilepsy and that it is verifiable by a medical professional, but that you have tried treatment and found it to be ineffective, and that your seizures are happening frequently enough and with enough seriousness that you cannot work.

Getting Help

One important method for receiving disability benefits for epilepsy is to document your epileptic seizures or other events using a diary.  By documenting the frequency of these events, you will be able to prove more effectively to the Social Security Administration.  With the help of your doctor and a good disability attorney, you should have no problem receiving SSDI disability for your epileptic condition.