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Many people wonder if medication side-effects could affect a judge’s decision about your Social Security Disability hearing. The answer is simple. Yes. It is important to remember that the court takes into account all of your medical records, and these, of course, includes medications. Your local Charleston social security lawyer can help you understand exactly how certain drugs and prescription medicines can affect a judge’s decision. Here are some of the explanations:
Required Medicine with Negative Side-Effects
Medicines that cause certain side-effects like sleepiness, fatigue, mental fogginess, and other side-effects that prohibit you from working, can all be used to strengthen your case. You must, however, prove first that these drugs are required for you by your physicians. Taking medicines that aren’t prescribed or necessary will have no effect, and may even weaken your case. It is also important that your consumption is according to the doctor’s prescription. If the side-effects are due to overconsumption, these are not grounds for favorable consideration.
Required Medicine with Positive Effects
Certain conditions can be controlled and treated with proper medication. A good example is asthma. Asthma prohibits a person from doing strenuous activities since he or she runs out of breath faster.
There are medications, though, that could control and counter the effects of asthma. If, for example, that medication you are taking has allowed you to function normally, then this will make you capable of work, and thus unqualified for social security disability claims. The general rule followed by an experienced Charleston social security disability lawyer, like Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law, is this: If the medication can help you work normally, it would lessen your chances of getting your disability claim approved, but if it carries side-effects that render you incapable of working, then it would help you get approved.
Drugs and Alcohol
Drugs and alcohol can either be bad for your case or would have no effect whatsoever. The judge will need to carefully examine how the alcohol and drugs affect your condition. If the drugs contributed to or aggravated your condition in any way, you might be denied.
The judge will also determine how your condition would be affected if you stop taking the drugs and the alcohol. In some cases, withdrawal symptoms may be observed, and these could help you in some way to prove that you are incapable of work for a period of time while you undergo therapy. There are also times when some conditions require drugs like marijuana as medication. If the marijuana prohibits you from working, and it is required for you, then you may be looking at a favorable decision.
Sources:
(Medication Side Effects In Social Security Disability Cases, adisability, May 7, 2009)
(Medications And Your Social Security Disability Claim, adisbility, June 6, 2011)
(How Do Drugs And Alcohol Use Affect My Disability Claim?, adisability, July 10, 2014)
To Schedule an Appointment, Call Us Toll Free at 1.877.873.8208 or Email Us for a Prompt Response.
Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law