Dissability Retirement

In August I turned in my dissability papers in to my pension board.  For the past five years I have been a regular in my doctors office with complaints of extreme fatigue, muscle pains, passing out, joint pain, tingling in hands, legs and feet, chronic cough (to the point of vomiting and loosing contol of my bladder) lack of sleep, depression, anxiety, anemia, respiratory problems, asthama and overall just not feeling good.  Each and every individual symptom was treated. I gaines 100 lbs in the process.  I think my complaints were looked at as "Your weight is causing your problems."  This only added to my weight gain and depressio.n  You know the cycle. 
Finally after lung function test, ;multiply MRIs, broncoscopy, Holter monitor,EKG, tilt test, and a stress test the rhumotologist finally diagonised me with Fibro.  I have been prescribed several anti-depressants, muscle relaxer, antiinflamatory, and pain med.  I will say the amitriptyline does allow me to get about four hours of sleep each night.  But nothing has helpeded the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion.  OH, I forgot to mention that I am a police officer required to be very active and very physical.  I was very good at this for 20 years, but now walking from my car to the building seems like a days work.  I can not work on the prescribed meds.  Would you want your local police officer on Oxicodone and Prozac-- I wouldn't. A normal retirement is after 25 years.  I just started my 22nd.
    The point of this is, I don't know if my dissability will be approved.  Both my PCP and my Psychologist wrote letters on my behalf.  I am having lap band surgery on Mon, Nov 16 (self-pay)because I do believe loosing weight might help.  However, it is much harder to do that when exercise wipes me out for hours.
     Sorry for rambling......  

First off welcome to the board, always good to see new folks join us. I do know that dissability is very hard to get with just a fibro diagnosis so you may have to really fight and put up a battle to win it, that said I sure hope you do get it! I hate to burst your hopes but weight loss does very little to help with the fibro. It will help any joint pain you might have but as far as the fibro I don't think anyone here has had a decrease in the pain because of WLS. Also a warning about the band, if you have difficulty exercising as I do the band may not help much with weight loss unless you are a volume or junk food eater. I've always eaten good quality food and not much of it so my band has done nothing to help my weight loss because I simply can't exercise. Besides fibro and arthritis I also have COPD so my lungs are shot. I have only lost 25# in the 2 years I've had my band. I so wish I had gotten RNY or VSG. So just something to consider. Lapband weight loss is usually VERY slow for most folks. I wish you the best and crossing fingers that you'll get your dissabilty!

 I got mine post wls due to fibro and DDD. I didnt get for mental issues but sure that helps alot from what I have seen in other cases. I have to run to PT but you can email me here and I will talk more and be reminded to come back and offer more support.
Hugs,
Shannon

 Hi there! Hope you are not suffering much today! The cold here is making me hurt  and making my screws and rods in my back pull with nerve pains down my leg.  Hope I wont have a winter like the last one and thought the 2nd surgery last year fixed this pain, didnt know it was related to the cold. 
Ok sorry for my ramble. 

I got my disability denied the first time but it was mostly focused on depression and a bad stomach issue at the time. I continued to try and return to work twice, once for 9 days, the 2nd time for 4. During that time my pain levels from fibro and a blown disk were increasingly debilitating. I certainly tried as I had a good paying job, had left my husband and too much going on to mentally deal with.  The reason for denial was that I may not be able to do my current job but could do something for work. 
I filled out my paperwork the next time based on my worst days. It was true that I was afraid to go out of the house on bad days from fear of falling, someone bumping me with a buggy and anxiety of just dealing with people. The misery was obvious on my face at work, home and when I was out in public.   
 My drs records clearly stated the same info I filled out in my papers. I tried those 2 times to go back to work even though my drs didn't think I would be able, they let me try. It put off my approval date for disability but also showed a good effort. Between the pain and the meds I was on I simply could not concentrate to work. I was shocked when it got approved in less than 3 months at 34 yrs old. I called DDS (Disability Determination Services) ,, the people who approve or deny your case, to see if all of my drs had sent in my records. They had all but the info from a rhuematologist that had confirmed fibro and other joint issues. I called the dr myself, had them faxed to me(not all will do this) and sent them to DDS immediately. It is important for you to have copies of all your records to make sure the Dr has included all the info that will match what is on your paperwork you filled out. If not you can visit again and have it included and forward the new  records in yourself. 
When I got my approval I sent in to ask for a copy of my records and approval paperwork. I never had to visit a disability dr. On the approval it referenced excerpts from my drs records, Mri's, function tests to back up the approval. I got a disk with disabilities paperwork they did, as well as copies of drs records , radiology reports that they based it on. I had referenced the physical and mental parts of my disability on my paperwork.
I hope this may help. If you have any questions you can PM me on here with your email. All of this started post wls about a year or so after. I had been told lose weight and it will all get better, then it got blamed on no cushion. The dr even giggled after he told me it was b/c of no cushion. I pressed for referrals to drs until I got help and diagnosis I needed. I had been to drs on and off for pain, trigger point knots for years pre wls only to be handed a nsaid and told losing weight would help. I think the damage was done pre wls and had gotten to far. All of us get some level of osteo arthritis, some never have pain from my research and drs advice. The weight had not helped anything as it was very advanced for me as well as degenerative disk disease DDD. 
Sorry for the book but only way I know how to explain it. No one wants to give up a career. Sometime we have to to survive, you paid it in. 
Shannon