I have more than one disability, should I focus  just one or provide  info  on all to help my case? Fibromyalgia, heart problems, sleep apnea and extreme fatigue, and bi-polar depression.
–Darlene

Jonathan Ginsberg responds:  Darlene – good question.  At the initial and reconsideration stages, your claim will be reviewed by an Adjudicator who works for your State of residence under a contract with the Social Security Administration.  Adjudicators work hard, but they are not trained or paid to serve as judges.  They are equivalent to an insuarnce claims adjustor.

Multiple medical problems will make it difficult for an adjudicator to decide your claim favorably.  Therefore, I would suggest that you focus on one problem and try to find a doctor who will support your claim that this one serious problem rises to a listing level.  I would mention and include the other problems but I would focus on the one issue that seems most serious.

Note that fibromyalgia by definition is not a listing level problem because there is no listing for fibromyalgia.  Read more about the Social Security listings here.

If your case is denied at the initial and recon stages, and you go before a judge, you will most likely have a lawyer to help develop a strategy.  In my practice I tend to focus on one or two primary problems as I have found this approach works best.