I spent an hour and a half today answering questions and sharing information on the Internet radio show called "Winning Life Through Pain". I want to thank Marla Martindale and Chris Tatevosian for having me as a guest on their show. The show was aired on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 2 PM Eastern standard Time. If you would like to hear the show you can listen to it any time at www.RSDcoachlive.comand the show regularly airs every Tuesday at the same time. Both hosts were very entertaining and asked good questions about Social Security disability. We also have a lot of questions from the audience about both Social Security Disability and VA disability. I enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to share my knowledge of the subjects. I will soon be posting a link from my website to theirs so you can access the great content they have on their websites as well. I hope some of you reading this post will take the opportunity to listen to the broadcast as I think it was both informative and entertaining. I look forward to the opportunity to be on the show again in the future. I'll be sure to let you know when I am asked to be on the show again. I don't have a lot of time today, but I wanted to make sure that I thank the hosts and make my readers aware of the show. You will soon find a link to Marla's website on my RSD page which can be found if you click on "other medical conditions" page in the navigation column and then click on the RSD page link. Take care for now and I hope you receive a favorable Social Security disability or SSI decision soon.

It is extremely common that those who suffer from chronic pain, also suffer from some degree of depression. In many cases, where a patient is suffering from chronic pain due to a medical condition, I often see in the records notes from doctors that the patient is depressed. Sometimes, the doctor tells the patient to seek treatment for the depression, and other times the patient is not even told that his or her chronic pain is causing symptoms of depression. It frequently amazes me how many times one or more doctors in a patient's file note symptoms of depression, but no further action is taken to address the issue. It is just as common for the patient to ignore his doctors advice to get help for his or her depression. When I see depression or symptoms of depression in client's file and I ask them why they are not being treated for the condition I get a few common answers. One answer I get is that "I'm not crazy I'm just in pain". Another answer I commonly get is that "I am not disabled because of my depression I am disabled because of my other medical condition". Sometimes the claimant is completely unaware that his doctors were noting depression in his or her treatment notes, but when I asked them by going through a list of symptoms of depression if they have any of the symptoms I often find they have many if not all of the symptoms of depression. If you have chronic pain and symptoms of depression and you are only being treated for the medical condition that causes the chronic pain then you are potentially only treating half of your conditions. In fact, it is well known that depression can also cause physical pain. A good Social Security employee who sees notes of depression in the file will order a mental exam of the claimant. However, what I frequently see in many Social Security employee notes is that although they noted there was some indication of depression in the file the claimant is not receiving treatment so the condition is not considered severe. The purpose of this post is to make you aware that any time you suffer from chronic pain for extended period of time there is a possibility you will develop some degree of depression that may require medical attention. If this is the case with you make sure to take it upon yourself to see a psychiatrist and get evaluated to see if you need treatment for this condition. Hopefully, with proper treatment it improves your overall medical condition and if it doesn't initially give you substantial relief at least Social Security will take depression seriously in your claim for Social Security disability benefits.