I suggest, that if you're even contemplating Social Security Disability, the very first thing to do is to APPLY. On April 1, 1991 I called Social Security and told them I wanted to sign on. This was even before the CDC's CFS Fukuda Criteria were published, and I had what was then referred to as "Yuppie Flu". The very next thing I did was to engage a law firm that specialized in SS Disability claims. Only because they had advertised on the radio, I went with Binder & Binder here in the USA. It took two years of legal wrangling and intense medical scrutiny by SSA, before an administrative law judge [not in a courtroom] decided in my favor. The next bigger news was that I was to receive a lump sum for all the benefits that I would have received from the moment I first called. Binder & Binder [they're still in business] took their fair share off the top, and I received something like $15,000. -Phil