When you feel like you are choking or can't breathe, you tend to panic, which can make your lungs want to breath even faster.
However, the stress of this can constrict your airway more, making it difficult for you to get the oxygen that you need to survive.
This is what asthma sufferers must deal with regularly.
Thus, sometimes asthma can count as a long-term disability.
If you have an illness or impairment that prevents you from working, you may be unable to pay your medical and utility bills.
However, as you struggle with your health, your medical bills can pile up, causing even more worry in your life.
In cases like this, the Social Security Administration, or SSA, can provide you with coverage to help you with these bills.
Additionally, long-term disability benefits can help you obtain the quality of life that you deserve.
To hasten the process of deciding whether or not you truly have a disability, the SSA has a Listing of Impairments that details a number of different problems that often prevent people from working.
If your problem is on this list, you may be more likely to have your request for disability coverage approved.
Asthma is on this list.
Asthma is a respiratory disorder that causes the airways to narrow, become irritated, or fill with mucus.
This can cause chest pain, as well as wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath.
Sadly, an estimated 34.
1 million Americans are diagnosed with asthma over the course of their lives.
Because of this, working adults miss about 10.
1 million workdays annually due to asthma.
Also, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, about 250,000 people die from asthma each year in the United States.
On the list of impairing conditions, there are several things that the SSA considers when it is determining whether or not your asthma is actually a disability.
If you have chronic asthmatic bronchitis that significantly decreases the volume of your lungs, this may count as a long-term disability.
On the other hand, if you suffer from attacks at least once every two months or six times per year, this may be a long-term disability as well.
These attacks must not respond to medication, and they must require the intervention of a medical professional.