@jonn and
@AlleyCat
I think if you have records of seeing any types of doctors and/or other practitioners, for your difficulties, during those years between being first unable to work , and getting a dx, that is enough. It would help if you were SEEKing help at that time. (If not , then you could document what you were doing during that time, such as too sick and weak to get up to get meals , and letters from anyone who knows you to state that you were not able to do things, or needed help from others to do things, etc )
And you could prep way before the hearing, to find the dates, of ANY types of medical people OR other professionals, that you saw in those years, OR other respected ppl who could write letters for you, that they knew you were too sick to work at that time....and that you were too sick to attend social events, etc.... that you need and needed help in order to do anything you did....
I would then focus more on the symptoms that kept you from working, and still do. And the severity of those symptoms, and how they keep you from doing normal tasks and from working.
I would make a list of those, you can take your time and add to it as you remember them, or if you have ANY type calendars or notes from the past to remind you.....
At the hearing, it is not necessary for you to remember everything and to appear smart and capable , because that is one of the reasons we cannot work. We cannot rush and get the right answers to questions. We cannot predict how we will be on that day. We cant act smart and capable and great, and that IS fine if it is obvious to the judge.
Our unpredictability and inability to function well, is why we cant work.
SO I would prep the lists, and letters of support, for your lawyer, and try NOT to worry about being "good" at the hearing. If you looked sharp at the hearing, they would doubt your illness . You don't need to .
It took me way too long to remember answers and give them, at one of my evaluations, and I didn't realize, that helped my case, did not hinder it.
And again, I think you should focus on telling the judge your symptoms, and how bad they are, and how they limit what you can do even at home. I wouldn't lean on the diagnosis.
That was my experience.
