Getting Social Security Disability Benefits for Vasculitis

Vasculitis (va-skyu-LYE-tuss) is a term for a group of rare diseases, all of which involve inflammation of the blood vessels. The inflammation then causes the walls of the blood vessels to thicken, reducing the width of the blood vessels. This can restrict blood flow and result in organ and tissue damage. Vasculitis might just affect one organ, or it can affect several. It can be short term or long lasting, depending on the kind of vasculitis you're diagnosed with.

According to a recent study in Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, about a quarter of patients with vasculitis become disabled. If you have symptoms of vasculitis that last longer than 12 months and interfere with your ability to work full-time, you might want to consider applying for Social Security benefits (SSDI and SSI). Knowing how Social Security defines disability and what medical evidence you'll need to get benefits will go a long way towards increasing your chances of a successful disability claim.

What Causes Vasculitis?

The exact cause of vasculitis isn't well understood, but doctors think the inflammation is the result of the body's immune system malfunctioning and attacking its own blood cells. Normally, the immune system functions as the body's defense against infections from bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Vasculitis is thought to be an auto-immune disorder, meaning that the body erroneously uses its defenses against itself, resulting in inflammation of blood vessels.

Certain triggers can cause the vasculitis auto-immune reaction, including a reaction to medication, certain types of blood cancers, chronic long-term viral infections (such as hepatitis B and C), or other immune system diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and scleroderma.

Types of Vasculitis

Doctors generally classify vasculitis types by the size of the blood vessels (arteries and veins) that are inflamed. Below, you'll find a list of the most common types of vasculitis based on blood vessel size.

Largest arteries, such as the aorta (heart):

• giant cell arteritis (GCA)
• Takayasu's arteritis
• Cogan's syndrome
• polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR)

Medium-sized arteries:

• polyarteritis nodosa
• Kawasaki disease

Small- and medium-sized arteries:

• granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA, formerly called Wegener's granulomatosis or WG disease)
• Churg-Strauss syndrome
• Buerger's disease

Small arteries:

• Henoch-Schonlein purpura
• cryoglobulinemia
• Goodpasture's syndrome

Various sizes:

• Behcet's disease, and
• relapsing polychondritis.

Symptoms of Vasculitis

Common signs and symptoms of vasculitis include fever, headache, fatigue, weight loss, pain, and shortness of breath. Other signs and symptoms are related to the specific parts of your body affected by the restricted blood flow, such as the following:

• pain after eating, which can occur when vasculitis affects your stomach or intestines
• dizziness and hearing loss, which can happen when vasculitis affects your ears
• redness and an itchy or burning sensation in the eyes, which can happen if you have giant cell arteritis, a type of vasculitis
• numbness or weakness in your hands or feet, which happens when vasculitis restricts blood flow to your extremities, or
• spots, lumps, or sores on your skin, which can happen if your skin has poor circulation.

While vasculitis can be mild, some types result in symptoms causing functional limitations that can significantly limit your daily routine and affect your ability to work full-time.

When Is Vasculitis a Disability?

Usually, it's not enough just to have a diagnosis of vasculitis in your medical records for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to find that you're disabled. Since the symptoms of vasculitis vary in severity from person to person, you'll have to show documentation that your vasculitis is either severe enough that it meets the requirements under the agency's listing of impairments or that it limits you in ways that make it impossible for you to do any job.

Qualifying Under the Medical Listing for Systemic Vasculitis

The SSA specifically names systemic vasculitis as a disability under the listing of disorders that can get you automatically approved for benefits. Systemic means affecting the whole body, or at least multiple organs, so vasculitis that affects only one part of the body, such as the skin, won't qualify under the listing of disorders.

Listing 14.03 mentions several specific types of vasculitis—polyarteritis nodosa, Takayasu's arteritis and Wegener's granulomatosis ("WG disease")—by name, but it covers other types of vasculitis too. You can qualify for disability under this listing if you can show, through your medical records, that you meet one of two sets of requirements (often referred to as the "A" or "B" criteria).

Using the A criteria, you'll meet the requirements for listing 14.03 with evidence of the following:

• you have two or more parts of your body (such as the eyes, intestines, or skin) that are affected by vasculitis
• of the parts of your body that are affected by vasculitis, at least one of the parts involved must be affected moderately (more than just a little bit), and
• you experience at least two symptoms of vasculitis (such as fatigue, weight loss, and fever).

Alternatively, you may meet listing 14.03 with evidence of the B criteria, which means that you experience at least two symptoms of vasculitis repeatedly, and you are very limited in your ability to finish tasks, take care of your basic needs, engage in social interactions, or complete chores without taking a lot of extra time.

Qualifying Vocationally: Getting Benefits If You Don't Meet the Medical Listing

Vasculitis can affect every person differently. You may have mild symptoms that you're able to manage with diet and medication. Or, you may experience symptoms that are more difficult to control and prevent you from working entirely. If this is the case, the SSA can still find you disabled "vocationally" even if the agency doesn't think you're disabled under the medical listings.

Social Security's vocational assessment. To figure out if you can work any jobs, Social Security will be interested in the ways that the symptoms from your vasculitis interfere with your activities of daily living (ADLs). The agency asks you about your ADLs because it makes sense that something you have difficulty doing at home would be something you would struggle with at work.

For example, if you feel shortness of breath after walking to the mailbox and back, the SSA can infer that you'd struggle to do a job where you'd have to walk around all day. Or, if your vasculitis causes numbness in your hands and fingers to the point where you're fumbling with zippers and dropping forks, you probably wouldn't do well at a job where you had to handle small objects like screws.

Working within your RFC. You aren't expected to do a job that's beyond your capabilities, mentally or physically. The process Social Security uses to figure out what you can and can't do in a work setting is called assessing your residual functional capacity, or RFC. Your RFC is a list of the most intensive work you can do despite your limitations. For example, if your vasculitis symptoms include headaches and shortness of breath, your RFC might state that you shouldn't work with heavy machines or climb ladders, avoid walking more than two hours a day, and need to take a 15 minute rest break every hour.

To prove there are no jobs within your capabilities, you must first show that your current RFC prevents you from returning to any of the jobs you've performed in the past five years—for example, because your old job required you to walk four hours a day or use heavy machinery. Next, depending on your age, education, and acquired skills, you will also likely have to show that there are no other jobs that are less demanding, physically or mentally, that you could do.

For disability applicants younger than 50, this generally means that you're unable to perform simple, sit-down jobs. Applicants 50 years of age and older may be able to get disability even if they can physically perform easier work using a special set of rules called the medical-vocational grid.

Medical Records You'll Need to Get Disability for Vasculitis

Your medical records are the foundation of your disability claim. Social Security will want to see that you've undergone objective medical testing that you doctors have used in order to arrive at the diagnosis of vasculitis. In addition, the agency will want to see that you've been treated for the condition and what the outcome of your treatment has been.

Diagnostic Testing

Your doctor might diagnose you with vasculitis when you report symptoms of the disorder and have abnormal results on a physical examination, lab tests, or both (when there is no other clear cause). Your doctor will likely want you to complete several tests and procedures to determine if you have vasculitis and, if so, what type you have. These tests and procedures might include the following:

• biopsy, a surgical procedure where a small sample of tissue is removed and examined for signs of vasculitis
• angiography, a procedure that involves your doctor inserting a catheter (a small, thin straw) into your vein that injects a special dye allowing the outlines of your blood vessels to be visible on X-ray
• blood tests that look for certain proteins and antibodies in your blood which can help diagnose vasculitis, and
• noninvasive imaging such as X-rays, ultrasound, computerized tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) that can help your doctor determine which blood vessels and organs are affected.

Vasculitis Treatment

Treatment for vasculitis generally involves medication management with some of the following drugs:

• corticosteroids (such as prednisone) are frequently used to help reduce inflammation, but can cause side effects
• cyclophosphamide may be prescribed if your vasculitis is so serious that it endangers a vital organ
• methotrexate or azathioprine can be prescribed for less severe cases of vasculitis, and
• rituximab or other medications that are designed to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases related to vasculitis.

It's important to communicate with your doctor about your medications and whether you're experiencing any side effects. Your doctor should note your side effects in their clinical notes, since Social Security takes side effects into consideration when determining your RFC. Make sure to follow your doctor's instructions and keep track of any medical tests or imaging procedures that you undergo.

If you don't have much (or any) recent medical treatment, Social Security may send you to a consultative examination on the agency's dime. Make sure you attend any scheduled exams—if you're a no-show, the SSA may deny your claim.

SSDI and SSI Benefit Amounts for Vasculitis

Social Security disability benefits aren't awarded based on the type of disabling condition you have. Instead, the amount you'll receive if you're approved for disability depends on whether you qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Eligibility for SSDI is determined based on your work history and earnings record, while SSI is a needs-based benefit with certain income and asset limits.

For 2025, the maximum amount you can receive in SSDI is $1,620 per month ($2,700 if you're blind), but the average amount is much lower, at $1,580 per month. That's because the earnings history of everybody who can receive SSDI varies significantly from person to person. SSI benefits are capped at $967 per month (adjusted annually), minus any countable income you have for that month. Some states provide a small supplemental payment to residents who qualify for SSI.

How Do I Apply for Disability Benefits for Vasculitis?

Filing for disability benefits is a fairly straightforward process. One easy method is by applying online at the SSA.gov website. You don't have to finish the application all at once—just make sure that you keep track of the application number given to you when you start the application so you can access it again if you need to come back to it.

You can also apply for disability benefits by phone by calling 800-772-1213 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you're deaf or hard of hearing, you can call the TTY number at 800-325-0778. Finally, you can apply for disability benefits in person at your local Social Security field office.

You aren't required to have a lawyer to apply for disability benefits, but it's often a good idea to get one fairly early on in the process (which can take years). An experienced disability attorney can identify any weaknesses in your case and help you strengthen your claim by getting the medical evidence you need. Your attorney can also handle any communications with the SSA, keep on top of appeal deadlines, and represent you at a disability hearing if necessary.