I've been obsessively following this and the SSDI subs, reading every post and response for months.
All of the info helped me tremendously in filing the appeal on my own. I did it without an attorney because I could barely afford my expenses with my full LTD, less so once I was on SSDI, and I figured I get 2 appeals, if the first one was denied I'd hire an attorney at that point and hope for the best.
I have been out on disability since 9/2023 (6 months STD, 24 months LTD) and my claim was closed at the transition from Own Occ to Any Occ. It worked out that I was approved for SSDI 2 months before my LTD claim was closed.
Surprisingly, I received this letter today, 42 days after I filed the appeal.
My file is still listed as closed on the LTD site and I haven't received any other communication about whether they will pay me the amount I was receiving originally (minus the SSDI portion) but until I hear otherwise, I'm counting it as a win!
I know firsthand how stressful it is going through this and I know that being reinstated brings its own set of stresses as well, but I wanted to share this bit of positivity in solidarity for everyone going through it.
Thanks for being here, the posts and comments are truly helpful!