Can I Get Social Security Disability For Chronic Severe Pain? The short answer is no.

The short answer is no. Simply stating that you cannot work due to severe pain is not enough to qualify you for getting Social Security Disability benefits. According to rules of Social Security you must have what they call a severe medically determinable impairment which may be mental or physical. This means that your medical record must show that you have been diagnosed with a condition which is supported by medical tests such as x-rays or laboratory results as well as supporting evidence from your treating doctor. Examples which would qualify for being a medically determinable impairment would be arthritis in various joints such knees, hips, hands. Also, there are numerous conditions which result in chronic pain such as migraine headaches, back pain due to a herniated disc, neuropathy, fibromyalgia, etc. These would all support falling in the catergory of medically determinable impairments. Conditions such as claiming disability due to having frequent sore throats, sprains in various joints, allergies etc. would not be considered having a serious impairment. Another Social Security rule states that your condition must last at least 12 months.
Your medical record must show that you have been under  the care of a physician who reports that despite treatment you continue to experience ongoing pain which prevents you from doing your job on a full time basis.
Obtaining benefits for chronic pain is not an easy task since you are claiming inability to work due to ongoing pain; hower, as opposed to being able to actually see the effects of pain on your ability to walk over a work day, pain is something that YOU FEEL: that is, it is subjective. Others cannot feel this pain, so the decision to grant or deny benefits is not easy.
Therefore, medical evidence is best obtained from your treating physician. He should state in the medical record that your pain is intense and severely affects your ability to perform everyday activities such as walking and thinking. In addition, it would be valuable if he would report how long you could reasonably walk during working hours; He should give his opinion in actual hours such as 2 out of 8 hours or significantly under 2 out of 8 hours. Social Security wishes to know this in exact hours. He should also state which pain medications you are on and to what degree they relieve pain. Also, mention should be made about any side effects from medications. Do they actually relieve your pain and do you need to lie down frequently during the day.
It is also important that you see your doctor on a fairly frequent basis, since if the record shows you may see him about every 3-4 months, this may indicate your pain is not as severe as you claim.