Opinion ID: 173275
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Headaches

Text: Loughray also asserts severe headaches have rendered her disabled. When Loughray’s thyroid dysfunction became uncontrolled in April 2000, Loughray complained of severe and debilitating headaches. Her complaints persisted even after her thyroid condition stabilized. Subsequently, however, she indicated that while she still suffered from headaches, their severity had decreased because she had begun to take Depakote. At other times, particularly during the several month gap in Loughray’s medical record, Loughray does not appear to have regularly complained about headaches or have been taking medication for them. At still other times, Loughray received Botox injections to treat recurring headaches. Despite these later complaints about headaches, Loughray’s physicians never provided any objective medical evidence that the headaches were disabling. Given the lack of objective medical evidence and that Loughray’s 5 As discussed, the fatigue caused by sleep apnea would not render Loughray unable to perform her job duties and was being treated with oxygen. 22 complaints were inconsistent, it was not irrational for Hartford to reject Loughray’s subjective complaints as a source of her disability. Loughray’s other evidence would not support finding Hartford acted arbitrarily and capriciously. In mid-2002, a physician’s assistant and a doctor at the Mayo Clinic indicated Loughray suffered from headaches and treated her with Botox injections. Neither, however, addressed whether Loughray’s headaches rendered her disabled, and the doctor who performed the injections did so upon the assistant’s recommendation without making any assessment of Loughray’s functional capacity. Similarly, in a letter dated October 2002, Dr. Gulevich informed Hartford he had injected Loughray with Botox for her headaches. This letter, however, did not opine on Loughray’s capacity to work. And although it noted that Loughray reported multiple visits to the emergency room each month for her headaches, no evidence in the record indicates any such emergency room visits occurred. Given the discrepancies and lack of an explicit disability diagnosis by these medical professionals, Hartford acted reasonably in declining to find a disability based on them.