Annabell SWANSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant-Appellee

Appellant, Annabell Swanson, filed for disability benefits on April 5, 1979. Following a hearing and initial denial of those benefits and a subsequent remand because of loss of the administrative record, a second hearing was held on December 23, 1981. After the second hearing, during which additional evidence was introduced, the AU recommended that Swanson be found to be disabled from August 19,1980. Swanson challenged the recommended onset date contending that the disability period should commence from October, 1977. The Appeals Council, however, denied her claim. Swanson then sought judicial review claiming that the AU’s finding of the August 19, 1980 onset date was not supported by substantial evidence on the record. The district court denied Swanson’s claim. We affirm.

I. FACTS

Annabel Swanson worked as the manager in a fast food chain until she developed a nerve disorder in October of 1977. She underwent surgery for this problem on January 4, 1978 and, according to her attending physician, the surgery relieved her facial pain at that time. Over the course of the next several years Swanson continued to be plagued with a variety of disorders including left side weakness and…