Cannot believe I won my appeal this morning!! I am going to be put into the Support Group & get paid ESA & the Support Component! The lady judge & doctor both seemed nice, but kept trying to keep my answers short - think they were behind time. But when I told them about my mental state & how I had almost pushed a door open onto a line manager at work when I got angry over how I could not communicate my meaning to her, & how fibro & my other long term health problems affect my day to day life & how my hubby has to do the shopping & driving & other stuff for me, then I think that was what swung their decision.
The fact that I wasn't informed I could ask for a fibro specialist at my ATOS exam came up & the examining doctor for ATOS just wrote that 'fibro started several years ago, has joint & muscle pain & some fatigue.' I thing also helped.
Plus they took my statement I had written about the ATOS form & how fibro really affects people & how there were mistakes, (or deliberate lies), on the form about how I'd been able to crouch & then stand up & that I could bend down to touch my shins. I haven't been able to do that for years, & I certainly did not do it at the exam!!
Thank you to all on here for your messages of support - it has been a great help. Knowing that there are people out there that understand what goes on when you have fibro has been a great boost to me.
Big, Gentle Hugs, & Thank You again,
Julie xxx
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Julie63
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Well done! It is such a shame we have to go though all this hassle for what we end up with. Have they given you a review date? Mine is in 12 months after I won.
Thanks & yes, I am so relieved after thinking everyone thought I was a fraud! I now have a review for 1 year from yesterday's date. I didn't realise just how much stress I was under - in the last couple or three weeks I have been convinced I had a heart condition - I even posted on here about it, I was so worried. But now that I won my appeal, I feel fine, no pain at all! Just shows what stress can do to you, eh, all those panic attacks I went thru'! Just goes to show how it pays to keep going - Nil Desporandum, or something like that, isn't it?
(although I don't think I could print my own, personal motto on here - Don't Let The B******s Get You Down!!)
Hi, congratulations on winning your appeal! I have just got my letter this morning giving me a date for mine in a couple of weeks time. I am petrified - could you please give me any advice/tips on what to say, what to wear, any help will be very much appreciated. Many thanks, xxx
Hi reikilady, firstly, don't panic, that's what they're relying on, keep calm, take deep breaths. Don't answer their questions at once, think about them first, remembering & stressing to them how your probs affect you.
Don't get dressed up for the appeal, don't do your hair or make up that well either - I know it's not nice if you like to look good, but there looking at you to see how well you can take care of yourself - the doctor asked me if I could brush my own hair, as I'd said that I can't raise my left arm - I told her that I just throw my hair back & however it lands up, then that's how I leave it & spray it, I don't style it - I just pull it back over my head & let it fall & then spray it with hairspray to keep it in place.
Before my appeal, I went thru' my atos form & wrote everything down that I felt was wrong - like how the dr had said I could do things when I couldn't, & things like how you can't even take care of your own basic needs - I have so much probs trying to colour my hair, or cut my toenails eg, things like that.
I made a note as to how I hadn't been told I could have a fibro specialist dr examine me & how I wasn't questioned about how I felt my mental state was - compared to how I felt before I was diagnosed with fibro.
The Stressors on the form were the only thing the magistrate was interested in though - I thought they had me when I failed to prove how I couldn't turn a page or use touchpad phone, but I told them I couldn't hold 0.5 litre of fluid - I told them I had to fill a kettle up with half pint glass & couldn't lift a full kettle, but it was no.13 on the form that swung it for me - how my mental communication & cognitive skills were, or something like that - I haven't got the form here with me - I told them how I used to get angry with myself when I forgot or confused my words & how people I'd worked with for a long time, laughed it off with me, but I almost pushed a door into a line manager as she couldn't, or wouldn't, understand what I was trying to say & she deliberately thought the anger was directed at her & she was hostile to me.
So that proved I could no longer cope in a work environment. I also got asked that if I was in the work group, couldn't I have managed to deal with phone calls from the Job Centre asking me about work? I told them that I would have to keep asking to repeat what they were saying as with my tinnitus & hearing & understanding probs, I would need them, to speak slowly & clearly, & that I would still get stressed as they were asking me to return to an office based environment again.
The one thing that I keep thinking about is the one line on the Appeal Form about why they have allowed my appeal - Mrs Julie Sxxxxxx has fibromyalgia. That just shows to me how some drs are actually listing fibro as a disability at last, as it alone is listed as the reason they've allowed my appeal.
Good Luck reikilady, sorry if this is too long to read, it's just the things that I think helped me.
Hi Julie, thank you so, so much for all the advice! I will definitely remember all the points you mention. Apart from having fibro, I also suffer with agoraphobia and cannot go anywhere alone. My husband has to take me to all appointments, but, when I have to go to a place that I am not familiar with, I totally go into panic mode! A worker from CAB helped me fill in all the forms and he was convinced that once they read all the documentation, they would award me it and it wouldn't get to court, but, alas, he was wrong. I also have osteo-arthritis in many joints, tinnitus, and low vitamin d, but because of multiple allergies, cannot take meds apart from paracetamol. I have to rely on tens machine, ice packs and wheat bags to help alleviate the pain. I am dreading going to court, and so scared of messing up and saying the wrong things. I tend to babble when I am nervous! Once again, thank you so much for your help - this has meant so much to me.
No probs, glad I could help. Get your husband prepped to speak up for you as well, forgot to say that - mine is a huge support for me. Make sure you write this all down on your statement - they'll take it from you to read & photocopy just before you go into the tribunal - every little detail right down to the heat pad & tens machine, helps.
It just seems to me that the government are trying to make it as hard as it poss can be for anyone to get any benefits from this bloody government. It makes me fume that so many people with obvious health probs & disabilities are being made to jump thru' hoops like this just to get anything!!
Unfortunately, my husband had a stroke many years ago which has affected his memory and concentration, so he is unable to speak up for me. I hope that the worker from CAB will be able to come with me. Yes, it also makes my blood boil when we have to fight tooth and nail when some young people who have never worked a day in their lives, and don't intend to, seem to get everything!
Do you live in the UK, Julie? I am from Lincolnshire. xxx
congrats.at one of my medicals the atos person twisted EVERYTHING that I told them i couldn't do to saying I could do.all lies.how much is this costing the DWP for these "medicals"
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