After almost 12 months my ill health retirement from my NHS post has come to an end. I have been awarded Tier 1 and left my job at the end of July. Just waiting for my pension to start. It has been the worst experience I have ever had but finally I can move forward and make plans. I hope that despite everything I have gone through it doesn't put anyone off doing the same. You need all your best willpower and determination and get as much evidence to support your case as possible. You also must be willing to wait and never give up....
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janebradshaw
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Hi there, I also got my IHR from the NHS this year. I worked as a midwife and miss my job although not the stress! As you say it was not a pleasant experience but I was lucky to have a great occ health doctor, and I got a union rep on board. Took a while to get the actual pension sorted but hey ho its up and running now, not that it's much but every little helps right? HOpe you are doing as well as can be expected. I've posted earlier about the stress I'm having with my Esa, just want it all sorted so I can get on with my life.....so to speak!
Hugs
Jo x
So good to hear you have managed to secure IHR. I am going through the process atm but my occ health doc thinks fibro and ME will pass. I have read so much trying to find a prognosis as i have had this for coming up for 8 years. I have managed to work mostly 6 of these will little absence but crashed two years ago and diagnosis followed. I mentioned to him Cheif Medical Officers report and NHS website which says there is currently no cure. My GP thinks too things will improve with proper management but I have been trying to return to work as an adult trainer/teacher but jeep crashing in relatively light duties. Does anyone here have any literature ir a chrystal ball which will will help me define a prognosis to Occ Health and GP? Union rep been really helpful. She recognises and sees the pain i suffer and listens to my moans (which i hate doing and try so hard to remain upbeat as part if pain management). I have PIP assessment next week and have applied for blue badge but not heard anything. Some days i just want to give up as the stress is too much but keep hoping that it will pass soon. Any help or info of prognosis of fibro/cfs would be great if anyone has some. TIA. Jax
Hello...please don't give up. Your going through the same as I have. The only difference is I also have a rotation to my spine and shoulder problem. I was diagnosed with Fibrosis in 2008 and like you tried to struggle on for about 6 years with my nursing role being adapted. However as you will know there is only so much adjustments that can be done before your colleagues see you as a burden and not pulling your weight. I was a senior nurse specialist and quite honestly my symptoms got worse and worse. Now, I believe that the stress of coping was making my fatigue and pain worse. I approached my occ. Health Dr, who was very supportive as was HR and my manager. All forms were filled in by the end of December 14. However this is where the challenges began as my 1st application was rejected. I spent days in such despair that I couldn't see an way forward. The trouble was the report from A Atos was full of utter rubbish, including inaccurate interpretation of facts. Fibro is recognised as a disability and long term condition and cover by the disability act.
For my appeal I had all the information that was used by NHS Pensions in my case and went through it drawing out all the inaccuracies. Finally on the 39th day of the 40 working days I got my award of Tier 1...Still waiting on my actual pension but at least it's coming. Teir 2 is vertually impossible to get unless you are extremely disabled or terminally ill. You have to stay strong, focused and determined...
The prognosis of Fibro is unknown and if you can prove that you have progressed over the 6 years it will demonstrate that things have got worse for you. Worth seeing a psychologist to get a report about the mental dysfunction and they may be able to offer some coping strategies If your symptoms and pain have got worse, get your GP notes and all letters from any medical appointment, physio etc. Also write your own personal statement explaining how your condition affects your daily life.
Push for the blue badge and it's worth applying for PIP....I've rambled on now but I had no one to guide me and I fought it all on my own...I did a lot of crying and eating but now it's concluded I feel so much better. I've not actually worked since Jan. ..but as I have Tier 1 which allows me to work I feel able to do a little work..
Good luck and feel free to come back to me as I'm happy to help if I can...xx Jane
My appeal against refusal of ill health retirement has just been refused on the basis that no one can be sure I will be permanently incapacitated.I was dismissed under capability in October 2020 after being away from work from May 2019 when I collapsed. To be fair, my employer says they thought my original claim would be successful. My union rep thought this would be so and I do not where to go for assistance now. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2000. Sciatica developed from 2007; insomnia, depression and anxiety alongside this - worsening in the last four years. Treatment has been sporadic and variable and no treatment has been successful. Not much treatment over the years either. Nor paperwork.
This last year, newer GPs were supportive but they would not commit to what the future will bring on paper for the Appeal report. Everyone scrambled around to refer me to specialists and arrange ‘support’ missing before - someone to talk to - and possible community health support - but the physio has not yet materialised. Indeed a physiotherapist said over the phone they probably could not be any help. All this is exacerbated by Covid as no physio has examined me in a long while and those I saw in the past, ie pre-2017, were unaware of fibromyalgia issues. Nor will specialist say that fibromyalgia can be treated. A year on I am in a worse condition - and the newer, acute, symptoms like anxiety, are now chronic. So the Pension Fund concluded that if pending ‘support’ were to happened it would all be successfully treated.
I cannot walk for more than 5 minutes without pain. I do not sit or stand without pain either. It is exhausting. I was not safe outside my home as I can just fall or have muscle spasm from a temperature change or just not know what is happening. I can’t hold a sensible conversation for long - and this has taken me SO long to write. I cannot tolerate the medications. And there are as you all know other symptoms. I have now being diagnosed with Coeliac disease too. I am exhausted from little or impaired sleep, in pain and often overwhelmed or confused. My GP has signed the certificate saying I cannot work but it is not just ‘work’ - it is living - most of the time, I can’t do anything consistently or indeed at all.
I have two ex-employers and this result will probably influence the second one. I have been holding myself together about this since I left work after my collapse ... through pain, stress, recent bereavement, disruption in potential services due to covid ... and I thought I would be able to cope with the result. But I feel so depressed and debilitated that I am actually considering whether it’s worth going on. And I won’t be able to afford to deal with all the ramifications without any income.
Just needed to put this somewhere it can be understood because people around me cannot see the extent of this condition and cannot understand my feelings: it is as if I have disappeared as an independent, functioning person.
Hi Max3, really sorry to read your recent email that I have come across late this evening while researching.I would like to try and help if I can. I have been fighting for my ex partners I'll health pension do 10 years...yep..10 years and it is again in front of the pensions obudaman awaiting decision.
I just wanted to send you a quick hello and to let you know that someone is listening and it's someone who understands not only the pain and suffering of Fibro but also the frustration and despair that comes with a pension fight.
I'm typing this at 2am so need to get to sleep now, but I will have a read through your other posts tomorrow and see if I can offer some advice.
Thank you for your reply. Yesterday was refused at second stage of the Appeal with 48 hr reply time to accept the finding. Unless I can find someone to provide medical evidence that I will not be successfully treated before my retirement age in 2029 within in next three months. If I don’t agree this report the Appeal is over. Think it will drag on or out. Trying to get legal advice from my Union today - in case of precedents, but feeling like giving up.
This is not even my main pension provider who will probably say the same thing as they have only to wait until May 2022 when I get my normal pension (not early or ill health retirement). I have no union representation there at all.
But I have no income - except £594.00 since January (Universal Credit for a couple). I need money to get to treatment or get alternative pain relief (which temporarily eases pain). Unless my partner gets work this month (his search has been slowed down by the impact of Covid-19), we have to sell and move away from elderly mother - just after the death of my sister. If Covid -19 does not impact on any sale or purchase.
If that we do move, I will have to change GPs and Health Authority and be back to square one in terms of any referrals. I have only had sympathetic approach in the last two years! Which is why the medical notes don’t help much for the Appeal.
Trying not to feel stressed or despair but it comes in waves ... and I am recently bereaved (losing my youngest sister to pancreatic cancer in November). The grief is blocked with all this other worry and I have not coped well over the two years with the diagnosis, illness or loss.
Even when all emotional issues are buried there is always the physical pain which is sort of not mentioned as my stomach cannot tolerate pain-killers or they don’t work. - And the never-ending tiredness which ‘stop and starts’ my ability and engagement in suggesting other avenues. Not sleeping in the day - numb or wired - and what sleep I get is not restorative.
Coeliac diagnosis came through and changes made since November but still tired and now often hungry but can’t digest well. - Was wondering if chronic fatigue is mixed in somewhere. I am SO tired. I swear, sometimes I feel witless with it.
Sorry for the long reply. I sort of hope if I have put things down somewhere, it will help. Likely to forget I wrote this. It’s been 20 years with fibromyalgia and I struggled through even as things got worse. I cannot understand why I cannot keep going now as I did before - work, family, hobbies, mobility even - but I really can’t. Even now I am not working. Things just wipe me out. - I am angry too. Putting away some dishes should not wipe me out for the day, or walking for 10 minutes, or singing for 20 minutes (sitting down!) - or sometimes just lying still. These are maximum limits. This has gone on for the the last year even though I no longer work. I do not imagine my future any more. Quite pleased I wrote this! So thank you Lee - did something today. Appreciate that 😊 ... And so to bed 🤗
His again, I just typed a long reply to you but I think it might not have gone through and I didn't copy it before sending..arrrgghhh. I will wait and see if it did go through properly. Let me know.
Thank you Lee/ - It didn’t... so sorry, but also oddly comforting as that is a key feature of my communications - or getting confused and deleting the latest version! Do you think you can remember some of it? On advice from Union rep, I’ve an appointment with GPs to get them to find a medical person with an overview of all the specialism who can confirm that I am not going to be able to work before pensionable age. Rep says that is all that is required. I am going to try this within the three month deadline.
Arrgghh that's annoying. Well in a nutshell it was all about the difficulty in getting a GP or specialist to support a claim for ill health if there has only been a small amount of treatment tried or only treatment at the start of the fibro treatment scale.
I don't see why your GP will not write a report in support of your appeal from their point of view for starters. If you can get a specialist to support your appeal aswell then bingo.
All pension schemes vary with their ill health regulations and I am only experienced in the Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS)
Make sure your union rep has looked into your particular schemes with a fine tooth combe as both employers and scheme administrators are regularly guilty of misinterpreting the rules and are often found guilty of maladministration. In the case I have been fighting for the last 10 years, they have been found guilty of maladministration twice!!
Good luck with the GP and specialist and let us all know how you get on.
Thank you ... just realised I wrote a reply this morning but lost it like you! 🙄 My pension funds are City of London transferred from LGPS btw - and Civil Service so I am so grateful for your advice. Weather doing me in today - appreciate your replies and keep you informed. Hoping someone will agree to write it and trying not to let it get to me. Love Max 😘
Hey no problem at all. I know it's still going be hard if you don't end up winning your appeal and pension, especially with the current situation and economy etc but at least the positive is that it will be only a 2 year wait till your main one is paid. I know it's hard to often find positives in times like this but like you say....try to not let it get to you if it's not the outcome you want.Hugs
Lee
😊
Thank you very much Jane, it is really helpful. I have all medical notes and letters already and have seen psychiatrist, psychologist, neurologist, rheumatologist ... You get the picture. My GP Is very supportive albeit i am in the process of moving house to a bungalow which is out of her catchment area and i am dreading starting again with a new Dr. I really enjoyed my work and have spent a lot of time travelling the countr, sitting on national working groups, writing new training material as well as frontline teaching. i am finding the brain fog a nightmare and even the thought of standing in a class gives me panic attacks. The pain , fatigue, clumsiness, cognitve problems, ibs, chemical sensitivities etc are all debilitating and i find pacing difficult having been one who has ran at a hundred miles an hour for years. The thought of giving up totally frightens me as i am only 50 hence i have kept pushing through difficult spells but since december 2013 i am finding now that is not the thing to do and i should go more with the flow. the atos assessment is really freaking me out but i am sensing from you and others on this site that the choice of wording is key and i should focus on bad rather than the good days. Difficult when cbt tell you to do the reverse. Thank goodness i have had the support of my union rep and with her help and your info i shall be determined not to give up. I have worked all my days and never claimed anything before and feel terribly guilty given the current climate which makes you feel like a scrounger! Nobody in their right mind would choose to be in pain every single day. I would very much like to get things sorted and like you maybe look for more flexible part time work - fingers crossed - thank you so much for your help and kind words of encouragement - Jax
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