I will try and keep it short.61 ( Manual job like I should of retired last year ! as I thought during my working life)
Had fibro c.f.s. 14 years.
Tried drugs and tried to keep to minimum as affected working life.
Now I am on maximum drugs
Duloxtine
Pregablin
Naproxen 1000mg
Vitamins and Supplements
I have now got athritus due to see specialist next month.
Psoriasis developed on right knee and terrible pain
High blood pressure medication for that.
I know people will find this hard to believe but I am a house cleaner approx 22 hours a week.
I take as much h medication as I can to get through it.
Physically in so much pain.
I wake 2 hrs before and do nothing, I do the same when I return from work.
My sister cooks for me as in so much pain and exhausted
I need to support myself as I am on my own.
I own my house so don ' t have that worry.
Lately I have had to purchase handrails, A shower bath stool
Leg braces as I cannot stand safely without them.
The reason I still work is MY DOCTOR ! It is better to keep moving( I have been offed gym passes which shows they do not listen !) I can hardly move and in so much pain !
Applied for PIP
Refused twice.
I don ' t know if I have the strength or energy to fight.
I thought this was to help you stay independent??
I was asked so many stupid questions.
It was against me that I drove a manual car to my 5 - 10 min jobs , although again really uncomfortable. It keeps me in employment!
If I can work doing what I do, they said on all counts I was not eligible.
I cannot shower most days, my niece washes my hair. My sister does all my evening meals.
P.iP is not designed for Fibro suffers . The new treatment as they do not know the answers is to keep moving !!
Our symptoms are similar to Covid symptoms.
I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I cannot live on 380 ? Per month on U.C.
Many Thanks for listening to me😊
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Shezzie-2017
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Hi - & I'm sorry to read this. I hope you do feel you can keep on trying with PIP. As you'll know you can do a Mandatory Reconsideration, where another decision maker will look at everything again.
Don't ring to ask for this; it's way better to put it in writing!
Remember PIP is not about any diagnoses, but rather how your disability affects your fundtional ability to 'reliably' do any of the activities/descriptors that are applicable. Please have another look at the activities/descriptors that are looked at with PIP: cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset...
Then say where & why you feel that you should have got points. Illustrate this by giving a couple of recent (think the time of your assessment), detailed examples as to the difficulty you face for each applicable descriptor, i.e. when did it happen, where, what happened, did anyone see this, & were there any consequences to attempting/doing an activity such as fatigue & pain?
It's also very important to say if you can't do an activity 'reliably,' i.e. safely, to an acceptable standard, repeat as often as one would reasonably expect, or if it takes you much longer than someone without a disability. See this mentioned at the end of the link above.
If you do your MR as a letter, ensure you put your name & National Insurance number on each page. Keep a copy, & get a free Certificate of Posting from your Post Office when sending it off.
It’s their job to give out as little money as possible, that’s the long and short of it. It doesn’t matter if you have mental health issues, a leg amputated or terminal cancer (capability for work questionnaire actually asks your care provider to fill in a section and says ‘in your professional, does the cancer treatment being received interfere with the ability to work’)
If you want their money, you have to jump through their hoops, as wrong as it is. People repeatedly keep voting for these monsters in government 🤷♀️
I find it quite amusing when I read some of these answers. Not from the perspective of the CLAIMANT but from the perspective OF THE ASSESSOR OR DECISION MAKER.
You are right it is about giving as little as possible. BUT, if instead of concentrating on giving the claimant the help andf support they need they seem to want to get them back into work?
Why not concentrate on getting the physicall fit or people who have not got or had a job in work and then concentrate on getting medical or financial help to those that need that little extra support to stay independent and try to suppor them selves.
SOME, cancers are treatable some are not. Some require Kemo some tablets that would kill a horse, and you expect these people without the worry of surviving that to carry on working or to go back to work to get financial support that the government is supposed to give.
I have only one question. Under Duty of Care: If I have an assessment and the Decision Maker says even though I have, in this case Cancer or Fibromyialgia in going back to work or staying in work what happens if I have an accident at work?
Who pays for the treatment? and time off work then? could this also lead to a private prosecution since based on there assessment of my medical conditions and how they believe that affects my daily life it has made matters worse?
I am not telling you what to do but when I went back to workwith al, my issues I had the Job Centre sign a statement saying they have looked at my conditions that affect me and in their opinion it is safe for me to go back to work.
Funny really they would not sign it under the duty of care to make sure that I was capable of completing a days work and come home in one piece.
If you’re addressing me, you’ve completely misread my comment and I’d like you to dial down your aggression.
By jumping through hoops, I mean complying to their reviews and filling in their paperwork, even if you do have a history of mental health problems as Dollydaydream says. They’re ‘plaguing’ because their job is to get people back to work and to give them as little as possible to force them to do so, no matter what the ailment. They do the same to the fit and able.
As for the cancer comment, I’m just literally relaying what the form said, I’ve just filled it in last week.
Austerity is what people keep voting for by voting Conservative, the clue is in the name, or by not voting at all they give their agreement by abstaining that they’re ok with the status quo.
Good tip about the statement to sign, I’ll use that when they inevitably tell me my Capability to Work assessment shows I’m capable of working.
Iam so sorry u have been refused pip its a minefield and stressful thing to go through I myself have had multiple health issues which cause chronic pain on 300mg of zomorph 2x day also other meds pain walking any distance need help getting to and from toilet shower etc eyesight very bad had multiple eye ops so people have to cook and help with meds as can't really safely do but still have to fight every year or so even though gp and docs all wrote saying severely restricted mobility trouble seeing and breathing long covid had 4 x covid lasting breathing issues but never get more than two year award but paperwork sent year before award ends then wait year for hell of review my advice is get benefit Advisor to sit with you and help with paperwork etc please don't give up even though in Press and news seem yo be targeting disabled again I feel persecuted demeaning assessments and lies written by assessors common occurance
At 61yrs and still trying so hard too work and support yourself is amazing I’ve just turned 62 @struggling too keep up with housework /meals /help with grandchildren etc, I too have cfs /fibro amongst other things. I do find it very hard when I read posts and genuine people get turned down🙁I see the helpful replies you have had from people and I hope the advice can help you try again, your sister is kind with the meals as you really need love and support right now, like many members here I get very cross , keep us posted xx
Sorry you are struggling, Go to C. I.B and get them to help you with the paperwork for tribunal it took me 7yrs of trying but I got it in the end, I'm in a wheelchair now as the fatigue is so bad, I went sick from work 12yrs ago and never been back. I do wonder if your job may count against you as cleaning is hard work.
To be eligible for New Style ESA you cannot be working for 16 hrs or more per week and must be earning only the basic minimum wage rate for those hours. On top of that ESA is deducted in full from Universal Credit which the OP mentioned she was already in receipt of.
Hi Please don’t give up. There should be other help out there People who help you fill in the forms properly or tell you how to reply to questions. In my are it is the money advice unit or you could try citizens advice. You are looking for benefit claims advice. Good luck X
Working as a house cleaner is really going to count against an award of PIP. It's physically demanding and I'm afraid that no assessor or decision-maker is going to make an award any higher than standard rate, and most will say you do not meet the descriptors. Saying this to anyone sounds harsh, but in my experience, the system is designed to work this way and no Government, Labour or Conservative is going to relax the criteria, with over 3 million people on disability benefits. They want to reduce this. If you try again, follow Ajay's advice and get the best help there is to climb this mountain. If you changed job to something less physical, your chances would improve dramatically. As for benefits, as well as Universal Credit, you might get the health supplement, and your council tax would be reduced, any rent paid and so on. There are benefits calculators you can use online to get an accurate assessment of your entitlements.
Unfortunately you shouldn’t tell them that you have a cleaning job never mind how many hours. Because to them if you can do that then you don’t need help. A friend of mine whom was on pip on her renewal they said if she can get into her car then she can get into the bath and stopped her pip. So you need to be very careful in what you put down. You would think with the conditions you have they would give you pip but it don’t work like that. You don’t say you’re working, you say how your conditions affect you daily like how you struggle to do meals, you struggle with washing and bathing how you struggle to get about and how the pain leaves you shattered even before you start the day. Sorry for all this maybe someone else can explain things better for you, wish you luck x
"Unfortunately you shouldn’t tell them that you have a cleaning job never mind how many hours. Because to them if you can do that then you don’t need help"
This is bad advice as the person could be done for fraud / have their benefits stopped, taken to court and all the penalties that this entails. The stress alone from this would not be helpful.
Hi there so sorry to here about your situation i also had to appeal many years ago i was told to get as many people your family also your doctor and re appeal .what i would state to them your legs will let you walk but unfortunatly your brain wont alot of the time it is wrong to discriminate mental health that suffers greatly living with fibo .the silent deciease .i wish you as well as can be take care
I really really feel for you.. I’ve felt same for years .. keep on trying.. you are right that it’s a balance of movement… and rest and stretching etc … xxxx
I am so very grateful for all your replies.I honestly feel isolated and alone as far as fibro etc. Some days I just feel like giving into it. I am so stubborn.You all have helped so much.
similar situation to me tried to claim pp but scored 0 on everything keep going but exhausted all the time keep going and maybe try cab to help with your pip claim
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severe vitamin D defficiancy
Pain and depression control.
why do i feel so guilty for having fibro?
