confused...

[red_spinel]

hi...anyone ever seen this before from a consultant..'This profile is very strongly suggestive of an intentional attempt to perform significantly below optimal level'........this went through to my income protection and now obviously they don't believe my condition...

[Danslatete]

What test was it from? How do you feel the test went? Did you find them difficult? What sort of day were you having.

I hate it when people say that sort of thing, I had it after spinal injuries but then a few months later they found out the reason why I hadn't performed as well as the book said I should be doing! After further surgery I did get better but it took a lot longer than they said it would but I had much more movement than they said was possible too. Sometimes I think they forget humans ar all different.

[brighton88]

You do have the right to challenge this unprofessional statement in the form of a second opinion. Any assessment must be an assessment of fact based from a clinical diagnosis. What when how and why are you intentionally performing significantly below optimum level? What is optimum level and of what? Why might it be that someone with your condition might not perform at optimum level rather than pass a personal weighted judgement?

The closest I came to this was my occupational health dr who overrode my two consultants and said that I was fit to resume full normal duties. It took a long time but I challenged this as he had not qualified why he was in disagreement with my consultants. The joke was that this was at a time when I had lost my memory could not walk without help and was unable to even sign my own name.

Prior to becoming ill I had been managing two teams for a local authority. So if you've ever had problems with your local authority just remember they might have someone who cannot even sign their own name or remember their job who is being forced to work. So sorry for the distress this non medical assessment has caused you I would suggest you ask for a full assessment by associated professionals. ie my neuro consultant can only establish how effective his surgery was in terms of removing/ reducing the tumour, it is for a neuro physio to establish at what level I am able to function at

[red_spinel]

I did 3 memory card tests, did below average in the first and even lower in the next 2. didnt matter that he didnt talk to me at all, just sent through a very vindictive report, which has put me right in it....he actually admitted that the report was for my doctors eyes only and no one else, but the insurance people and work go it anyway, dont know why he said he was for the doctor only, maybe he wasnt so sure?

[Danslatete]

You could ask for a full neuro psychology assessment or to have a full memory test done. How would anyone be able to make an objective assessment unless they had a full history which requires speaking to you a length.

My tests left me fit for bed and nothing else.

[Danslatete]

I always wondered what they can use as a base line as they never knew me prior to the accident.

[Stardrop]

I was given the opinion that some of my difficulty was psychosomatic, my children had left home, I didn't want to go back to work. I didn't think I was, but next time I saw the work occupational doctor I asked if there were any tests because I would like to do them and have counselling or whatever to deal with it. He said that I didn't need the tests because it was quite apparent to him that I wasn't. I had been badgering to go back to work from the first time I saw him, when he'd also asked what my interests and hobbies were and we had gone through all the activities I enjoyed now I no longer had the kids at home.

This is the opinion of one person who has seen you for a few minutes. They haven't seen you burn another saucepan, or unpacking the groceries put the toothpaste in the fridge and the frozen peas in the cutlery draw. If your tests results got worse and you did them it was probably due to brain injury fatigue.

Ask your GP what they think, they probably know you a lot better than the person who wrote that report and try not to let it wind you up (easier said than done).

[spartan300 in reply to Stardrop]

how can anybody judge us all from even a few hours I am up and down all the time but as a lot of people have said to me you look fit and well, I am thinking of taking acting lessons , how to look ill maybe I will be taken seriously then ?

[Stardrop in reply to spartan300]

Sadly I and some of my middle aged brain injury brain injury friends feel that some consultants of a certain age think that middle aged ladies are mostly neurotic . Most of us have achieved so much more than being a home-maker. The label of being a neurotic woman is so hurtful and negative when you are struggling to regroup. I suppose it's no different to people automatically assuming that the young lad who has brain injury in a car crash was risk taking and the cause of the accident.

[spartan300 in reply to Stardrop]

the older you get the less they want to know, plus a lot of the time they don't know how to treat you, this has been said to me esp as I have physical and nerve damage, so I don't think it just applies to middle aged ladies.

[Button01]

Normally they use these tests from an independant person along with your GP report and the insurer gets them - not your employer. If you have been going through the income protection application it will be made up of a number of different factors I guess - not just your memory test ie your ability to get through the whole working day etc... The assessor I don't think will have been told what the basis of your claim is and what benefit you might receive - he'll be doing these reports for insurers regardless of the amount being a couple of hundred per month up to lump sums of £100,000s of thousands. Income protection is only a % of income so you are no better off - obviously to give the motivation to return to work and most insurers work with you to help your return, even on a part time basis.

You'll have the right of appeal. As someone else said above they didnt know you prior to the accident so what have they got as a base line and your other health professionals will have watched you go through the journey so should have a say.

Good luck!

[red_spinel]

thank you everyone...what i dont get about these tests they rely on so much is that they dont test what my memory is like after a few hours, or how irratic it is....i wish this had never happened...

[sospan]

When you go for these tests, they measure quite a few aspects of your mental and physical state. Amongst these they throw in what are called "effort tests" they are quite light weight test that they throw in to weed out people whom may be exaggerating their symptoms one way or another.

There are many problems with these tests; firstly they rely on us being able to understand and then remember the instructions. Quite often in these tests, I forget what I am supposed to be doing.

The other problem is that sometimes our competitive instinct comes to play and we put so much effort into doing the tests that we get results that aren't representative that we couldn't sustain for long. On one test I was asked to remember two unrelated words that I would have to repeat later on when I had done so more tests. I sat there repeatedly saying the two words over and over in my head. After the tests were finished I realised that in a way I had cheated on the tests by being to competitive.

So "Red" I guess you may have fallen foul of one of the "effort tests" one way or another. I don't know how you can go about appealing against it - may be even go to a specialist legal advisor or the person that sold you the income protection insurance to see what they can do

[red_spinel]

i now have to return to work after some CBT training..my diary and i know, i leave the oven on, tv, doors open at nite, cant rememebr what i did yesterday, or sometimes i can,,,,now i have to go back to large scale IT projects, with dozens of people, meetings and complex reports....

[sospan in reply to red_spinel]

Strange about doors isn't there are quite a few of us on here have trouble with leaving them open. Leaving the TV or Oven on I can understand but what the heck is it about doors. I caused huge problems once because I left the car door open on the road side!!

Prior to my injury I used to be an IT contractor, I know I won't be able to cope with the meetings, thought process or planning anymore

[red_spinel in reply to sospan]

how long have you had this condition? do you work now? im looking to do CBT, have you tried that?

[red_spinel]

i had a sudden cardiac arrest, 25 minutes dead, sudden death symdrome they call it...only 2% of people survive such, only 25% who survive live longer than 3 years...hmmmm...and my consultant thinks im a cheat,...

[sospan in reply to red_spinel]

cheat yes - but only to death !

[lifelonglearner]

Hi - I went through a similar experience at the start of my ABI journey following a car crash head / brain injury (I was experiencing memory loss, speech difficulty, fatigue, headaches). My Occupational Health Unit sent me to several 'consultants' who diagnosed a variety of causes for my changed condition mainly based on fairly shallow 30-40 minute chats. According to them I had been using too many painkillers, drinking too much caffeine, was 'stressed', had PTSD and other causes I've forgotten now. I had the 'you've given up on things' and 'not really trying' accusations too. It was all a bit odd at the time as my GP identified a brain injury, as had the hospital Dr, in the days after the crash.

I was also sent to CBT about 3 months later and undertook a series of tests and exercises with them. Thankfully the person who provided the CBT sessions identified that I didn't need CBT and was showing all of the signs of brain injury. I was then referred to my NHS ABI Unit and saw a clinical neuropsychologist. Following hours of tests (spread over many weeks) that checked for a range of brain functioning my ABI was properly diagnosed in detail. It was exhausting but worth it. I knew what I could still do well and what functioning had been significantly impaired. From then I could start the long process of learning to live with an ABI and try and recover some quality of life. This was 5 years ago and I'm still on that journey.

From my own experience I found it invaluable to keep a diary of each day, what difficulties you are having and how you are feeling. When you next speak to a medical professional you have the 'evidence' to refer to, rather than trying to reply on your memory (that may not be able to retrieve and organise your thoughts during the stress of the moment). Your GP should be in a position to refer you to your local NHS ABI Unit where you will have the best opportunity to get a full and accurate diagnosis. I found it a difficult and very frustrating period that went on for about 12 months. Hold out for what's best for you and don't accept the 'findings' of a 'consultant' when you know that the conclusions reached are invalid. Good luck and best wishes.

[nemo_really]

Not quite phrased in that manner, but strongly implied. Fortunately, an MRI in one instance, and an EEG + previous tests much more strongly implied I was neither deliberately making it up nor suffering from a psychosomatic disorder.

... I say "Fortunately" but, in truth, I'd much rather be swinging the lead (and able to perform when it suited me), or just be able to take a happy pill and have it all go away.