Am I entitled to dla

[shirlthegirl]

Hi everyone my doctor diagnosed me with RA early september and my appointment with the rehumationist isn,t untill the 14th November, Friends have told me that I should claim for dla stranght away,

But is everyone intitled to this benefit, I hope to return to work but as I am not on any meds at the moment, i don't know how I am going to be once I have started ( side affects, if it works,and am I going to be able to carry out my life a lot better once I start the meds) so basically is everyone with RA intitled to DLA even if the RA is a lot better because reading some of the message some people live a normal life, (trying to stay possive) I've read about filling out the form saying use your worse day, so do I claim now or when I get on my meds,

I hope this makes sence, i'm new to this rottan disease and am a bit of a worrier

Thanks xx

[helixhelix]

Hi there, sorry to hear that you might have RA. It's good that you have a consultant's appointment soon as really it's only a specialist who can diagnose RA. Your GP might be absolutely right, but there are a number of similar things and some of them even go away completely with treatment. So keep a note of your symptoms and try to hang on in there till your appointment.

As far as DLA goes, the basic test is whether you have needed help for 3 months so far, and whether you'll need it for at least 6 months to come. And they are quite tough about checking how much problem you have with doing things, so it is quite likely that you have a hard time convincing them that you qualify right now especially without a consultant's diagnosis. And just having RA doesn't qualify you even once you are diagnosed, it really depends how it affects you.

I think that it's very important to think positive about this disease, and try to believe that you will bounce back and aren't going to need DLA as you're going to be ok physically. The majority of people do respond well to treatment, and can go back to a fairly normal life. To start with I was dreadful, and could hardly get out of bed, and now I'm fine and can do most things I want. I'm amazed at how much I've improved. Yes, it's a rotten disease but it doesn't mean you'll have a rotten life from now on. it'll be different, but should be ok so please don't depress yourself. Polly

[mille]

I fully agree with Polly's post. I think it would be very unlikely that you would get DLA. DLA is based on your mobility and what care you need. If you can walk unaided and don't need help getting dressed, etc then you wouldn't be entitled to it. If things had to get worse for you then you could apply for it. It is a nasty disease but you may well be one of the lucky ones and have it very mild, i do hope so.

Good luck.

[shirlthegirl]

Thankyou so much for your advice, this just proves how great this site is for gettting advice,

I know that friends and family can be helpfull but its alway best to get the answers from people who have had this experience,

I do try to stay possive but I do have my bad days like everyone else and to make things worse there is a history of RA in my family, they have been the unlucky ones and the disease has meant they need to use a wheel chair and finds life very depressing.

But talking to you lovely people and knowing that there is better drugs out there now,gives me more hope I would hate the thought of having to claim this benefit unless I really needed to Xx

[earthwitch]

It won't actually hurt to phone DLA and ask for them to send you an application form. That way you can have a look through it and see if you really think its worthwhile sending in. If you don't, you haven't lost anything.

I think the big difficulty you would be likely to have is that even though you don't actually need a diagnosis to get DLA, the fact that you haven't been put on any treatment yet would tell them that you could still possibly get an awful lot of improvement yet, which might mean you don't remain disabled long enough to be eligible. It is getting an awful lot harder to get even the low levels of either care or mobility now too. Also RA isn't automatically a condition that is seen as disabling because so many folk can get treatment that works really well and gets them back to normal or near normal.

[shirlthegirl]

Yes i will do that, as you said it won't hurt,I agree as i don't know how my treatment is going to go, i could be one of the lucky ones.

Take care x