i have been in extreme pain with my back and right leg. arthritus came on after a accident and scans seem to show it came with vengence.

[edwolf88]

arthritus got into my hip, i had total hip replacement, now a new scan showed its spread into my lower back causing damage there. i struggle to walk and use crutches. amoungst other problems so i have been put on dla high rate. my question is,,,,my consultant booked me in for a Epidural Steroid Injections, although he say i would probely still need an op as it might not last. but i heard that these injections only sometimes last a few weeks.

so after the epidural no pain, throw my crutches away and start walking. ....is there a benifits spy there, when im not suppose to be able to walk. or do i inform of changes, like i suppose to. then have my benifit stopped, like it should. but then the injection where off after a cpl of weeks. leaving me without any money. do i tell them straight away or do i wait till i know its worked

[Bananas5]

The spinal injections can last a lot longer than a couple of weeks. Someimes months.

However under the DWP rules for claiming they make allowances for 'fluctuating' conditions. This fits the criteria.

I don't know how long you have been in receipt of DLA but you will be assessed for the ne benefit of PIP

Do you gave a time limit on your DLA award or is it indefinite? If it is time limited you will move to the new PIP when assessment is due.

You have 2 choices. Tell DWP now and risk losing your DLA mobility when you apply for new PIP or wait until your DLA runs out. Check your paper work and see what date they have giceb you.

Under new PIP you will only get higher rate mobility if you can not walk more than 20 metres i safely and repeatedly.

If you can tell me the dates it ezpires I should be able to help a bit more!

Pat x

[edwolf88 in reply to Bananas5]

Hi thank you for the reply

I felt a bit unwell and was in a lot of pain the other day when I first wrote on here, I can now probably explain a little better today.

Firstly I was put on company sick pay after my accident some years ago tried going back to work on several occasions but failed. I was the put on esa support group. I had been seeing a consultant who tried different smaller operations which didn’t work as my arthritis was increasing at a fast rate and started struggling to walk even the shortest of distances.

Shortly after it had a total hip replacement hoping that everything would be fine afterwards and would go back to work under lighter duties. But in the meantime I applied for DLA. As I had become more or less housebound, without going into too much detail. I was placed on the higher rate of both care and mobility for two years.

After the hip replacement the pain was still increasing and not easing off, not in the hip joint but all around it... consultant sent me for another scan where results showed the arthritis has spread into the base of my spine and done a bit of damage there. He went on to say that firstly he will send me for an Epidural Steroid Injection then said he did not think this would work in my case but he had to take this route first before any major surgery i will probely need.

While waiting for the injection, I had a letter from dwp last November saying my DLA was about to run out and sent a renewal form, I asked whether its PIP I needed to apply for, the dwp said something about postcodes and told me no its still DLA for your area. I reapplied and was given another 2 years on high rates. I am not due an assessment now for another two years.

What I was saying in my first letter. The consultant don’t seem to think the injection will work, the people in forums say it don’t work for everyone and on the ones it do work on has different length of times, from a couple of days to years.

My luck would be coming home after the injection, throwing my crutches aside, jumping and throwing my arms in the air with joy being pain free (what a dream, if only).

Yes my luck would be a spy from dwp is around the corner with a camera when I come home, just like you see and hear on TV and in the papers..

Want to know is there a timescale in change of circumstances as these injections don’t always work for any length of time.

If it tell them because it feel great after the injection would they stop my money straight away, because if it does not last very long. Would i then have to apply for pip?

I don’t want to lose my dla as I only just been given another 2 years, but I don’t want to be pulled in because I can walk I bit further now because of the injection even if it’s only for a few weeks.

[earthwitch]

Just be aware that those epidural steroid injections may be absolutely great initially, but they probably aren't something that you would want to keep on doing long term. They do have quite serious risks, including dramatically increasing the risk of spinal fracture (each injection apparently increases the risk of fracture by 19% from recent research), osteonecrosis and osteoporosis,plus risks of developing a syrinx. You might want to have a serious discussion with your doctor about the risks and also the alternatives. If you haven't had inflammatory spinal arthritis ruled out, then that might be worth doing too, as the treatment for that would be less risky. If you really did get far better response than expected from the steroid, then that might also point to the possibility of an inflammatory process going on rather than just injury-related pain.

FWIW I'm in a similar position of having got dramatic response from a spinal steroid injection, but incredibly nervous about repeating it, even though it has been the only thing that has given me any relief in years, and like you, it also allowed me to walk without crutches. I do have a diagnosed spondyloarthritis, though the diagnosis is from a private specialist and the NHS won't accept it and won't treat it - mainly because I've gone through all the cheap meds and would now be needing the expensive anti-tnf drugs.