The (not so old) Crocks Cafe

jazabelle

bigzippy wrote: »

Lol sorry i wasn't about for your medical freak out Jaz, i do know how you feel/felt about it cos i'm the same. I know i'm not lying but i don't express myself properly, or get all the pertinent points across.

Aw, yeah, it's a very stressful experience. Obviously I keep thinking about it again, and I think I missed out loads of points. He barely asked about the care I needed.

He didn't ask anything that wasn't on the original claim form. The claim form contains 100 x the information his report will.

It's very wrong the way he brushed past so many things really.

bigzippy wrote: »

Btw does anyone else have a pretty much constantly dry and itchy feeling inside your nose/nostrils? I'm trying to work out if my antihistamines aren't working anymore, it's some kind of eczema thing, or it's some kind of side-effect thing? I have it pretty much all the time!

Oh very much so, all the time! I am on Tramadol too, so perhaps it's part of the side effects? It's so irritating!

Good morning all! Hope today goes well! I'm off to work in a minute. It's coooold, think I will be scraping ice off my car first.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Invasion wrote: »

As SH said, filling any forms in on your worst day/days is fraud, it's very risky, and just not worth it, it's very bad advice to have been given to anyone. It should be filled in on your average day, if you want to, put in how things are different on your worse days, how often these are, and the same for good days- if you have them. It's not worth having a giant benefits nightmare because you filled in your form on what's typical 2 days out of 7.

The DWP do do surveillance, plus, if you were called in for a medical and (using Jaz's example) you say you can't walk on your forms, cos you can't on your bad days, and you're able to walk in your medical exam, then that's not going to go down well.

Just to make it clear - that's what I was told but not what I did so please don't shoot the messenger!! I work in insurance so know the importance of forms, information, utmost good faith and telling the truth. If I were to be accused of fraud, let alone convicted of it, my career would be over in a flash!! I'm not that stupid!!

I can see why I was told to use my worst day; I've had days that seem to start well and go rapidly downhill. Conversely, some days get better after a couple of extra hours in bed, so you have to get the balance right.

bluedog

Hi everyone :wave:,

It's a looonnngg time since I last ventured in here but have been lurking when I've had time. It's nice to see so many new faces here since I last came.

I've briefly come out of lurkdom for 2 reasons and the first one is after reading the bits about DLA claim forms. I just feel compelled to share my story over it. I used a Welfare Benefits Advice Centre regularly and they'd always been very helpful, honest and supportive with issues I had of any kind. I'd done the ususal & made notes relating to the questions, but because of a particular bad spell and their diary commitments, I couldn't get an appointment with them to write it up onto the form until the day before the it was due to be in by. Normally, it was a 2 hour affair & they would help me formulate my notes into statements that gave a clear, direct overview of what my needs & difficulties are.
The guy who saw me that day totally ignored my notes, took the forms & took just 45 minutes to fill them in. He didn't take copies and because of the time factor presumably, and for the same reason, I didn't have time to do it myself before last post went. To say it freaked me out was an understatement. Cutting a very long saga short, it ended up going to tribunal and I enlisted the help of Welfare Rights after getting the acknowledgement letter and explained to them what had happened, my worries etc. I only got copies of the form a few days beforehand and was absolutely horrified at what he'd written. It was NOT a true reflection of my illnesses, the problems or anything & he'd basically written "can't do this because of pain" on every page. Absolutely nothing was written that reflected the problems with exhaustion, how the fluctuations and juggling symptoms from the issues (some cross-over) affect me etc etc or anything near.
At the tribunal, the officiator gave a lenghty speel and before any questions were asked, the Welfare Rights worker asked if she could talk to me outside. Basically, the speel amounted to a massive warning that if I continued with the tribunal, they were going to stop all DLA there and then. If I withdrew, then I'd keep my current level for 3 years. It took a very long time for me to try for HRM in the first place because of all the stress over it. I live on my own now that DS is at uni, my family are scattered all over the country and my friends either work, have young children or are crocks themselves so can't help much. The extra money would have been SO useful and I could have paid someone come to do the things I struggle with even on my better days.

It's 2 years before it's up for review & I'm already dreading it because of this. If I can't do something, then I go without basically now - just paint on the smile to the world & shut the door kinda thing. The only thing I DO know is that next time, I will make darned certain that whatever gets put on the form is as truer reflection as possible and that the person/body I use to help me with it is fully competent and trust worthy. In a nutshell, by writing it as though everyday is a worst day cost me dearly.

The other reason to come out of lurkdom is to wave a friendly tail and paw to LW. I stopped coming in for similar reasoning. For the benefit of those I don't know yet, life hit the fan last summer & it's been a right roller-coaster since. I didn't want to come in & fill the thread with my woes & felt everyone here had enough to deal with, without a stream of it, rants, tears and everything I was feeling as it all went on. I'm not saying you feel exactly like this of corse, but reading what everyone's written to you LW, is very-heart warming and got me thinking that in "real-world", the ones who support me best are my crock-friends as they somehow understand more and at a deeper level. I'm not sure if I'm explaining what I'm trying to say here very well, but I'm pretty sure this is what is being said to you here LW. I know you always lent a friendly paw to anyone here in need (including me) so am also sending you ((((hugs)))).

I like to think things are beginning to turn a corner, so may come back out of full lurkdom soon. (have got so much going on at the mo that I'm not able to spend much time on the pc).

pipkin71

jazabelle wrote: »

Aw, yeah, it's a very stressful experience. Obviously I keep thinking about it again, and I think I missed out loads of points. He barely asked about the care I needed.

He didn't ask anything that wasn't on the original claim form. The claim form contains 100 x the information his report will.

It's very wrong the way he brushed past so many things really.

I hope it went ok for you, Jaz.

I do the analysing everything over and over afterwards, too

jazabelle wrote: »

Oh very much so, all the time! I am on Tramadol too, so perhaps it's part of the side effects? It's so irritating!

Possibly, as I take tramadol as well and can relate to that.

jazabelle wrote: »

Good morning all! Hope today goes well! I'm off to work in a minute. It's coooold, think I will be scraping ice off my car first.

Have a good day.

Try not to overdo the ice scraping, particularly as your wrists are bad.

SingleSue

Well the teetering over the edge appears to be in full pelt down the cliff face right now due to everything going horribly wrong.

Just can't stop bursting into tears....will give it a few days though before seeking help, it could just be a temp fluctuation in mood and I will bounce back to my battleaxe self.

pipkin71

SingleSue wrote: »

Well the teetering over the edge appears to be in full pelt down the cliff face right now due to everything going horribly wrong.

Just can't stop bursting into tears....will give it a few days though before seeking help, it could just be a temp fluctuation in mood and I will bounce back to my battleaxe self.

Sorry to hear things aren't great Sue

My pm box is available if you feel the need to vent, let off steam, or have a good natter.

Hopefully, it's just a blip, hunny.

pipkin71

The past two days of activity has left me in quite a lot of pain today

I need to start focussing on what needs to be done this afternoon, but energy levels are low. It doesn't do any good just sitting on here, though

poohbear59

Fantabulous wrote: »

Just wanted to add my tuppenceworth here

When I originally needed to claim for DLA my GP told me to complete the form as if it were for the very worst day I ever had with my illnesses. So that is what I did and have done with every DLA form since

Hope all goes well for you

The disability employment advisor at the Job centre told me to do just that too. She also counter signed my form.

I hope you are okay LW. I was like that for a couple of weeks(didn't want to drag others down) but am beginning to come out of it hence posting again. My decluttering is kllling my back, hips, elbows and wrists but I am determined.

Invasion

I get sore nostrils too, and I'm on amitrip and tramadol- both things which can give you a dry mouth.. Though can also be related to allergies. Mine get to the point where the insides of my little nose-y get so sore and dry that they scab and it's really uncomfortable, I find Sterimar- 100% natural sea water spray- really helps to stop them getting to dry and sore... you squirt it up your nose for long enough for it to drain back out of your nose, just don't swallow any

sandy71

Sue sorry things aren't good today, hope you feel better soon.

Pipkin Hope you feel better soon. Whats wrong with sitting here all day, it's relaxation and that's what you need

Invasion That sterimar sound's awful, I can't stand stuff like that:o Hope you are ok.

I'm not feeling great today, been to the doctors and he has messed about with my med's again. It's getting to me at the moment.