dla/esa appeal help please!

gaito64

Hi, please be kind to me as this is my first ever post!

My husband had to finish work in April of last year due to psoratic arthritis and severe psoriosis at the time his arthritis was in one foot and both hands. We attended an esa medical on 23rd July and recieved a letter stating he was not ill enough to continue on esa in August even though the poor bloke could barely walk or grip anything, we appealed straight away and we are still waiting to hear from them. Is this the norm to be waiting so long?
He was also only awarded the lowest rate of care component of the dla and after a discussion with the lovely lady at the cab (went to see her about the esa appeal) we have appealed about the dla too. Now we have the dla doctor coming to see us on Wednesday of next week, what will happen and are we allowed to see what he is writing? We have a complete mistrust of the government appointed doctors ever since the esa check when the doctor completely disregarded everything we tried to say to him and completely forgot to mention in his report about my husbands arthritic foot!

Also his condition has worsened severely since we filled in all of the forms, the arthritis has now spread to both feet, ankles, wrists, elbows and shoulders and my poor hubby is only 45. Should we contact the said agencies to let them know, or just wait until the doctor comes next week?

I apologise about the essay, but we have both always worked and never claimed anything in our lives until now. I have been at sahm for 4 years since I was made redundant whilst heavily pregnant (lovely people!) and it's lucky I am at home now to look after him as he struggles to do the small things we all take for granted, but of course thanks to that doctor I cant even claim carers allowance, grrrrr!!

Indie_Kid

gaito64 wrote: »

Also his condition has worsened severely since we filled in all of the forms, the arthritis has now spread to both feet, ankles, wrists, elbows and shoulders and my poor hubby is only 45. Should we contact the said agencies to let them know, or just wait until the doctor comes next week?

Only if he has more care / mobility needs as a result. The name(s) of the condition(s) are irrelevant.

McKneff

Please tell your husband not to lose heart and think that this is it for the rest of his life. I started with arthritis, the whole lot, all at once, everywhere, until
i found some medication from my gP i must add which eventually helped enormously, I started at age 40 and was so ill, but eventually it does come that it will calm down. I had slow release tablets and gold injections then my body got used to them, i had something else which again helped. i have had no tablets now for about 5 years, i also have osteoporosis, and p/aneamea, i manage to get back to work and worked full time till i started part time last October by choice as i got to the big 60 so there will be remission for him in the future,
Has he seen a rheumatologist, if not he must ask his doctor to refer him.
Chin up, he's not stuck with the pain forever, good luck to you all.

And to be honest, the extra money doestn make the slightest difference to the arthritis or the pain.
Annie

Edit to add = it may be worth applying for a blue badge if you are car owners and/or bus passes if he is claiming ESA
you can also apply to be on this pass as a carer (your local council can also help with this) my husband
had a bus pass since he was 57 due to being visually impaired and i was on his pass as a companion till i got my own.

sunnyone

gaito64 wrote: »

Hi, please be kind to me as this is my first ever post!

My husband had to finish work in April of last year due to psoratic arthritis and severe psoriosis at the time his arthritis was in one foot and both hands. We attended an esa medical on 23rd July and recieved a letter stating he was not ill enough to continue on esa in August even though the poor bloke could barely walk or grip anything, we appealed straight away and we are still waiting to hear from them. Is this the norm to be waiting so long?
He was also only awarded the lowest rate of care component of the dla and after a discussion with the lovely lady at the cab (went to see her about the esa appeal) we have appealed about the dla too. Now we have the dla doctor coming to see us on Wednesday of next week, what will happen and are we allowed to see what he is writing? We have a complete mistrust of the government appointed doctors ever since the esa check when the doctor completely disregarded everything we tried to say to him and completely forgot to mention in his report about my husbands arthritic foot!

Also his condition has worsened severely since we filled in all of the forms, the arthritis has now spread to both feet, ankles, wrists, elbows and shoulders and my poor hubby is only 45. Should we contact the said agencies to let them know, or just wait until the doctor comes next week?

I apologise about the essay, but we have both always worked and never claimed anything in our lives until now. I have been at sahm for 4 years since I was made redundant whilst heavily pregnant (lovely people!) and it's lucky I am at home now to look after him as he struggles to do the small things we all take for granted, but of course thanks to that doctor I cant even claim carers allowance, grrrrr!!

The worsening of your husbands condition cant be taken into account for his DLA appeal but only the way he was affected when he claimed DLA and was awarded low rate care.

Working all your life has no place on the benifits board, we have had people of twenty saying that, whats important is a person NI contributions for contributary benefits and income for income related benefits.

gaito64

Hi and thank you for your replies.

sh1305 - yes he does need more help than when we origionally filled in the forms, its got to the point now where everytime he tries to stand up he nearly keels over with the pain in his feet and ankles.

McKneff - thank you for giving us hope, I am worried sick about him knowing how quickly he has deteriorated in the last couple of months. Yes he is seeing a rheumatologist and he is alreay taking the tablets but unfortunately we have been told he is one of the unfortunate ones who do not absorb as much of the dose as normal, so his dose has beeen vastly increased which is making him feel really sick every time he has to take them. He was also given prozac by our gp 2 weeks ago as he is not coping very well with being stuck at home now when he has always been so active before. It's just horrible seeing him in this state and I just don't know what to do to help him.