DLA with OCD?

STOCKWIRE

caela wrote: »

Lol you make me laugh not sure we're reading the same thread maybe it makes you feel more sane if you can belittle me that's great if it can be therapeutic. I'm not revelling I'm trying to get help in what is currently a difficult time and also trying to get DLA which has been a confusing process with the GP saying I'm not entitled and basically ignoring all my symptoms so I was hoping to get some feedback and see if I have totally lost my mind lol! Seeing as I'm completely independent I'd love to know how I'm coming across helpless, especially when I'm fighting the whole DLA thing by myself which is an arduous process to say the least. I'm getting what I want, I doubt that renders me helpless and winging to be wrapped in cotton, I would describe it more as an empowering process. Not really sure we're on the same page, maybe it's not coming through in writing I guess you'd just have to know me. Thanks for trying to help anyway though, sadly I don't think I'll have too much to take away with me from it but I do appreciate the effort.

Why not put that effort into resolving your problems i.e banging on the doctors door until you get that help you require. Sounds like you are in a very dark place at the moment, but seems you are there because you have been refused DLA. As this thread has got longer your list of ailments has grown. Benefits are not going to solve your problems, in fact they might encourage you to remain where you are !.

matronelize

Hi Caela, I do understand your problem. Would you not consider working night shifts? As for your shopping do try on-line shopping. Just a suggestion.

Muttleythefrog

STOCKWIRE wrote: »

Why not put that effort into resolving your problems i.e banging on the doctors door until you get that help you require. Sounds like you are in a very dark place at the moment, but seems you are there because you have been refused DLA. As this thread has got longer your list of ailments has grown. Benefits are not going to solve your problems, in fact they might encourage you to remain where you are !.

My mindset is mirroring hers. DLA claim has taken over life... lacking medical support and evidence. List of ailments... well it will lengthen... as you learn more about a person like this it can. Rarely are things like OCD going to not be accompanied with other issues. When work paid for me to have private counselling... after 6 sessions the counsellor admitted we hadn't even achieved a full appreciation for all my symptoms or probable illnesses... we never got to the bit where you look to make changes or improve your situation..lol. I was recently diagnosed with 2 personality disorders... but long long after (well over a year) the usual common suspects were identified like OCD and depression and anxiety.

What you say is sensible advice.. but I'm not sure it is the right advice. (If the OP has obsessive thoughts like me then switching thinking from her DLA issue may be as good as impossible regardless of the logic of it). If her thinking is like mine then DLA offers a potential option that the NHS promises but can't deliver - positive change day to day. There comes a point seeking treatment that you realise battling for medical help is leaving you at grave risk of becoming even more seriously ill. Seeking medical help has made me much worse.. unfortunately to get DLA and continue getting ESA I'm left with little choice but to continue with the illusion that there are NHS services suitable to me and I'm seeking them. Yesteryear someone like me and probably the op would have had regular access to a CPN who would understand the day to day problems and understand the practical support needed for things like DLA claim.

Your last sentence in all probability is true... but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Never underestimate the potential benefits of 3 independent persons listening to you and turning around and giving some indication they think you're not from mars...lol.

sunnyone wrote: »

I have read this whole thread and you dont from what you have posted have a hope of getting DLA on the "evidence" you have, or everyone would get it!

You need evidence going back at least 3 months and a condition expected to last for 6 months to which medical pratictioners will testify, not one but a plethora to back you up and you have nothing like that but a bit ancient history and claimed conditions without medical support and thats why you have failed and will fail at tribunal to get DLA.

Unfortunately for some, getting the medical evidence is a nightmare. I do think she will have some chance at a tribunal though - they'll be compelled to listen to her testimony. Even at my nightmare tribunal which couldn't have gone worse..as the GP took over and was abusive and disruptive throughout. I got low rate mobility based on no supporting evidence.. in fact for a reason (to avoid excessive planning of outings) I didn't even claim I needed it since I hadn't encountered it as a reason to award low rate mobility.

I've been battling for 2 years to have evidence of my conditions and their effects.. to be honest if pressed all I could supply is an outdated CPN risk assessment, a few letters cancelling appointments with psychiatrists and my ATOS medical report from my ESA claim (also outdated). It's certainly not for the want of trying..lol. Private psychiatric report is recommended by some at a cost of perhaps £300 but here that may not cover the most debilitating of her conditions... she'd have to investigate if it were an option financially. I suppose people like her and me may benefit from compulsory medical assessments for DLA as like for ESA.

zippy1969

I've been reading this thread with some interest...well, me and my friend.

My friend has very severe OCD, and I've been posting on her behalf on the forums here and getting alot of good advice. (I can't post a link as I'm new, but it's in this forum with a post title 'ESA question').

She has been claiming ESA since March due to a breakdown. She recently had an Atos assessment and the result has been 'zero' points. Anyway, the thread I've linked to gives more information on that.

Regarding DLA, my friend gets full-rate care/low-rate mobility components of DLA. This is based on a ten-year old diagnosis of OCD, suicidal depression and anxiety. She was awarded this recently, though has applied twice before during the last ten years but was unsuccessful both times. Her GP wrote to her when she received the paperwork from DLA, asking her to make an appointment so that they could fill it in together.

My friend attends group psychotherapy and has recently been the subject of much intervention by the mental health crisis team.

Her OCD is pretty bad. It can take her hours to do the simplest things. She has routines and rituals that can't be disrupted. For instance, showering. She has a routine, right from preparing to shower, to the actual shower itself and then getting ready afterwards. If this routine is broken in any way...even if it just doesn't feel right...she has to start again. She may have just got out of the shower, then something happens, usually only something she feels in her head. So she has to put everything back how it was and start again from the start, having to shower again...until it all feels 'right.'

Imagine this applying to everything she does...cooking, cleaning etc etc. And she finds it hard to have visitors because when they sit down the cushions move and this makes her panic because it took her hours to get them 'just right.'

So I have empathy for the OP. And I'm familiar with the attitude some of the people who have posted seem to have. One post furthur back said "how does OCD stop you from working?" Well, a bit of insight into my friends condition should give the answer to that.

The DLA/ESA assessments seem to be a lottery. The ESA assessments seem to make no sense at all. My friends situation is detailed, complicated and rooted in deep and complex psychological issues. How can a 30-minute assessment by someone who doesn't know you be valid? And then the decision is apparently made by a DWP 'decision-maker' who has no medical/psychological knowledge, doesn't ask for any supporting evidence from the GP or other professionals involved in treatment and has never met the claimant?

I find it all very perplexing.

All of this has caused my friends anxiety levels to rocket even furthur, her OCD to worsen and for her to begin verbalising suicidal thoughts once more. The 'system', as far as benefits is concerned appears to be letting her down.

STOCKWIRE

caela wrote: »

No not out of the blue, but I went in telling her my mental health had got worse and that I was probably suicidal. She said it sounded like I was fine- no idea where she got that from. She didn't even ask any questions about OCD or depression, just made her mind up on the spot with no history or information. That's what I mean.

Lets get this right~ you suffer from OCD and when your boy friend let the doctor in for your assessment before you were ready he did not notice you cleaning "around him", yet when the doctor was not there you manage to live in a "mouldy flat" for over a year?. You have really bad knees and OCD and manage to birth a cat on your bathroom floor?.
You tell the Doctor you watch normal programs on the tv, and you tell the tv licence people you don't have a tv ?.

I did feel sorry for you and honestly felt you were getting a raw deal. But having seen some of your other posts on other threads it looks like you are very good at bending the truth to get what you want and certainly don't sound suicidal. I could be wrong but hey the doctor saw you and came to the same conclusion !.

kezzygirl

caela wrote: »

No not out of the blue, but I went in telling her my mental health had got worse and that I was probably suicidal. She said it sounded like I was fine- no idea where she got that from. She didn't even ask any questions about OCD or depression, just made her mind up on the spot with no history or information. That's what I mean.

'probably suicidal?'you either are or you arent.you can get therapy for the mh problems u describe.there is no excuse or need to 'suffer'.

kezzygirl

wottonby wrote: »

People with serious MH conditions just don't do that! They find any and every reason to avoid seeing medics to ask for help. They don't see themselves as being ill, it's everyone else around them that keeps saying that they are!

and what sort of 'serious' mh conditions do u mean?schizophrenia?psychosis?

kezzygirl

caela wrote: »

Literally took the words out of my mouth there, very well said. It's silly as well because if your brain is the problem how can you describe the problem when all your ideas are filtered through a warped process? I don't even know what I'm thinking half the time and you can be susceptible to leading questions or implied symptoms, such as when you are diagnosed with a problem and in all likelihood end up acting out the remaining symptoms to fit the bill as it were since it's expected of you.-paranoid,much?mh teams are there to help,not force u into mental illness! That's not an attention seeking/ fake thing to do either, it's provenwhere?wikipedia? that it's an effect had on many people once they receive a diagnosis. There's a whole mental health clique you can fall into and you are expected to play the role of modest, compliant patient-do u want help or not?if you want help,comply with meds/therapy,if not dont bother clogging up the system for those who genuinely need and want help!. There's even a lot of competition between people and their diagnosis to prove who is most crazy or worthy of help.- It's a bizarre thing really. I don't want to involve myself with that and it's one of the reasons I quit therapy. Being told all the time that I have this fear of contamination didn't help because to some extent it became expected of me and almost a source of entertainment to others as a running joke- instead of being a symptom it became a personality trait and was almost desirable-eh?u serious?your therapist expected u to fear contamination?and they found it entertaining?i doubt this very much.. People would bang on with oooh how much would someone have to pay you to lick a toilet seat, oooh would you eat something off the floor and really would reinforce the problem. One shrink even touched the sole of his shoe and then licked his finger so I practically screamed and turned away from him and he was laughing- it's not funny it was ruining my lifeyeah,nothing like good old flooding....usually thoughts are worked on and then behavioural experiments. He was just showing off- he even offered to lick the toilet bowl which I couldn't even think about it was so disgusting (even now) and I just thought what a pr*ck. I was paying for this guy to take the mick out of me. Another NHS shrink responded to my account of hoarding with 'I don't see why keeping a few plastic bags is a problem' after I told her I found over 50 carrier bags in my bedroom wardrobe when I was cleaning and it hit me that I actually had a problem (you couldn't even see my floor at one point so it was more than just the bags lol).

-hmmm,keeping them through fear of something bad happening?or keeping them incase u ran out?

do u want help or not?because i can see many excuses u are making and these are resolvable problems u are talking about.and what sleep disorder have u been diagnosed with?

caela_2

STOCKWIRE wrote: »

Lets get this right~ you suffer from OCD and when your boy friend let the doctor in for your assessment before you were ready he did not notice you cleaning "around him", yet when the doctor was not there you manage to live in a "mouldy flat" for over a year?. You have really bad knees and OCD and manage to birth a cat on your bathroom floor?.
You tell the Doctor you watch normal programs on the tv, and you tell the tv licence people you don't have a tv ?.

I did feel sorry for you and honestly felt you were getting a raw deal. But having seen some of your other posts on other threads it looks like you are very good at bending the truth to get what you want and certainly don't sound suicidal. I could be wrong but hey the doctor saw you and came to the same conclusion !.

Sorry but you are not making any sense, you're really clutching at straws in an attempt to question me. I'm not here to prove a problem, I'm here for help. I didn't manage to 'live in a mouldy flat' I fought for over a year to get them to repair the mould which was on the ceilings and which I could not clean away as I was not willing to touch it at all seeing as even the spores can be dangerous. It was a very depressing and stressful time during which we were sleeping on our lounge floor and my boyfriend nearly failed university. This idea that having OCD means you always stay tidy is completely untrue and a very misunderstood stereotype that can be quite damaging. For instance, I wash my hands a lot but my car is an absolute rubbish tip and I spilt chips in it yesterday and ate them off the floor. Those are the types of contradictions I am talking about. It doesn't have to make sense it's all about jumbled up thinking. In fact it makes more sense that it doesn't make sense because if it did, it would be logical thought and not a thought disorder. The whole point is it's not productive.

As for my bad knees and helping my cat give birth, please explain how that's even related? I didn't run laps of the bathroom while she was popping her kittens out! I can't even imagine what you mean. Sitting on the bathroom floor wasn't terribly painful and whilst it got a bit cramped, you know what sometimes you gotta put up with a bit of pain when it's really important like that. For instance, my back absolutely crumbles when I'm doing the washing up it's so painful, but the washing up isn't going to jump in the sink and do itself. Doesn't mean I'm lying.

And whilst I do not have a TV license now nor do I need one, for one year of the 3 I have been living here, I did have one. I also watch TV online using catch up services which I repetitively mentioned on my numerous posts if you noticed. So yes I did tell the assessor I watched shows such as comedies etc.

You are just trying to pick holes for the sake of it I doubt I'd even need to explain that to people. I completely cannot understand where you're coming from, sorry. And I whilst I attempted university it's not to say I didn't accumulate a good amount of knowledge towards a psychology degree and I can tell you the way the doctor acted was completely inappropriate- I have even invented my own test for depression for one of the modules and that kind of research has also enlightened me to the type of questions you would need to ask someone to find out if they had depression or not according to the various diagnostic manuals. If someone came to you saying they felt in danger of their life, your first response should be do you have a plan to kill yourself, do you have the means to carry out this plan and so on, not an immediate response of oh I don't think you're suicidal and brushing it off. This is why so many people who seek help are turned away and whilst they say suicide is a selfish thing to do, these people probably tried to get help at some point. People are very uneducated when it comes to mental health to the point that I literally felt I had a better understanding than the doctor. Of course in her training it was probably just a small section about mental health, as well as things like nutrition which they are vastly under informed on. They are general practitioners, in fact, they specialise in nothing at all, I almost don't see the point. They should not diagnose themselves but act as a network hub to point you in the direction of a specialist who can help instead. She should have at the least asked the relevant questions, seen what the likelihood of these disorders are regarding my answers and then forwarded me to the relevant help as necessary, none of which happened. She is now taking the first step which she should have done before the appointment of actually looking at my notes, seeing as I'm a new patient. We'll see how it goes from there.

caela_2

kezzygirl wrote: »

'probably suicidal?'you either are or you arent.you can get therapy for the mh problems u describe.there is no excuse or need to 'suffer'.

Probably suicidal in that straight after the appointment I spent about two hours parked up and building up the courage to drive into a tree, testing speeds to see how fast I'd need to go and then lining my car up and waiting for enough people to pass so they wouldn't have to watch. It's difficult to tell if you're suicidal because at the end of the day, I didn't crash my car I took a call from my friend who I hadn't planned on speaking to but thought why not in these circumstances and she stopped me from doing it because she just cheered me up enough and distracted me from it for a while.

I guess you're not ever suicidal until you actually kill yourself is my point so at what stage can you prove you're suicidal? When you're dead or when you're in hospital? Or when you know you're PROBABLY going to do something stupid and go to get help. Hence, I was probably suicidal because in all probability I was going to do something and wanted help before it was too late.

You're right about the help thing though which is the whole point of what I'm trying to do so hopefully I get something sorted out.