DLA - have my needs changed?

Zziggi

Ames wrote: »

hi all, my DLA claim runs out in June, so the forms will be here in a couple of months and I'm already panicking.

I get HRC for my mental health problems. They seem to have got better - I haven't self harmed as much, and haven't attempted suicide at all during this claim. BUT, the reason for this is the DLA. It means I can do things to stop it getting so bad. For instance, having a cheap mobile so I can call family when I'm out and having a panic attack so they can calm me down. A few weeks ago I managed to use the bus on my own for the first time in years, because I called my sister when I left the house and she talked to me until I was settled down on the bus. (I'd also taken extra medication to calm me).

It also pays for me to go to support and other therapeutic groups.

I'm really worried that they'll say I don't need the money, I'll have to stop everything that helps, get worse, and then reapply. If that's likely to happen I'd rather know now so I can prepare myself for it.

The other thing is the HRM. Since starting uni in September, I often have to walk further than 40 yards. But, I'm in almost constant pain and regularly end up not being able to sleep because I'm in agony. I know that pain counts towards getting an award in theory, but have they tightened up on this?

I just want to prepare myself, partly in case it all stops, but also so that I can start keeping a diary and things of how I'm getting around problems. So often I realise that my way of doing something is odd, but it's become second nature so I don't see it as being due to my disability.

You hear this often. A DLA recipient uses the money appropriately and so their symptoms lessen. Then they reapply and get their DLA rate reduced. When the DLA is reduced they can then nolonger afford to pay for the support/therapy and so they deteriorate, symptoms return and then they get reassessed and moved back up. Same happened to my Ds & his DLA. Not sure what the answer is Ames but I perfectly understand your dilemma.

spikeripley

Your claim should be the same as last time (hope you kept a copy).
Things have only got better for you because of the DLA thats why you get it, to help make your life better. If say for instance you had a carer come in every day and that made your life better would that then mean you dont need DLA anymore, of course it wouldnt. The same applies to you. You need the DLA to continue your life as it is, without it things would return to what they were before you claimed and you would need to claim again. When you fill in the forms you need to fill them in as you did the first time because if you dont you will be back to where you started.

moneybuster

Ames wrote: »

Yes, as I said in my edit, the symptoms are being managed (ie no self harm or suicide attempts) because of the things I spend my DLA on. If the DLA went, then I wouldn't be able to pay for those things, and so I'd go back to self harming and suicide attempts.

if owning a mobile helps, you can get triple min's bundle at tesco's you where in there the other day for £10 per month = £30 credit, to qualify for HRC @ £73 per week you need care both day and night, so what you are saying is with out the phone you would go back to your old ways, if you haven't experienced any of your older impulses then technically you have improved, or at the very least become stable, sorry to be blunt, but for me this is just not adding up,

MB

QuackQuackOops

What has happened to all the care you need during the night? A mobile phone doesnt cover that.
If you are getting high rate care you must have said in your previous application that you need watching over while sleeping yet you say you live alone with noone coming in.
Sounds like you have improved significantly and not just because of a mobile phone.

sock-knitter

i used to get hrc for mental health problems, because i needed help day and night, as self harming and suicide attempts were worse on a night, when things started to go through my mind, that during the day you could block out by keeping busy.
in july of this year i filled out a renewal and got lrc, BUT the mental health crisis team in my area have been brilliant, and when i need help i have a 24 hour number that i can call, and someone will always be there to help talk me down, or come out and visit if necessary. the lrc award was mainly due to the fact that i cannot prepare a meal from scratch, and allows me to eat a bit better than i was

Louise03

Quote "Social services offered me help, but I couldn't afford the amount they wanted me to contribute - they wouldn't take into account the cost of my MH needs, such as meeting my support worker."


The dla you receive is to help pay for your care needs.

rogerblack

The care costs from local authorities can in some cases be very expensive, and not covered by DLA, or other funding.
In addition, if it's possible to get one expensive service, at the cost of dropping all the other things the DLA is helping with - it's not going to work.

haycorns

Hi , I'm just doing this form for the first time for my son and have read lots of advice ready to begin the form.

It does say you should put down your care needs regardless of what help you are currenlty receiving, so I suggest you phrase it such as

' in order to catch a bus i need contant encoragement and reassurance. Without this I would..... be unable to leave the house, have a panic attach, become violent etc'

I think having someone at the end the phone counts as care - this is the only way my son can manage. It's different to just having someone to phone when you have a problem - its a true lifeline and needs to be there to get you through.

So try and get accross how things would be if you didn't have the support/care in place. Good luck

bobajob_1966

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

What has happened to all the care you need during the night? A mobile phone doesnt cover that.
If you are getting high rate care you must have said in your previous application that you need watching over while sleeping yet you say you live alone with noone coming in.
Sounds like you have improved significantly and not just because of a mobile phone.

Needing care and actually receiving it are two very different things. Someone can need watching over due to suicidal tendencies, propensity to self harm etc, but often do not have someone close enough to offer that constant support. The need is all that is required to qualify for DLA.

Of course, the alternative to a DLA award to reflect the needs is for the state to actually provide the level of support the OP needs. The amount given in DLA would not even touch the budget that would require.

Ames

Ok, people seem to be getting hung up on the mobile, that was just one concrete example of what I spend a tenner a month of my DLA on.

I do need care throughout the night too. I tend to be either manic or depressed, and not spend much time between the two. I've had maybe a couple of weeks this year of being 'level'.

If I'm depressed I need watching constantly to make sure I'm not suicidal/self harming. These thoughts get worse at night, when I go to bed and can't distract myself. Obviously I can't just not go to bed ever! Thinking about it, I've been more manic than depressed this year, so that might be why I've not been as bad. But I have had to have the crisis team out (at midnight) once. So the night time care need (thanks bobajob, as you explain it's a need whether or not it's being met) is to stop me acting on those impulses.

When I'm manic I need help during the night because I don't sleep, and tend to do stupid things. I don't want to go into what I've done this year on a public forum, suffice to say my medical people have been shocked at it. On top of which, as I have chronic fatigue, I tend not to look after myself enough - mania makes me think there's nothing physically wrong with me, so I don't pace myself, and end up running myself into the ground.

MB, if you can explain more about why things aren't adding up I'll try and explain it better.

QQO, I don't need watching over when I'm sleeping, the problem is that my sleep is so erratic that it usually comes in a few hours here, a few hours there. When I'm depressed I can pretty much guarantee that I'll wake up at four every morning, and not be able to get back to sleep. Even over the counter sleep meds don't help. That's when I'm at my most vulnerable. I'm going over the previous day in my mind and thinking of all the things I've done 'wrong'. (there's more to it than that, again, I don't really want to go into very detailed descriptions). I'm also worrying about the next day. Usually the way I get back to sleep is thinking of all the ways I might have a fatal accident - if it's winter, I'll imagine myself slipping on ice and hitting my head, for instance. The hope that one of these things will happen calms me down. If it doesn't, then I start planning my suicide. The reason I haven't acted on these impulses in the last few years is that I've been able to pay for help so that I'm usually able to see someone every couple of days for encouragement, to rant at, and just support. Plus, there's therapeutic activities I go to which help, like the writing group where I know I can write crazy things - short stories about self harm, for instance, and not be judged. So writing them out instead of acting them out helps sometimes, although I have still self harmed even when manic this year, which is unusual for me.

Louise, when you say that DLA is to pay for my care needs, are you saying that I should have used it to pay for help with my physical needs through social services, or that they should have taken into account my mental needs costs as well? My mum got cancer a year ago, just after I'd had the financial assessment, and ironically the leaflet she got from SS in her area specifically said they'd pay for things that I'd been refused to count as expenses!

If anyone's got any more questions I'm happy to answer, within reason. I guess I just want reassuring or warning, as I said I'm already panicking about the forms. But this week has been a bad one anyway as I'm sliding back down to depression, so it could be that I'm just overreacting.