Can I get help ?

Crisp_£_note

Hi first off sorry as not sure if this is the right board or need to repost in the general Benefits section.

Im in my early 40's and this week I have just been diagnosed with Osteo Arthritis in my knee and also Ilio Tibial Band Syndrome (IBT syndrome).

This is in addition to having Ankylosing Spondilitis and Type 2 Diabetes plus a couple of other 'common' ailments over the past 10 years.

I did attempt to apply for DLA many years ago but was declined after going to tribunal.

Im currently living on Incapacity Benefit and dont work due to the AS and a kind of social phobia. My husband is part time self employed (and also seasonaly employed but thats not regular work as is at festivals doing car park work) so I also manage to pay the bills off his Tax Credits but other than that neither of us dont get to see much of his income. Other than that we get housing benefit and Council Tax benefit. We dont have children.

Is there anything else I / we maybe entitled to in terms of benefits or help in other ways? my life is starting to become a daily struggle as I am in pain and often tired from having to cope. I am trying to stay positive and see a future as there must be many others worse off but at the moment I am struggling not to feel down and sorry for myself. Selfish I know

Sorry to be a moaner and ask a question everyone asks but I really dont know where to start or who to ask, its a minefield when trying to find out the info and quite confusing. Im not using the 'disability' card for my advantage in a disrespectful way.

Thanks in advance and sorry if I posted on the wrong board.

gingergee

Re-apply for DLA. Get help filling the forms in, CAB or welfare rights etc. Concentrate on the affect your "conditions" have on your day to day life, rather than what they actually are. Maybe if this time its successful, your hubby can claim carers allowance for you, if he earns less than 100pw after expenses. Dont give up it your declined, appeal. But defo get help filling it in. Good luck and keep well xx

benefitbaby

gingergee wrote: »

Re-apply for DLA. Get help filling the forms in, CAB or welfare rights etc. Concentrate on the affect your "conditions" have on your day to day life, rather than what they actually are. Maybe if this time its successful, your hubby can claim carers allowance for you, if he earns less than 100pw after expenses. Dont give up it your declined, appeal. But defo get help filling it in. Good luck and keep well xx

Yes, don't be put of by your previous experience, you health (and probably your care/mob needs) have changed since last time.

I would also suggest getting supporting letters from your GP and any consultants and sending these with the form, it is very persuasive to a decision maker when a GP says 'Mrs X can barely manage to walk a few steps without agonising pain or exhaustion' etc.

If the decision maker writes to your GP they send a standard form and this does not ask the right questions, so often crucial details are missed because of this.

Horseunderwater

I'd agree with other responders - go for the DLA option once more - your IB will be converted to ESA in due course and you will be invited to fill in what is called an ESA50 at some point to attend a medical. So check out the ESA descriptors and see which ones apply to you.
http://pseudo-living.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/esa-descriptors-and-points.html - preparing for it now will help.
Download the DLA form from the direct gov site to your PC and fill it in. Save each page then go back to them and revise words. Keep langauage simple and explain how you are affected by mobility each day. Can you walk unaided or with a stick /rollator for less than 50 meters without pain or needing to stop and rest? I am sure not from what you are saying. But that is one of the questions and how you answer that will get you the benefit or not. If you drag a leg or have a problem if you fell down and I can see you would with osteo/spondilitis, then say how - it is not telling them you have these illnesses, but how they affect you every day. Same goes for the care part. Do you need help with toilets/getting dressed or washed daily, help with cooking a hot meal, help in the night to get to a loo. If yes, then tell them how and why - they are not interested in the actual illnesses. Do that and I am sure that you will get the DLA you need.

benefitbaby

stallion4u wrote: »

I'm sorry but the standard factual report does ask the right questions.

Section 6 of the factual report will always ask:

Please give details, if known, of the effects of the disabling condition(s) on day to day life

(a) Self care- for example washing, dressing, feeding, using the toilet ability to rise from a chair and ability to communicate.

(b) Insight and awareness of danger

(c) Ability to get around including pain, gait, balance, breathlessness, visual loss and communication difficulties.

Now if you think that there are other questions that should be asked please let us all know.

I would also add that any report given by the GP must be based on fact and not on assumption or opinion. It is of no use telling a GP what your daily problems are if that statement cannot be backed up with medical evidence. Otherwise GP's could be said to being guilty of just being the mouthpiece of the patient.

I shall re-phrase... yes technically the questions are right but may of the GP's I liaise with openely acknowledge a limited understanding of the considerations that under the law a decision maker/tribunal has to consider e.g. reasonably required (not medically required) and without severe discomfort (which the report does not mention at all) etc. So the limited questions generated limited responses.

As a result GP's may not give detailed answers, not because they don't know (as they have unique insight of the patients difficulties from discussion at appointments to what they see first hand, medical history, the expected limitations of a condition, and specialist input) but because the report they are asked to complete does not specify the relevant issues and also because the paragraph you quote is very small and at the end (leading some GP's or other medical professionals to believe it is of lesser relevance).

I work with people affected by MS so my knowledge in this area is based on meetings with GP's, nurses and consultants, all of whom have been asked to complete these reports and some of whom were baffled when a patient had not been awarded DLA.

benefitbaby

stallion4u wrote: »

Yes they may not go into any great detail, but why would you want anymore detail if for example the GP wrote

(a) Self care- for example washing, dressing, feeding, using the toilet ability to rise from a chair and ability to communicate. Can self care.

(c) Ability to get around including pain, gait, balance, breathlessness, visual loss and communication difficulties. Has no difficulty with mobilising.

Both of those answers are factual and clear.
Both are based on fact and are evidenced by the GP.

And both would see no DLA awarded... but cases are won when GPs have said this and when DLA entitlement criteria has been explained they wrote further letters/reports to revise their original statements and giving more detail that enabled DLA to be awarded either at recon stage or at appeal.

benefitbaby

I'm sorry to hear of your frustrating experiences of DLA and AA.

The reasons the medical professionals changed their minds were varied but this will give you the jist...

'can self care' --- "can self care but due to extreme exhaustion and concentration lapses this can taking a very long time and diminishes the patients capacity to undertake other tasks."

Both are true however it is clear that the latter comment paints an entirely different picture and one that is likely to have a decision maker take notice. DLA is awarded when help is reasonably required and clearly if the person on the latter description had help this would be reasonable to enable them to self care more quickly and conserve energy so they can undertake other tasks.

It is this sort of differentiation that makes the difference between DLA award or no DLA award, how many GPs understand this? Not many in my experience.

I find it easier to get evidence from GPs in relation to ESA... show them the ESA medical report and ask them to comment, often this is enough to generate good letters.

Crisp_£_note

Thanks for all the helpful replies. Last time I applied for DLA I did have the CAB disability specialist come out to me and help me complete the form and liase with the case. However it went to appeal and I did show up in person my husband had to take a day off from work to drive me there (some distance from where I live) and I struggled to get to the room on the third floor of the building even via the lift (despite the CAB advisor telling them my requirements). I certainly showed them my 'limitations' but still their decision turned me down. What does it take to convince these people?!

Before I even applied for the application I asked my rhumatologist if they would back me up should I make a claim and they said yes and even encouraged me to make one.

So perhaps you can understand my aprehension in antisipating to try again. These past couple of months has seen my pain threshold deminish rapidly and also my mobility become almost housbound ( I can manage a short trip to the supermarket with my husband but its exhausting). My husband is trying to care for me but he also has his job to keep hold of and his own concerns and worries. Im only 40 so theres many years of work ahead for him and I dont want him to give up so I can become a burden on him caring for me. Its so annoying as I used to be so sporty and active when I was younger and its so frustrating now. Its getting me down and I dont want to share this with my husband as he has enough to cope with let alone the sleepless nights as I often wake in pain. I do try and carry on as normal and try and do the housework and cooking and washing etc but its becoming more and more difficult as I get more tired and cant get comfy anywhere even infront of TV or here online. When husband is at work I often break down as I dont like him to see me and think I cant cope without him.

benefitbaby

Crisp_£_note wrote: »

Hi first off sorry as not sure if this is the right board or need to repost in the general Benefits section.

Im in my early 40's and this week I have just been diagnosed with Osteo Arthritis in my knee and also Ilio Tibial Band Syndrome (IBT syndrome).

This is in addition to having Ankylosing Spondilitis and Type 2 Diabetes plus a couple of other 'common' ailments over the past 10 years.

I did attempt to apply for DLA many years ago but was declined after going to tribunal.

Im currently living on Incapacity Benefit and dont work due to the AS and a kind of social phobia. My husband is part time self employed (and also seasonaly employed but thats not regular work as is at festivals doing car park work) so I also manage to pay the bills off his Tax Credits but other than that neither of us dont get to see much of his income. Other than that we get housing benefit and Council Tax benefit. We dont have children.

Is there anything else I / we maybe entitled to in terms of benefits or help in other ways? my life is starting to become a daily struggle as I am in pain and often tired from having to cope. I am trying to stay positive and see a future as there must be many others worse off but at the moment I am struggling not to feel down and sorry for myself. Selfish I know

Sorry to be a moaner and ask a question everyone asks but I really dont know where to start or who to ask, its a minefield when trying to find out the info and quite confusing. Im not using the 'disability' card for my advantage in a disrespectful way.

Thanks in advance and sorry if I posted on the wrong board.

Step one when considering claiming DLA is to read up on and understand the legislation, if you search "Disability Rights UK DLA" you will find an in-depth (yet easy to read) explanation of the DLA legislation.

Parva

stallion4u wrote: »

Yes that is quite a handy guide.

Mind you even with the most supportive of medical evidence, many claims for DLA and AA go unrewarded! Been there and got the tee-shirt.

I feel I know you so well already, you remind me of a guy called andyandflo and a rotoguys fella and a few others too, it's quite nostalgic. Maybe you need to change you're writing style or introduce some intentional spelling errors? Or maybe go do one and leave the people in need to get some decent, unbiased advice? I have no idea why you get off on doing this, I do know that you were very unhappy with the changes as it was going to affect you, perhaps start channeling your energy there instead of constantly posting negativity here?

Edit: Since I cannot sleep due to pain and discomfort here I am going to go one step further. The one thing that utterly disgusted me about andy and rotoguys and the other incarnations was the sheer arrogance at how they had it good for a looong time and all of a sudden the grim reaper was coming. The multiple personality fool behind these identities suddenly went from gloating to how good it was to "Nope, you'll never get a penny nor do you deserve it" knowing full well he's definitely one of the few that has managed to milk the system, the same system that is about to catch up with them that has spawned all of the negative posts from multiple accounts.

It's so sad to see someone put others down when they have no clue what others have gone through, particularly when they themselves have openly admitted that they shouldn't be receiving the award that they are.

Crisp_£_note

Thanks for the advice on DLA most of it was helpful and some was completely confusing (and possibly personaly irrelivant).

Other than the DLA could I be able to get any other help from other sources? Eg Blue Badge (although I dont drive but hubby does and is my taxi), buss pass if I can go with a trusted friend somewhere rather than miss out on another opportunity.

I do have a kind of social phobia but I manage sometimes to find a way to fight the fear if I have someone I know and trust with me, or get used to a certain routine eg going to a weekly club meeting witht the same people but I cant meet with strangers unless I am with a trusted friend or husband. Its something I developed over the years, not had it diagnosed other than that of the Incapacity Benefit review interview who could see I was struggling and 'unsuitable' for a work environment. I am becoming housebound as I dont like to rely on lifts from husband or friends (who never happen to live local enough not to go out thier way but thats just the way it is).

Or any other help available for me ? I admit I really dont know whats available out there even to try and apply for as up until recently I was part denial part get on with it but life is becomeing harder to cope with not just financialy but other ways too. Of course each day is different and either up, down or topsy turvey but as many of us do we get through it our own way.

Thanks for listening understanding and helping in advance