Is it worth contacting Benefits Agency?

Zakalwe

I have been receiving Incapacity Benefit for a few years for mental problems. It's not a situation I have liked but felt I had no option as trying to function in society was becoming impossible.

For the last couple of years I have been losing the feeling in my legs and have been having a lot of balance and mobility problems. I buried my head in the sand for ages, but finally spoke to my doctor when I got to the point of being unable to walk more than a few hundred yards. I recently got diagnosed with MS - I have a neuro appointment on 3rd January to get more details.

Considering I already receive Incapacity, is it worth my while contacting the benefits agency about this? I personally don't think there would be any difference, and would probably be more trouble than it's worth, but my mother (I'm 40 years old ) and my GP keep on at me about it.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Horseunderwater

You may be able to get Disability living allowance for care and mobility depending on just how bad it is. So that would be a little extra and may also mean that you could be awarded some disability premiums on top. So yes it could well be worth while.
With DLA it is not about the actual illness, but more about can you walk 50 meters with or without an aide like a stick/rollator without pain or exhaustion. And do you fall over and or drag one of your legs - so you need to think in those terms when you answer the questions on the form. With the care aspect - can you cook a meal at least once per day, do you need help going to the loo or bathing or getting dressed. Can you turn over in bed in the night, if you wish to without help. Keeping it simple and basic while telling them how you have problems is the way forward with DLA. If you then get the higher rates - that opens the door to getting other premiums and potentially carers allowance for someone to come in and attend to you too.
If you google DLA and find the direct gov't site, there is a copy of the form on there that can be downloaded to your PC and filled in over a period of days and saved each time. Then when you are ready, you print it off and send it in. That was how I did mine. Took 6 weeks and I got mine straight away.

Zakalwe

Thanks very much for the answer. I don't need a carer, and can look after myself, but have had to make changes to my life. I have to take things slowly - if I get up too soon I tend to fall, and just moving about my flat I fall 2-3 times a week these days. I gave in to vanity and bought a walking stick a month ago, but am still limited to the distance I can walk. I stagger and trip a lot, but withing a couple of hundred yards my feet are dragging on the ground.

I'll have a look for the form and have a read, and see how it goes from there.

Thanks again.

Horseunderwater

No problem. I have a different AI illness but similar problems. And using a walking stick is sensible. I find mine the best thing since sliced bread was invented. My legs tend to get what is called the collywobbles and I have to stop and rest in order for my body to get back under control. Sometimes sitting down suddenly is helpful. Yes I am only 48 years old and I never for one minute thought I would be this ill before I got to 50, but it has happened. Just going shopping now needs careful planning, mostly done on line now. Large shops are just too big to walk around. My daughter and OH now realise just how bad I am getting and now help me out loads more than when it first got diagnosed.

Zakalwe

I've downloaded the DLA form and read through the site info. By the looks of it the amount of DLA for the mobility problems I'm having is less than the Incapacity I receive, so I would end up worse off by changing to DLA. To be honest the form looks unbearably daunting right now.

Regards your comment about shopping, I usually order online from Asda and get it delivered. Last week my mother insisted I have a look in Iceland (granted it was a lot cheaper for me, and they delivered once everything was rung through the till) and I barely managed round the store, using the trolley to lean on for support while dragging my feet. The looks people were giving me was so humiliating - I had to constantly bite my tongue to stop telling people I wasn't drunk, just that my legs weren't working.

Horseunderwater

The DLA is in addition to the IS - not instead of. So please fill out the form and go for it.
I get ESA and DLA.

mel48rose

Horseunderwater wrote: »

The DLA is in addition to the IS - not instead of. So please fill out the form and go for it.
I get ESA and DLA.

So sorry to hear of your situation. Try and claim the dla and get what you are entitled to. Hope things improve for you soon.

Zakalwe

Horseunderwater wrote: »

The DLA is in addition to the IS - not instead of. So please fill out the form and go for it.
I get ESA and DLA.

Thanks for that. Set my mind at ease a little. I'll wait till after my appointment on the 3rd before I fill the form out. As it is, my doctor told me off the record that it's MS because he knows I prefer to be kept informed and not having things sugar-coated, but I guess I havent been "officially" told yet, if you get my meaning.

Thanks again for the help.

gingergee

AI disorders stink..... I have SLE (with other bits thrown in for a thrill!!) and i can't put one front in front of the other without pain etc. Defo claim DLA, DEFO get help via CAB/welfare rights etc. I got it awarded without any trouble at all. Sorry to hear of your diagnoses, best thing i can say is to live with it, not live it. (if that makes sense??). Im being immunosuppressed on 8/01/13, not looking forwards to it, but hey ho xxx

Torry_Quine

You will shortly be assessed for ESA from IB so having a recent neurological visit may well help with this.

miduck

sliverman wrote: »

One would think so.

But the workings of the DWP are a mystery to me.

You can send in a report from an OT, brought in by Social Services, who supplies equipment befitting an old folks home.

A report from a consultant who has diagnosed early dementia.

And the list goes on and on. yet the DWP still choose to not accept any of them!

Thought about asking the DWP if a death certificate would help speed things along. Nah, can't see that working either, how can you be sick and dead at the same time!

*Cough* andyandflo *Cough*