crps,yet intitled to nothing. Theres no 'support' in ESA!!

MandaWills33

My mum suffers the hell which is CRPS 24 hours a day,7 days a week,and must accept she will never be cured.
CRPS scores higher than amputation on the Mac Gills pain chart, scores higher than cancer+childbirth. The difference being,you wil recover from amputation,carncer and childbirth,CRPS pain is constant.
My mum was diagnosed three years ago, was caused after a botch-job operation to fix her shattered wrist.With CRPS, you must be diagnosed within the first three months to benefit and prevent this awfull beast from taking over your body.My mum wasnt diagnosed for six months,the doctors there were clueless.
Up untill the day of her fall, my mother has raised all three kids single handed, as well as having full time employment as an auxiliary nurse.
After the diagnostic of the beast CRPS, my mum was resieving ESA max payments.Months later she had her benefit dramaticly reduced, then dicided to appeal, and won. Just a couple of months after the same thing again,so she dicided to appeal again, and has recently been informed that she's no longer intiteld and should sign on job seekers if she cant go to work.
Just to get out of bed in the morning is a battle in itself,then theres all the pills, then the battle of seeing the day through when all the time,she is on fire,like acid running through her vains. My mother has no use of her hand/arm,and will never regain its use.Her CRPS is now spreding to her other arm,and will continue, untill its striped her of everything. She's always been a strong independent hard-working woman. Now, she has to relay on her husband(who's been forced to take early retirement to care for her) to help her dress, help her shower, even to open a jar of jam.
Yet according to the benefits agency, my mum is 'fit-for-work' so will not be given any help whatsoever. Im disgusted, my heart bleed's for her, she would love to have her independance back and be back at work. But instead she must accept that her life as she new it is gone, for good, and theres nothing she can do to change it. Instead, she wakes(if she was able to sleep at-all) and must plan how she's going to make it through to the end of that day. Its not fare, I want my mum to be given her life back, she doesnt deserve this, she is unable to lift and hold my 16 month old daughter,with her heart screaming to be able to hold her.
ESA is a joke, its taking from the ill health people, and given hassle free to the addict's that are waiting, palm open ,who have and continued to avoid employment,whom just need to feed that self-inflicted habit. How is that rite? Where's the sence in any of it?
More than this, the thing that fills me with rage more than this stupid system, and all the scrounging fraudsters who get an easy ride, is the treatment my mother resieved in her ESA appeal. Its not enough for these people that she's been striped of her life, her indipendance, her dignity. She them has to stand there being questioned about the little she 'is' able to do, how she copes with going to the bathroom, and how and in which way she manages to put her bra and bottoms on each day. Come on, why not just finish her off my laughing in her face then pointing to the door. Surely this shouldnt be acceptible, its an outrage, its cruel, its wrong. I cant stop my tier's and this shaking everytime I think of the dispicable way my mum has been treated. I doubt anyone of those people at the appeal had even bothered to find out about CRPS, They have no idea, you wouldnt wish it on your worst enamy.
How dare they,,How dare they!

GlasweJen

ESA is for people who can't work.

DLA (Disability Living Allowance) is for people who need help taking care of themselves. If your mum is not receiving DLA then get her to apply now.

And don't come on a disability site and start putting down invisible disabilities, people who look at your mum wouldn't know she's disabled so treat us the way you'd treat your mum please.

tomtom256

Maybe keeping it all in one post would be easier, I note you have this in the benefits board also and looks to be the same post.

dori2o

I have CRPS, but mine is type 2. From what you post it seems like your Mum may have type 1 (please correct me if I'm wrong)

Mine is a nuropathic pain problem which affects my right knee and upper leg and it is spreading to my left.

I don't get ESA as I have continued to work although it does cause many significant problems.

Is your mum under the care of a specialised pain clinic? Has she seen a neurologist at all?

What medications is she currently taking and what affects do they have.

ESA has very basic criteria.

Mobilising unaided by another person with or without a walking stick, manual wheelchair or other aid if such aid can reasonably be used.
Cannot either
(i) mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion
or
(ii) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion.

2. Transferring from one seated position to another.
Cannot move between one seated position and another seated position located next to one another without receiving physical assistance from another person.

3. Reaching.
Cannot raise either arm as if to put something in the top pocket of a coat or jacket.

4. Picking up and moving or transferring by the use of the upper body and arms (excluding standing, sitting, bending or kneeling and all other activities specified in this Schedule).
Cannot pick up and move a 0.5 litre carton full of liquid.

5. Manual dexterity.
Cannot either:
(a) press a button, such as a telephone keypad or;
(b) turn the pages of a book
with either hand.

6. Making self understood through speaking, writing, typing, or other means normally used.
Cannot convey a simple message, such as the presence of a hazard.

7. Understanding communication by hearing, lip reading, reading 16 point print or using any aid if reasonably used.
Cannot understand a simple message due to sensory impairment, such as the location of a fire escape.

8. Absence or loss of control over extensive evacuation of the bowel and/or bladder, other than enuresis (bed-wetting) despite the presence of any aids or adaptations normally used.
(a) At least once a week experiences
(i) loss of control leading to extensive evacuation of the bowel and/or voiding of the bladder; or
(ii) substantial leakage of the contents of a collecting device;
sufficient to require cleaning and a change in clothing.

9. Learning tasks.
(a) Cannot learn how to complete a simple task, such as setting an alarm clock, due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder.

10. Awareness of everyday hazards (such as boiling water or sharp objects).
(a) Reduced awareness of everyday hazards leads to a significant risk of:
(i) injury to self or others; or
(ii) damage to property or possessions,
such that they require supervision for the majority of the time to maintain safety.

11. Initiating and completing personal action (which means planning, organisation, problem solving, prioritising or switching tasks).
Cannot, due to impaired mental function, reliably initiate or complete at least 2 sequential personal actions.

12. Coping with change
(a) Cannot cope with any change, due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder, to the extent that day to day life cannot be managed.

13. Coping with social engagement due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder
Engagement in social contact is always precluded due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the individual.

14. Appropriateness of behaviour with other people, due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder
Has, on a daily basis, uncontrollable episodes of aggressive or disinhibited behaviour that would be unreasonable in any workplace.

15. Conveying food or drink to the mouth.
(a) Cannot convey food or drink to the claimant’s own mouth without receiving physical assistance from someone else;
(b) Cannot convey food or drink to the claimant’s own mouth without repeatedly stopping, experiencing breathlessness or severe discomfort;
(c) Cannot convey food or drink to the claimant’s own mouth without receiving regular prompting given by someone else in the claimant’s physical presence; or
(d) Owing to a severe disorder of mood or behaviour, fails to
convey food or drink to the claimant’s own mouth without receiving —
(i) physical assistance from someone else; or
(ii) regular prompting given by someone else in the claimant’s presence.

16. Chewing or swallowing food or drink
(a) Cannot chew or swallow food or drink;
(b) Cannot chew or swallow food or drink without repeatedly stopping, experiencing breathlessness or severe discomfort;
(c) Cannot chew or swallow food or drink without repeatedly receiving regular prompting given by someone else in the claimant’s presence; or
(d) Owing to a severe disorder of mood or behaviour, fails to—
(i) chew or swallow food or drink; or
(ii) chew or swallow food or drink without regular prompting given by another person in the physical presence of the claimant.

Your Mum needs to see which of these she can not do and focus on these when applying for ESA.

As as been said above, does your Mum currently claim DLA. That is a benefit not determined by whether or not you can work or what condition you have, but by the mobility/care needs a person has.

CRPS is an awful condition to have and many people will never experience the pain it causes, even for a minute or to, never mind 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

Just to echo what GlasweJen said, please don't use your own experiences or your own disabilities to cast doubt on those other disabled people. No one disabled person is better or worse than the nexct. All our disabilities affect us all in different ways. To an extent that applies to addicts. Whilst their entitlement to benefits will always be a hot topic, and whether or not they should be in receipt of them, they have an illness which is just as wearing as your (your mums) own.

JS477

Hi dori2o

As to exclude even more people from claiming ESA the government has amended the descriptors. You can see the new version Here