Fibromyligia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Hi Gill did you find it hard to get pip? I have heard stories about how hard it is to claim. I have recently been diagnosed with fibro and am finding it a real struggle in my job as HCA. X

Hi arlene, i won't lie (unlike my pip assessor) it wasn't easy but it wasn't as bad as some people have experienced.

Ihad enough medical evidence to support my claim and to prove that my assessor lied in her report so although at first they scored me 0 points fo everything once i proved her assessment false i scored enough points to get standard daily living & standard mobility. it's definitely worth going for just make sure you research all the descriptors and learn the language they use. They basically rely on people not knowing how the benefit system works and they twist everything to try and suit them so just remember when dealing with the DWP, they are not your friend, they don't care about you, and no matter how nice they are to your face thy are looking for ways to screw you over all the time. i know that sounds dramatic but it's just how they work. at all assessments they are assessing you from the minuet they see you, so when wether thats in your house or at their office they will have completed half of the assessment on observation before they even ask you a question.

even the receptionists and security guards are assessing you and can add observations to your medical report that goes to the decision maker. it's all set up to work against you so as long as you are prepeared and do your research then you stand a lot better chance than someone who just rely's on the system being fair.. 

x

Thank you Gill for your advice I will contact them Monday I am 56 with Fibro/CFS I am recovering from breast cancer treatment had double mastectomy 6 months chemo 3 weeks daily radiotherapy one year monthly IV herceptin I also have chronic back condition following surgery for discectomy all has taken its toll the after effects of chemo are very debilitating I get breathless on exertion can't walk far before needing to rest not to mention the Fibro fog brain lack of consintration I am on opioids  for pain management. Just wondered if it was worth me applying for PIP X 

it's definitely worth it, with all of that i can't see why they wouldn't award you it, as long as you have it all on paper so that their observations become usless. after all they can't argue with aspecialist or even a gp.

Good luck.

x

Hi Harriett. Looks like you've really been throught the mill. Let's hope the future brings better things for you. The thing to remember with PIP is that it deals with conditions over a nine month period, so you need to have had the condition for at least 3 months and it should be expected to go on for at least 9 months. If that's the case, then the next thing is to remember is that the conditions you have are secondary in importance to how the illnesses affect your ability to function. So there are two components to PIP one is daily living activities such as, cooking, washing, elimination,etc ,along with mental health actvities and the second component is a Mobility component. It is the more difficult of the disability benefits to get although they are both pretty difficult. It's definitely worth applying and the sooner the better. Once you apply, your Award would be backdated. As these awards take a while to do, then that's a potentially significant amount. The easiest way is to call, they'll take some details just to check you're elgible to apply. You'll need your N.I number, bank details etc GP but pretty straightforward, within 2 weeks of that phone call you should recieve an application pack. At that point if you need someone to help you fill in the form, if not there are lots of really great sites with lots of brilliant info to help. Crucially it's about what you can do for the majority of the time. If you can walk 20 metres but can only do that two days of the week, or you can do it in the morning but not for the rest of the day then you should be considered unable to do that activity. You need to paint a picture oh how a typical day is for you and how you're affected by your illnesses. With regard to other things, as it sounds as though you will qualify for contribution based ESA if you apply and are awarded it. Given that you have a pension, you can still get contribution based ESA and a pension but a certain amount is decducted for every pound over £85 a weeek, if you get for example £100. That's £15 above the amount allowed, they then halve the £15 and would therefore reduce your ESA by £7.50. Last I know how you feel, I also ended up needing to have ill health retirement and it is sad, but in some ways I found it the end to that chapter and decided to move on and try not to look back. Were you assessed by Atos? If so then you could use a copy of this as additional evidence when applying for both things. check here for PIP and ESA on the .gov sites although better sites for actual advisoryinfo.

https://www.gov.uk/pip/overview

https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/overview

Good luck and check back if you need more help.

Thank you so very very much your reply has been most helpful to me I truly thank you for taking time out of your day to give me this information. I have a copy of my GP report and the summary from pensions so plan on using copies of these to support my claim. I will if course let you know how I get on kind regards and thanks again Harrie 🤗