BACK

Hi I been away for a while been poorly and not had a laptop that's working probably but I back and it seems that nothings change I see people still waiting and the government still screwing around with us all,

Well nothing changed here with me I still awaiting a appeal date and its now been 13mounts and counting still not heard a word from anybody to d with D W P
I have given up with the doctor she just stopped doing anything she just shrugs her shoulders and says its the Fibromyalgia so i just don't go to see her any more,
Any way i stop complaining
now and say hi to you all. Jacqui

Welcome back, Jacqui. Glad you (and your laptop) are feeling a bit better.

Re: doctor. I think it's important to still see the doctor every 2 or 3 months and keep them posted on how your condition is affecting you, even though the don't have a cure to offer. I say this because you will need backup evidence next time you go for a medical (which often happens soon-ish after you win your appeal, sorry to say).

The doctor can then write that they review your condition with you regularly, and can confirm the extent to which it disables you.

13 months? Really? That's just awful.

Hang on in there!
Andy.

Hi Jacqui

Andy's idea is a good one. Alternatively, if your doctor isn't keen to check in from time to time, or you aren't well enough for it, it's also possible to point out on the forms that there is no cure for your condition and your GP can't do anything/can only help with symptoms (if he/she does), hence you don't see them very often. This seems to be acceptable to the DWP.

Regards
Rainbowlight

Rainbowlight wrote:

... point out on the forms that there is no cure for your condition and your GP can't do anything/can only help with symptoms (if he/she does), hence you don't see them very often. This seems to be acceptable to the DWP.

Hi Rainbowlight,

Can you tell me more about "this seems acceptable to the DWP"? I have ME/CFS and the NHS has nothing to offer except symptom management, yet I had the impression at the medical that the absence of "activity" by doctors or specialists in my case counted against me. As in "he can't be sick, his doctor isn't doing anything..."

What makes you think the DWP accept it?

Andy.

Hi Jacqui

I suffer also with Fibromyalgia/CFS and had my appeal for DLA yesterday and won but I've been waiting 17 months in total, I was given a date in April and it was cancelled at the last minute. The Panel awarded me HRM and MRC for 4 years until July 2013 and as I applied 2 years ago I will receive a large sum backdated.

Keep your chin up and stick with it, just tell it like it is, be honest. The Panel was very nice to me and put me at ease, not looking to trip me up which is what I was expecting.

I wish you well with your appeal as I know too well how stress makes our condition so much worse.

Good Luck
Angela

I have ME and Fybromyalgia among many other conditions, none of which the NHS give me any help for whatsoever, but I always visit my GP and one of my consultants about a month before my next form is due (which still only works out every 6 months to a year in my case), just so I can write on the form that I have visited them and the recent date. I also mention on my forms that for some of my conditions there is no treatment so I do not visit those doctors that often since there is no help they can offer me.

The appointments are pointless other than to give the impression of being under medical care, but it definately helps in my case. There definately seems to be an attitude that the more doctors appointments you're going to and the more tablets you're taking - the worse you must be, which isn't always the case.

I wouldn't visit my doctors every 2 to 3 months personally, unless I was filling out forms that often, because I'm just not well enough to do that (and I have had insinuations from the jobcentre that if I'm well enough to go to appointments that often I can't be that ill) and I feel as long as I have a recent appointment date to write on my form, that will suffice, and it always has.