More Medical News
Posted on 2005-05-10
Some of you might remember I had to have a medical at the end of April so that my claim for DLA could be processed.
Well, on Saturday I received a letter from the DWP saying that I have been awarded DLA, and that from now on I shall receive the highest rate for mobility, and lower rate for personal care. They've also backdated my payments to last October and have transferred a substantial sum into my bank account. Needless to say, this is fantastic news! With the backdated payments I can more or less pay off both mine and my Mums debts, and in future we'll have a little more money each month to help towards our bills etc.
I feel terrible for two of my friends though; they both have M.E/CFS like me, yet they've both been turned down for DLA despite providing medical evidence to back up their claims. Mandy has her appeal later this month, and Claire has to write her own report providing evidence as to why she should be entitled to receive DLA, as though she's some kind of doctor. This is what I meant before when I said the benefits system is so poorly organised. Surely as we all have the same illness we should be entitled to the same benefits???
Basically it comes down to one man or woman sitting in an office, reviewing all the paperwork in front of them. If they don't understand enough about M.E/CFS, or if the medical 'evidence' is incorrect or slightly misleading the claim is thrown out. There needs to be more done to raise awareness for this illness, and ironically this week is M.E/CFS awareness week. If you have a spare 5 minutes perhaps you could take the time to read this entry about M.E/CFS, or perhaps visit Sleepydust, a website all about M.E/CFS, it's symptoms, and how to live with such a devastating illness.
I also had my appointment at the hospital today. My doctors there have increased the dose of one of my medications yet again, as it appears that my stomach lining and oesophagus is still inflamed, which in turn is causing me to feel sick despite following all the advice I've been given. If the increased dose doesn't make any difference to my symptoms they've told me that they're going to have to carry out another endoscopy to see if there's an infection present.
I'm praying that these new tablets work - I really don't fancy having another experience like the last time.