Stripped Bare …

campathI still have a copy of my DLA forms from 2011, when MS shot it’s first devastating  blast into my life.

I still remember the soul-destroying process of detailing every single thing I couldn’t then do.

I was 37.

I still have the new PIP forms in front of me.

I just can’t do it.

Yet here we go again, despite a ‘lifetime award’ from the DLA. I have to go through the whole soul-destroying process again.

What can you not do?

Six years on, let me see.

First off, MS is still incurable and degenerative. So it’s unlikely to have been cured in the interim.

Yup, I still have MS!

Can I cook? Can I go to the toilet on my own? Do I have accidents?

Intrusive, invasive and completely unnecessary.

I have been fortunate enough to have had Alemtuzumab treatment three times, once more than the usual, given the severity of my MS.

Does this make me really ill? Or really not ill? I didn’t choose to go through an invasive chemotherapy-involved treatment to see how it goes. It was a serious decision. And has it’s fair share of side effects.

So I have nerve pain? Numbness? I trip up when I walk? I have brain-fog?

Serious enough for the DWP?

Probably not.

DWP forms are designed to turn your known world on its head – so you think you have mastered your illness? Hah! Have you incorporated it into your work-life? Oh, really?

PIP forms will depress you.  What can you do?

What can you not do?

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10 thoughts on “Stripped Bare …

  1. Liz says:

    With you, and well put.
    Spoke to son1 this morning….he didn’t ask to be born, and I didn’t ask to have MS.,..no one does…..

  2. Hi,

    DWP they grind the soul out of your life or should it be the life out of your soul. Worst of all when they say jump you have to jump even when you can’t.

    The despair, frustration and anxiety must be all consuming. Don’t let the buggers grind you down but guess that ain’t easy. Be positive and try to smile (through clenched teeth)

    • stumbling in flats says:

      Thank you so much, Patrick!
      One of the best things about this blog is the support from people. It’s so good to know I’m not going through this whole thing alone 🙂 X

  3. Carina Muss says:

    Just returned from the hospital where Juergen has his regular 3 monthly check-ups with his neurologist. Everything stable but it still is a nerve-wrecking experience (even after 13 years!). Glad when it is over and we can relax for another 3 months…… Take care and keep your spirits up:-)

  4. Jonny says:

    I’ve been through the PIP process. Looking at it…PIP …..from an LSD viewpoint…. my initial award made me a lot worse of. …..FINANCIALLY. Thankfully when I asked for and subsequently applied for a “mandatory reconsideration’ I was awarded the same amount of money, more or less,that I was receiving under DLA originally.

    So far as the PIP process is concerned ………

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