Review Time

It's been a long while since I posted anything here. Things got kind of busy and I was dealing with it all. My health has been declining gradually in that I'm becoming increasingly tired. Which makes everyone ask: have you got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME? No. I have Fibro-myalgia... still. I'm now taking codeine as my main pain relief, but don't feel very good about it, and I don't really like it (fuzzy head, constipation, and worry of habituation & addiction etc. that come with opiates). At the moment I have a candida infection in my ears, and I'm somewhat haunted by all the stuff that used to go around about systemic candida infections. Might have to look into this.

Anyway I'm writing now because I finally got a letter from DWP saying they are reviewing my case. The inevitable consequence will be an ATOS review. I feel sick with anxiety, and I can't really talk about it to anyone.

Step one: they ring and talk to me on the phone.
Step two: fill in another IB50 form or whatever the equivalent is.

Then they say "you may need to attend a Work Capacity Assessment" but of course they're forcing everyone to have a WCA and ATOS are charged with taking welfare away from as many people as possible.

I suppose one must grant that the welfare bill is high in the UK and that it is fair enough that they check from time to time whether I still need it. But as the NHS can provide no effective treatment for my conditions (except maybe the ear infection), then I don't know why they expect me to have improved.

I don't know. I'm just worried sick. And it means I'll have to start answering the phone during the day as well!

Opposition

A number of voices are emerging which are critical of the welfare reforms:

Atos doctors could be struck off.

Twelve medics at the disability assessment centre are under investigation by the GMC over allegations of improper conduct. Guardian 14.8.11.

DWP admits disability reform based on dodgy figures, as reported by Left Foot Forward. 11.8.11

Statistics Authority steps in over disability benefits tests. Full Fact. 11.8.11.

These work capability assessments are a farce.
So, politicians designed an incapacity benefits system in which virtually nobody qualifies for help. How can that be justified?, Guardian. 26.7.11

Some of these via Benefit Scrounging Scum.

Meanwhile local housing charities, with encouragement our millionaire uni-student PM are taking it upon themselves to pre-empt the courts and punish rioters by evicting them from their houses. Apart from the alarming prospect of state sponsored vigilante justice (why not just lynch them and be done with?) we have to ask how evicting people who everyone acknowledges to have no stake in society is going to help?

Please write to your MP and ask them to put a stop to this madness and let the courts punish wrong doers. Let's tell David Cameron to just shut the fuck up. Cameron is not trained in law, or policing or any of the disciplines he is trying to micro-manage in the last few weeks. He's got a degree in economics, philosophy and politics, and work experience as a secretary. He is not fucking qualified to have an opinion, and that's why he has advisers. I was very pleased to see the police telling him to fuck off and mind his own business.

London's Burning

Rioting for three nights running? WTF?

Digestion

I can confirm that Boot's fig syrup with Senna extra is a prodigious laxative.

The Problem of Overview

My health problems cover many areas.

• I suffer from anxiety, and from mood problems - dysthimia or depression.
• I have fibro-myalgia - widespread pain, fatigue, and difficulty concentration.
• I have recently been diagnosed with a hiatus hernia and have complications from that - difficulty and pain swallowing, constant indigestion and acid reflux (sometimes accompanied by intense pain).

So I went to the doctor today to say that the treatment for the swallowing problem and eventually got referred back to the Gastro-enterologist. But part of my problem is that I'm in pain all the time and I have been taking Non-stroidal Anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID).

Now NSAIDs reduce the ability to protect the stomach lining from acid, and exacerbates acid reflux. So I've had to stop taking them. Which means I'm experiencing more pain. I can take less powerful NSAIDs (codiene/paracetamol) but it doesn't work that well. I need help with pain management, and I'm thinking of paying for a pain management course because the NHS does not seem to offer non-drug pain management. I can use my TENS machine, but it's expensive and not always effective.

All of this is making me pretty anxious about my health. I no longer take anxiety or depression drugs, and I try to manage without.

The GP manages to just about deal with the eosophagus problems, by getting me a referral. She glosses over the pain control problen, reassures me about the NSAIDs (I'm worried about my liver). But she doesn't really address my anxiety or mood, or overall pain problem at all. My quality of life is sucking at present. And no one amongst my medical support people have an overview of my health - not even my GP who is the generalist. The specialists only deal with problems in isolation - the are not able to link anxiety, FM, and other problems. So it's up to me to have my own overview, but I'm not in a good position to do that. I'm intelligent enough to understand medical jargon and concepts (I have a degree in science) but I don't have the resources and I don't have the emotional robustness.

Government delays Welfare Reform Bill

The Government has been forced to delay the 2nd Reading of the flagship Bill in the Lords due to peers' concerns over the people affected.

DWP is suggesting other business has blocked progress but the surprise postponement till September from Tues will also give the Government time to lobby peers and answer the queries raised in DA's legal challenge.

from Disability Alliance, via Benefit Scrounging Scum.

And by Sunday 17th if I hadn't read this on BSS I would not have known about it, because it has not been reported in the mainstream media!

TENS

Ahhh. I got out my TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) machine again the other day and wired myself up for a couple of hours. This is a very useful form of pain relief. I find if I leave it on for a hour or two I get lasting relief from aches and pains. I got mine from Boots - it was on special because they were updating the old model. The new ones are expensive. Pads for it don't last very long, and they cost about £7, so overall it's not cheap. But when you've maxed out the your paracetamol or other painkillers for the day, or like me you are starting to get stomach problems from your NSAIDs, and you need a bit more relief, then this is that something extra that has no evil side-effects.