you cannot be serious...

after ringing the DWP to find out if i need a doctors note for my appeal, they inform me that they have not received my appeal and that my account has been closed! this comes only several days after i rang them to make sure that they had received it. this is now the second successive appeal that the DWP have conveniently lost. luckily for me, i sent it recorded delivery.

they were very shocked when i stated that i had sent it recorded and can prove it was delivered. so now im waiting for a phone call from a different department to sort this out. im also waiting for a call regarding the complaint i made against ATOS for the way my WCA (Work Capability Assessment) was handled and the fact that the assessor clearly lied about what was said and done in the examination.

on another note, i received a letter from the office of David Cameron today, regarding my situation of ATOS and leaving disabled people with no money. you can see this below.

as you can see his office was very quick to pass the buck on this subject. in fact i very much doubt the Prime Minister even saw my letter. and this was suppose to be a "peoples government". they're a joke, they really are. and i think the company who supplies 10 Downing Street with their paper thinks the same too, as you can see from the water mark in the letter that was sent to me below.

trying new meds

after consulting my GP about how Tramadol isn't having the same effect that it used to do, she recommended i tried maximum strength Codeine for a while. the problem with drugs like Tramadol is that you can build up a tolerance to them, so after a while they don't really work. so now im mixing Codeine with Tramadol, and after only a couple of doses, im already feeling an effect from them.

so i will be using Codeine and paracetamol until i start to build a tolerance to them, then its back on the Tramadol again.

as for my ESA situation, my appeal has been received, and i rang up and they said my payment would be backdated, i just need to ring them back and find out if i need a doctors note back dated to my last payment.

i have still yet to fill in my new DLA form. not looking forward to filling that in, it seems never ending. but needs must, so i will be doing that at some point this week, and get that sent off.

is there hope?

after being in contact with a spinal surgeon on twitter, he tells me that i could benefit from a PLIF operation, or a Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion. this operation is comprised of the surgeon removing parts of the damaged disc, and inserting a small titanium cage filled with ground up bone from the hip and facet joint. then , using screws and rods, clamp the vertebrae in place, preventing further damage. the bone in the titanium cage is encouraged to grow, therefore fusing the vertebrae with natural bone.

this news is a sign of hope for me, and i am currently awaiting a referral to Salford hospital to see if they can do this procedure.

as for my money situation, i have sent off another appeal form for ESA as they conveniently lost my other one, but this time i have sent it recorded, so they cant say they didnt receive it. so i shall be calling them on monday, asking them to back date my appeal payments.

i shall be filling a new DLA form this week, starting the process from scratch, and with no "help" from the CAB. i will also be using a different GP to fill in their part, a GP who actually knows what they are talking about, and not just making things up!

feeling old

it my 28th birthday tomorrow, but i feel like im 82! i finally managed to get my GP to prescribe me the Diazepam i need to control my muscle spasms, this took me digging out a letter from a private pain specialist saying that Diazepam is a good drug for me to be on, and dropping a hint that im starting to sue medical professional who are not helping me. he explained that the reason GPs don't like giving out Diazepam is because people have abused them in the past, this maybe true, but i know the main reason is because the government does not pay GP surgeries when they prescribe such drugs as Diazepam. the only condition they gave me is that they will have to put me on a 6 to 12 month observation, which im happy with.

so, my birthday, what to do? what can i do? probably not a great deal. this is the worst i have been on a birthday, so my day will probably be the same as any other day. we might go for a carvery meal on wednesday in the lakes, my favourite carvery in the world, bloody beautiful.

sleepless again

im writing this at 2am as i just cannot sleep, again. this is because of the amount of pain i have been in today, which my usual medication hasn't even touched it. and also down to sheer stress of both pain any money worries with fighting ATOS and the DWP.

this evening i have sent the CEO of ATOS a very formal and detailed email, explaining my situation, asking for assistance and saying if they don't help, i will be forced to seek legal council.

i feel both angry and upset with the way i have been treated by the government, so much so, that i have also recently sent another formal email to David Cameron. im not expecting a great deal to come out of this, but it is worth a go, and gives him a chance to prove himself to me, even though i will not be voting Conservatives at the next general election.

i will be having physio therapy on my upper spine, with suspicions that at least one more disc has decided to play up, causing alot of pain in between my shoulder blades, in my shoulders and down my arms. this new situation, along with money problems, is making me stressed beyond belief, hence the lack of sleeping.