spreading the word

after send my details and brief description of how i was treated by ATOS in my Work Capability Assessment to the Independent newspapere, they have been in touch, and are interested in publishing my story. i hope to use this opportunity to spread the word to people who are not affected by the ATOS and their dreaded WCA!

in hopes of spreading the word, i aim to make people see how the current government is hell bent of causing severe harm to the sock and disabled, just to save themselves a few quid!

in the current times we live in, i cannot believe such behaviour is allowed to pass, and pass unnoticed by the majority of the country. ignorance does, in this case, seem to be bliss.

the government are eager to save money, and i can understand this predicament, however, they are going about in all the wrong ways. i am no expert on financial politics, nor do i claim to be, however from personal experience, i can easily say that attacking the pockets of those must vulnerable in our society, is professionally and morally wrong.

on another note, i have sent yet another email to the customer services department at ATOS, after they have failed to contact me back, despite their assurances that their manager would be in touch personally. i am not holding my breath that my complaint to them will come to anything, but i just want them to know that i will not let this lie. once i get the bit between my teeth, i do not easily let go!

another MRI

i have just got back from yet another MRI scan, this time in Salfords Hope Hospital. i hate having MRI scans. im not claustrophobic, its trying to lay perfectly still on quite a hard bench for 20 minutes is not only very difficult but extremely painful. i just hope it was worth it, i hope that something comes out of it.

i was speaking to a nice man in the waiting room, who has a similar situation to me. he's had 2 spinal surgeries already, but his consultant i confidant that he will end up in a wheelchair. this does not bode well for me, as i already need to use a wheelchair.

he tell me that he gets DLA and ESA, but is having trouble with his coming up WCA, as well as previous ones. i filled him in on whats really going on behind the scenes of the government. the look of shock on his face was priceless. at least he now knows what to expect in the future with his ESA and DLA/PIP assessments.

the service i had at Hope hospital was miles better than that of Royal Preston hospital. the staff were really nice and chatty and would help with anything i needed, which is what i come to expect from a good hospital these days. friendly staff make hospitals that bit more bearable.

so now im trying to recover on the couch. ive taken all my meds, including diazepam, despite it not being the day im suppose to have them, but i don't have a choice. i just hope i can sleep tonight....

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.

tribunal hell

well i had my Disability Living Allowance tribunal this morning, and after going, and getting my nerves shaken to hell, they started asking questions. questions i answered well and honestly, but at the end of all this, i was turned down for DLA!

i am in a wheelchair, but they were going off the time of first appeal back in February. even back then i was using a crutch and walking very difficulty and painfully, but i guess in their eyes, not really being able to walk isn't classed as being disabled.

ive been screwed over by pretty much everyone recently, so why should today be any different?

so now i have requested a new claim pack to start the process off all over again!  if they turn me down this time, with me now being in a wheelchair and in severe pain, then i don't know what else i can do to get it.

the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Social Services have said that i was entitled to the higher rate mobility and low rate care, but when it comes to making a decision, i guess they don't agree with that. unfortunately no one from with the CAB or Social Services were available to represent me at the tribunal because i ticked the box on the form that i am available for cancellation hearings, big mistake! if you want someone to represent you at a tribunal, do not tick this box!!

so now my life of no money carries on until i hear something, which i believe to be criminally wrong to leave someone in the condition that i am in, and if it carries on, i will have to think about seeking legal help.

busy month

i have a busy month ahead this june. this coming monday i have an appointment with social services who are helping me with my DLA tribunal which is being held on the 27th of june. then on the 28th if june i am back at the CAB for what i can only assume to be help with my ESA appeal.

it feels good that there are people out there who are willing to help me in my fight against the DWP and ATOS,  though with the CAB, i use the term "help" lightly. in their opinion, i should get high mobility and medium to high care, when the result came through, i got nothing. so now using social services to help me with this one.

i am hoping with everything i have to hope with, that i get the result that i want, the result that i need. currently i have ZERO money coming in, and this makes me feel worthless, like a waste of space, a waste of resources. it kills me that i have to rely on benefits after years of constant work, work that i loved doing, and now im on the couch, day in, day out, trying everything i can to get myself out of the pain im in. but it doesnt help when i have to prove to the doctors that some of the medication i need, is what i need. Diazepam to them is an expensive drug, and under the government GP points system, they dont get paid for giving people drugs such as Diazepam, this leads me to believe that GPs only have money in mind, and not patient safety and wellbeing.

is it spreading?

after having neck pain for the last week, i went to the doctor a few days ago, and he suspects that at least one disc in my cervical spine might have gone the same way as 2 of my lumbar discs. it hurts when i move my head, making a grinding noise and causing me extreme headaches. plus the annoying but severe pains i get in my arms when i sneeze. he has booked me in with a physiotherapist in a couple of weeks to see if that will settle it down, although going off previous physio experiences, im not too optimistic.

so vicky has gone on a girls week away in wales, and she is having fun, which is good. so im having a week of rest, i feel like i have done too much lately, so a week off would be beneficial. i need to try and calm down, relax and not get stressed. my stomach has been hurting quite a bit over the last few days and i have barely eaten anything. i have had to stop taking my ulcer pills to try and eat but this has not changed anything, apart from giving me stomach pains.

it just seems lately i am losing count of the things that are going wrong, im amazed im not a quivering wreck sat in a corner, rocking back and forth!