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Chronic pain

haylzStarz
haylzStarz Community member Posts: 1 Listener
Hello, I'm a newbie to this group- I'm so glad I have found this community! 

I have chronic pain, I live with it daily and this past 2 years it has really had a negative affect on my life, I can no longer work or do the things I used to. 
As a 'knock on' affect I'm also depressed - I have recently applied for and had a face to face assessment for pip- it felt like it went well and I was listened to and there seemed to be genuine sympathy on the advisors part- 
That was just over 3 weeks ago, how long normally do people wait for the decision? I'm so worried I've read horror stories of people who have being rejected- 

I don't have very patient GP- I've given up on going to see them when I have a bad flair up with my symptoms I feel they are sick of me, I'm told to go to A&E as there's nothing they can do, I've tried talking about my mental health too- I was given anti depressants - yet they made my symptoms worse I was suicidal  - so I stopped taking them I made my GP aware I'd stopped taking them and that was it- so I try to cope alone. 

Comments

  • Markmywords
    Markmywords Community member Posts: 419 Pioneering
    Welcome @haylzStarz .

    I'm sorry to hear of your suffering. Sadly it's all too common a story. Doctors are happy to deal with the physical conditions but they don't want to know about the mental and emotional consequences.

    In my case it was the unintended consequences of their treatments that caused everything! There were vague stories of counselling but they were always going to "get around to it later."

    Unfortunately you should brace yourself for bad news with the assessment results. If it goes well then great but if not don't let them put you off. There are lots of people who can advise here.

    At 3 weeks you should get a response any day. If you get nothing by 6 weeks then call them for an explanation.

    The anti depressants were for fobbing you off. That's awful. There are plenty of people here who understand and will listen though.
  • CockneyRebel
    CockneyRebel Community member Posts: 5,209 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi and welcome
    One thing you should do is telephone the DWP for a copy of the assessment report

    CR
    Be all you can be, make  every day count. Namaste

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