Friday, March 5, 2010

Busy week.

Ok so I have had a busy week this week saw GP on monday for sick note

on Tuesday - met with friend and went into town and had lunch

On Wednesday - Saw Welfare rights advisor. This was very good actually. She was shocked about the whole ESA thing but seems pretty confident that the decision will be overturned without appeal as I have that much supporting evidence that it would be a complete waste of money to take it that far (like that's ever stopped the DWP). she is putting a complaint in to ASOs for all their errors and complete ignorance ot my condition. Also she told me that I should be getting housing benefit as partner income low. And that I should be getting working tax credit to help toward my sons childcare (I currently pay 2 days at 65.00 a week!) because I get DLA or something.

On Thursday - CC came round despite me having sacked her on the tuesday. Sh stands by that she is perfectly in her rights to tell my mum anything she believes may be risky behaviour. I don;t think we will ever agree on that one. So it was a very subdued visit. If he going to repeat it then I won't tell her anything. SIMPLE. Anyway what I did tell her was that I hadn't slept for five nights-bar one brief hour snooze. And she could tell my mood was pretty high ( I had been dancing on my window sill prior to her visit and I don't know just foundit hard to oncentrate as pretty distractable. Result was an emergency appointment with Shrink was made for next day

Friday(Today
) - Had appointment with Shrink and CC. They seemd concerned that I may be following old patterns and want to keep a closer eye on me. She wanted to prescribe me Temazepam but I explained this not working nor the Z medicines. Therefeore I have been prescribed for next seven days Nitrazepam and Clonazepam. The clonazepam I know will help with this edgy feeling . The Nitrazepam I have never tried so who knows. Hopeful will have some quality Zeds tonight.

So that was my week. Pretty busy for me. Thing is I know I should be tired its been six nights with about three hours sleep in total. But I'm not. I feel pretty alert. I can hear and sense everyting. In fact I am distractable because I never noticed things like ths before. The clocks, the wind, the wonky pictures in shrink room. Well not for long time.

Oh yeah also. Apparently they think the Quetiapine isn't really working(??never??). they want me to start Lithium preferably next week. I don't fancy this. I am also to see Shrink next week. (weekly appointment I must be going mad ?????)

Damn ESA started all this.....

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like one crazy busy week for you...

Anonymous said...

Hi Lareve - I;m gonna come back to this because there are los of things i could try and adsvise you with. Just gone tits up - in a nice kinda way. I;ll be back later with summar sensible. X

David said...

That sounds pretty horrid - the sleep I mean. I don't have any advice really apart from hang on in there and ask for help before you need it.

Hope you get some sleep tonight, take care, Dx

Anonymous said...

I hope you get a decent sleep tonight, a friend of mine swears by Nitrazepam so I hope it works well for you!

Take care x

Anonymous said...

Sorry about earlier. i've been a bit giddy.
Anyone with earnings of less than £50k is entitled to working tax-credits. You are also entitled to child tax credits on top of that( another £56 or so a week for 1 child). Tax credits also grant you a proportion of child care expenses. This can be up to 75% of your costs, income depending. If neither of you have claimed - call HMRC for a form. They're brief and simple, unlike the bloody DWP questionnaires.
I too would be surprised if they took your ESA decision to appeal. It's so damn obvious you've got 'health problems' severe enough to limit your abiity to work. You should be in the support group in my opinion. That way they'll leave you completely alone and if you decide you can return to work, it will be entirely on your terms.
I'm also completely impervious to sleepers and benzos. The only thing that's ever made me a little bit drowsy is amitriptaline, an atypical anti-depressant. As a one-off, it seemss to knock hypomania out for a while. I'm not sure how effective it would be on the more aggressive type of mania. Quetiapine is horrible and I agree that it doesn't really work - not for me anyway. It dulls and muffles for a bit but that's all. It's not a mood stabiliser - as you know. I don't know about lithium. I turned it down when they tried to put me on it but I've heard alot of people do well on it. I'm surprised they haven't suggested Lamictal yet. I know I've moaned about it a bit but it is effective and far less stupifying than the others.Neither does it cause weight gain which is unusual for a mood-stabiliser.
I hope you get some sleep soon. I know what you mean about the alertness although it's quite deceptive. I know that when i get like that, I'm not in full control of my wits and my judgement is impaired - even though I think I'm super-sonic! I really hope you get some sleep. 6 days without is torture and I'm worried you could crash pretty hard soon if it doesn't ease off.
We're collecting stories about people who've been shafted by ESA and how it's effeected their health. I won't offer yours since we already have enough inpatients who've been through the same. They're total bastards. I hope the people who designed it all go completely mad and are forced to work in a chain gang in full view of the jeering public.
Blimey - that was a long comment!
K.x

La-reve said...

Alison- Yes Busy, Busy.. but better than alternate flat recluse I guess.

Kate.- Read both your comments thanks. I thought to get working tax credit and help with childcare you both had to be working. I was told this by tax office when I rang them. Annoyed if I've missed out. As for Lithium doubt that will happen.

David- Lack of sleep not really horrible as not the frustrating zapping kind I get in depression but the lots to do want to be awake kind. Expect burnout.


Sunshinediaries.- I did get 6 hours last night after Nitrazapam . Hope it works again tonight, may b that I was just exhausted by that point.

Thanks for comments all. x

Anonymous said...

Re. tax credits. If your partner works 30 hours or more and has a low/average income, he should be entitled to WTCs. Because you have a child, you should also get the family & child element.If you were to work in the future, you'd be eligable for the disability element (because of your DLA) and so on. Basically, there's a lot of extra cash that you both might be missing out on.I don't know enough about your circumstances but I'd recommend you (or perhaps better, your partner) getting some more advice on this. You should certainly be getting your childcare cost largely covered (although I think this would come from your partner's credits since he is working). Yours is a fairly complicated situation but, as a couple, you're definately entitled to one or more elements. Worth findng out.

La-reve said...

Thanks Kate. What would I do without your advice ;)

Anonymous said...

P.S - I hope I'm not wrong on this and getting your hopes up mistakenly. I haven't had a deal of experience with working tax-credits since I advise inpatients who, for obvious reasona, are rarely in work. Plus, the partner issue - most of my clients are wily and seasoned enough to keep shtum about co-habitees. There may be a conflict between ESA and tax-credits but I can't for the life of me think what. I'm almost certain there's no reason for you not to be getting the CTCs and it makes no sense to me that your partner shouldn't get WTCs (which are probably higher than your benefit amount). I'm going to try and look into this, even if just for my own benefit!
K.x

souldose said...

Hope you're sleeping better now