PIP review and just had miscarriage so off all pain meds

ksmith1701

Hi all 

I need some help, I have just had my pip review come through, the problem I have is I have just suffered a miscarriage and as such came off all my pain meds as they were not safe at all for baby. I haven’t gone straight back on them as I am still coming to terms with it and are going to try for another baby. 

Question is I can’t put them on my meds list as I am no longer on them, but I worry I am going to lose all my PIP! I do feel like all the Meds were actually hindering more than helping as I have regained a little strength but do I need to inform them why I’m not on my meds? To have a baby! 

chiarieds

Hi @ksmith1701 - I'm so sorry to read about your miscarriage & understand your concerns. I think it would be perfectly OK to mention the meds you were on, & your sensible reason for having come off them.

I listed some of the meds my GP had offered, but which either didn't help or gave me unwanted side effects.

Not being on any meds is no reason to adversely affect your claim, so please don't worry.

Have you returned your review form? If not, what will help is going into as much detail as you hopefully did with your initial claim, & giving a couple of recent, detailed examples as to the difficulty you face for each applicable descriptor, i.e. when did it happen, where, what happened, did anyone see this, & were there any consequences to attempting/doing an activity?
Say if you can't do each applicable activity 'reliably,' i.e. safely, to an acceptable standard, repeat as often as one would reasonably expect, or if it takes you much longer than someone without a disability.
Keep a copy of everything 'just in case,' & get a free Certificate of Posting from your Post Office when sending the form off.

This is worth reading about 'reliability,' fluctuating conditions, etc. Remember PIP is about how you are the majority of the time.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-the-assessment-criteria

poppy123456

I'm sorry to hear this! There's lots of people that claim PIP without any issues and don't take any medication. Sometimes in assessment reports the assessor may put "doesn't take any medication so therefore there can't be any issues" or words something like that. It's just a standard copy and paste they sometimes use.

In the medication part just put something like "doesn't apply" You can just tell them that it wasn't helping your health conditions.

For the rest of the form make sure you treat it as a new claim, even if there's been no change. Include a couple of real world incidents of exactly what happened the last time you attempted each descriptor that applies to you. Adding detailed information such as where you were, what exactly happened, did anyone see it and what the consequences were.

You should use extra sheets of paper but make sure you put your name and NI number on everything you send. Please do no just put no changes and nothing else.

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @ksmith1701

Welcome to the community. I see our members have been able to advise on the PIP side. I wanted to comment and ask if you are getting support after your miscarriage. My condolences to you and your partner. I wanted to pop a link to Tommy's here in case you or your partner need it at any point