Assessment woes

mammahoundy

Hello all. Hope you're all having a better day than me.

I had a pip assessment by video on the computer yesterday and it was awful. I have Trigeminal Neuralgia,  CRPS in my foot and now fibromyalgia. The pip assessor was professional to the point of being like a stern headmistress......she didn't smile at all. I very deeply uneasy talking to her and as I tried to explain that my mum dying has sent me spiralling she told me my answer should be short and concise. She bombarded me with questions that half the time I felt were there to trip me up (could be my paranoia). I found it hard to explain the pain I'm in and teared up a few times. I forgot so much i wanted to say  She made me do exercises in my chair and I tried to tell her that yes I can lift my arms once but prolonged to wash or brush hair, no because I'm in pain. I also tried to explain that I have a constant headache due to the trigeminal neuralgia but when attacks happen the pain comes in 20 second bursts like an electric shock and I can't do anything as they normally last all day.

Now I'm sitting here, very low indeed, going over the 1 and a half hours trying to remember what I've said.

Albus_Alumni

Heya @mammahoundy and welcome from me too. 

I'm sorry to hear your assessment wasn't a good experience, this can happen unfortunately, but the worst part is out of the way now. It sounds like you had a very rude assessor. 

As Woodbine has already said, it can be a bit of a wait to get a decision, but please know it's not the end of the road if they say no, you have the right to ask for a mandatory reconsideration and you can add notes to it explaining how you feel the assessor is wrong, with real world examples of how your illnesses affect each descriptor.  We're all here to support you if you need us. 

If you wanted to have a chat to likeminded folk, or play some games to take your mind off things, our coffee lounge and games room might offer some relief?