Hello I am new here and it is the first time I have every applied for PIP. I have been researching it through this forum and am so grateful for all the information on here. I have been writing my answers prior to ringing the DWP to ask for a claim form which I hope to do next week.
About my situation. I am in my sixties and have recently been diagnosed with scoliosis by a hospital physio. My mobility has been getting worse for the last 15 years and I blamed myself for being overweight and getting older. However it all makes sense now. I have one shoulder very much lower than the other, and have a twist to my upper body too. I also have chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.
I have a few questions but will only include 2 in this post for now.
- Q14 I can only walk around 10 to 15 metres with a stick. I then have to sit down for around a minute due to pain in my hips and lower back and am breathless (from walking at an angle). I can then get up and walk another 10 to 15 metres and sit down again. I can repeat this maybe 4 times. My question is do I put on the form I can only walk 10 to 15 metres in the hope of being considered for the 'less than 20 metres' descriptor. Or do I say I can do it around 4 times and would that therefore be considered I can walk over 50 metres? After around 4 times I have to rest for about 15 mins and then do maybe 3 further walks. After that I am pretty much done.
- Due to my chronic fatigue I pretty much crash at around 3pm so cannot go out after this.
- Regarding Q13. I only go to familiar places within my range of walking (about 4 places in total) and my husband has to drive me and collect me. I also suffer from anxiety and OCD and cannot go to unfamiliar routes/places. Should I put this in Q13 or will it degrade my mobility problems in Q14 as I do not go out much?
Many thanks for this amazing forum
