Hi I claim higher rate care and mobility PIP due to my physical and mental illness.

Laura442

This is so inspiring well done! @purplepetal xxxx

purplepetal

Hi everyone! 

My son and I went together to the gym this week and I am so grateful. He really took care of me and made me familiar with the place. 

They have an infa red sauna there which was just heaven on my back and the staff were amazing with me .. they really put me at ease and made me feel so welcome and looked after. 

They even showed me to a separate changing room I can use and put me on an app so I can see when it’s quiet and choose the quiet times to go. 

I still can’t believe I’ve actually joined to be honest I’m still in shock. 

I wouldn’t have been able to do it with the help and support from yourselves to give me that little push and take away a little of that guilt I carry around with me. 

It’s a horrible feeling to have. 

Sue_Alumni

Hi @purplepetal You should give yourself a huge pat on the back.   You've done so well ! Keep in touch   

Sue_Alumni

Hi @purplepetal
I was just wondering how you were getting on 

purplepetal

Hiya @Sue_Scope
I am doing okay thank you.. the gym is helping my pain levels! And I feel proud of myself for going. There is an infa red sauna there and there’s an app I use to book on on the less busy days xxx 

Sue_Alumni

Hi,
Thank you for replying and providing such a lovely update.  You should be so proud of everything you have achieved and how far you have come. 

LadyMich63

purplepetal said:

I have been advised by my spine specialist to join a gym to help with pain management but it’s not that easy I suffer with anxiety and depression and have been toying with the idea for over a year. 

Obviously I am really anxious about joining and it’s very scary but I also do want to try and improve my health also. 

I’m also scared to death that PIP will think I have made a miraculous recovery and I will get in to trouble. I feel very stuck and the whole situation is just making me more and more anxious what to do.  

I understand your fears completely as I too am disabled on high rate yet they encourage you but then they would judge us as improving putting benefits down thus effectively punishing us for doing our best for our health but if like me your damage is permanent then it’s the medical proof of that so go if you can as I did once to a gym and lost weight felt so much better mentally just don’t inform them of going to a gym because they’ll use anything to not renew your award and I suggest that you go to have counselling for the mental stress by a professional as more proof of the effects on your health as the DWP always want to see you being referred by private or nhs professionals involved where then professionals will be willing to tell them you need help for your mental health and we’re told you had to do this to maintain your health to not deteriorate further just out of fear that they would be judgemental. You are doing this for you and what you do in private is to maintain your life, i and many others are literally made to feel guilty for improving our lives but we shouldn’t as it affects our mental health and that’s as much important as your physical health.

purplepetal

Hi @LadyMich63 thank you so much for reaching out. Even though I enjoy the gym I still feel a guilt and a worry when I do go as like you say i fear the dwp will think oh she is miraculously better now. I feel as though I want to record my whole life so I can prove how much of a struggle it is for me and how much I have to push myself. 

I have tried so many of the mental health services and they can’t cope they make me feel even worse afterwards as they ask me what I want them to do and are lost with my complex needs. 

LadyMich63

I know how you feel as it’s a nightmare in bradford as the service you need is badly managed and made people feel worse and it’s like that safety net has never caught anyone, my friends the same been let down and she had a left side brain injury having to get help by charities just to fight for our rightful benefits. Survive a day at a time and God willing we make it through doing best we can .

LadyMich63

Persecuted against you because I don’t belong to to a certain community, does anyone else in bradford feel cut off like I do ? I have a nice Muslim family and they have cctv and we look out for each other only trusting each other with the mail or parcels. They don’t feel safe anymore because the one’s coming into the country are violent and intimidating and even my physios experienced that when they took me outside and the Somali lads nearly knocked one of them over so I had my physio at Shipley, but since then it’s door to door Taxi’s or access bus. My window in the attic was broken again second time by the fireworks that should only be used in displays, I got up to look outside as the bangs were that loud the window vibrated then the next day I took some bags up to the attic and it was broken but not completely shattered as it’s safety glass . It’s going to cost me £900 to replace and the building insurance declared it betterment not health and safety as the whole unit needs replacing so until it’s fixed ( velux only thing can be done) I don’t sleep soundly and I badly want to move so if only there was some land I could be given on the outskirts of Bradford or Leeds or a kind person who could let me buy a bungalow off them as the motley crew in Bradford buy up everything because they have copious amounts of money I don’t have , then I can sell this place but at the moment I’m being harassed to sell for peanuts and as I’m the last of my kind on the street I’m a prisoner in my own home and not safe to walk outside even in daylight as I get racially abused so if anyone can help point me to someone who can help I much appreciate it as I’m so down and depressed and don’t feel safe plus so lonely as no one speaks to you as they don’t speak in English. Their kids smash anything I have so you can’t relax . I’ve been in touch with safer housing as I’m desperate to leave and a better chance with paying 75% and pay rent on the rest because they have brokers who help people on long term disability like mine . Bradford council knows but there is nowhere because they’ve allowed multiple houses to be bought and used for private rent which is 79% so 21% of people like us have nowhere else in the social housing and because it’s my own house I can’t have a chance until long after I die to get a place it’s a horrible situation. If anyone else wants a chat or can help let me know thanks