Hi, its worth fighting them even though it’s extremely hard and debilitating to do so.

Thank you everyone for your welcome ?. I’ve taken the advice above and reported the award in my universal credit journal. I’m now waiting for whatever response they may come up with.

@Rosie99 I was petrified before and during my hearing, but I was told to ask for a break if I needed one and did so about half way through which was after introductions and a series of questions from a doctor on the panel. He asked me all sorts of questions about my health conditions and was especially interested in why I hadn’t explored some treatment options. For example I have severe sleep apnoea and he wanted to know why I wouldn’t try the Cpap machine. Because of mental health issues I can’t bear my head or face covered in any way and I couldn’t seem to get him to grasp that the effects of the anxiety around this would stop me sleeping and also affect my day to day life because I would be permanently anxious about having to wear it. Some of the questions were very probing and at times it felt like he was trying to catch me out. By the end of his questions I felt very stressed, anxious and upset, and had to try and talk myself out of calling a halt to the whole thing during the break. Once we resumed the hearing the first thing I did was make sure I explained how it had make me feel.