Tweet
a cautionary note to all long term carers , now ill.
Hi
I am a long term carer for the past 21 years, juggling and dropping too many balls in the air and floor for too long.
It is a sad statistic that caring and poor health , go hand in hand. It has for me and I wish I had a friendly warning back then , rather than a neurologist putting his arm around my shoulder saying " he is your husband , take him home and do your best".
I now have widespread fibromyalgia , a thief in the night, who creeps into your body and slowly pulls you down , it can , in my case, be so slow, you hardly notice, or your medical professionals never even mention it as a possibility. Then , wham , its here. suddenly you join up all the dots and everything comes into place.
i posted recently , while claiming carers allowance , i wanted to return to work and was told by a consultant and GP , returning to employment would make the FM and CFS worse. I asked for that in writing. They did. 11 months after making a claim for esa i was awarded it and put in the support group. now with that in place, no longer on carers allowance , only underlying entitlement . we are worse off financially as a result . Our help with housing costs had been reduced , and thankfully , we did challenge the bedroom tax , and won , if we hadn't we would be in dire straights and a further 25% would be reduced. we would then be facing eviction.
If the public believe that being ill , disabled or being at home caring is an easy option, ( lets face it the political propaganda has been working) .. by all means take my "welfare" ..but have the crap too. ..strokes, heart attacks, blood clots , lung disease, fm, cfs, chronic pain that never ever lets up etc... and the financial impact. be my guest.
so if you are caring , please take care of your own health too, if you are ill, check out your entitlements first, before you go down that route. I thought I did, but i was wrong.
I am a long term carer for the past 21 years, juggling and dropping too many balls in the air and floor for too long.
It is a sad statistic that caring and poor health , go hand in hand. It has for me and I wish I had a friendly warning back then , rather than a neurologist putting his arm around my shoulder saying " he is your husband , take him home and do your best".
I now have widespread fibromyalgia , a thief in the night, who creeps into your body and slowly pulls you down , it can , in my case, be so slow, you hardly notice, or your medical professionals never even mention it as a possibility. Then , wham , its here. suddenly you join up all the dots and everything comes into place.
i posted recently , while claiming carers allowance , i wanted to return to work and was told by a consultant and GP , returning to employment would make the FM and CFS worse. I asked for that in writing. They did. 11 months after making a claim for esa i was awarded it and put in the support group. now with that in place, no longer on carers allowance , only underlying entitlement . we are worse off financially as a result . Our help with housing costs had been reduced , and thankfully , we did challenge the bedroom tax , and won , if we hadn't we would be in dire straights and a further 25% would be reduced. we would then be facing eviction.
If the public believe that being ill , disabled or being at home caring is an easy option, ( lets face it the political propaganda has been working) .. by all means take my "welfare" ..but have the crap too. ..strokes, heart attacks, blood clots , lung disease, fm, cfs, chronic pain that never ever lets up etc... and the financial impact. be my guest.
so if you are caring , please take care of your own health too, if you are ill, check out your entitlements first, before you go down that route. I thought I did, but i was wrong.
Comment