sallym25

Hi Chloe, I have replied to your pm but forgot to mention that I asked for the results. They printed an extra copy out for me. You can see all the bits you've missed just like the the opthalmology one, but you can't tell from it how the DVLA will rule it as we don't know what their requirements are. As you know, due to your loss being homonymous, one eye won't be covering for the other. Let's hope the area is small enough to meet the criteria. Good luck All fingers crossed on that day Ladies!! Sally

Hi Tricia, I'm in Cumbernauld and was clipped at the Southern 4 years ago now. I haven't heard of this place but I do know that our nearest Headway centre is also In Wishaw. Perhaps they are connected. Sorry not to be of much help to you. Sally.

Hi Juliette, I lost approximately 25% from my visual field in both eyes. It's been just over four years now and I still have lots of trouble managing with it. Only last week I had an 'episode'. I was on holiday and had to have four attempts at crossing a road. If my husband hadn't shouted to me each time I tried ( I did look both ways lots.. I thought ) I would possibly not be here now. People don't seem able to grasp the fact I can miss things even when I look in that direction due to the blind bit following my eye movements.

Hi Bev, That would be me. you're definitely not alone, I get deja vu feelings every day. I have had this for quite some time now, but only mentioned it to my doctor a few months ago after one such episode lasted longer and resulted in me finding myself flat on my hallway floor. I do believe you posted that week saying you had a seizure on the very same day! As soon as I mentioned it to the doc he arranged for me to visit the hospital where he said I would have an EEG. When the appointmenet came round I wasn't given one but they said it's almost certainly Epilepsy. I am now on 75mg of Lamotrigine daily and due to see them again in May. I do still have the deja vu regularly but they are definitely shorter. ( a split second only now) I hope you get this sorted out soon. Do tell the doctor. Good luck with thew Angio and surgery. Keep us updated with your progress. Sally xxx

Hi again, sorry for the delay in replying here. Had a sickness bug the last couple of days. Penny, I haven't heard of business link, but will look it up online. I did, at one time contact the 'Business Gateway' which I guess could be the scottish version of the same thing. I didn't go ahead with things then because they talked about me having to do business plans and market research! All I had planned was to advertise my sewing services and hopefully have calls flooding in. As for the Jobseekers allowance, I worry that if I were to claim that, It would imply that I'm agreed that I have no Limited capabilites. My main grudge is that they are not recognising just how limited my working prospects are affected. ( If the shop was not owned by a family member, I am 100% certain I would not be still there.) I know I can do sewing from home ( I know I could also do it in the factory where I was learned it, but unfortunately they have no availability as yet. )as there would be absolutely no distractions there. There are not many jobs where this would be the case. Thanks for your response. sally xx

I need help here! I would love to say Well Done Gill... but.. I too have appealed against failing an assesment and ( without having the added stress of having to attend tribunal) on second thoughts, they found 'in my favour' and placed me in the WRAG group. However.. it doesn't give us any financial help and I'm really really feeling it now. 6 months later I am forcing myself to keep up with a 15 hrs a week job, running a household with two attitude fuelled teenagers ( neither of whom are earning ) and trying (quite unsuccessfully) to find motivation and energy to stay positive! I now know I can do work. I really need something that I can do uninterrupted and I would manage fine. I just wish they would help me find something and allow me to manage financially during the hunt. I am certain I can sew well and alterations or curtain making would be perfect for me. I would love to start my own business doing this but am so scared of all the legal stuff that would go along with it. I can't get my head round understanding it all and thiis is seriously holding me back. Gill, I would love to say well done, but I just feel this is a 'get out ' for them to shut us up. sorry babe.

Hello everyone, Just thought I should update you all on the benefit 'fight'. I gave in! They did agree I have "limited capabilities for work". However they put me in the 'wrag' group. No money for me then. That was approx 6 months ago. So why have I never heard anything about any work related activity? I have had NO correspondence at all from them since. As the money had been stopped since April and the furniture shop was closed I was feeling the pinch big style! I Did enquire about appeal and managed to up the butchers shifts from 10 hrs a week to 15. However, when I approached the local welfare rights people for help filling the forms, she informed me I cannot appeal as I am only permitted to earn £20 per week while claiming. ( on 15 hrs I am earning 90 ) They take soooo long to respond to claims that I simply cant afford not to do the 15 hrs. I am not finding it easy either. Even after a short 4 or 5 hr shift, I need to sleep for a couple of hours in order to find the energy to make meals and do chores. I have been so frustrated with the waiting times on the telephone and the fact that every time they did get in touch, they gave me as little info as possible and advised me to call if I had any more questions. I seemed to be spending all my days in the queue for hours and then being told call back later and cut off. Unacceptable! Hope you are all having better luck than me. Sally. x

Hi Mary, This thread will hopefully help me out too. I have lost the upper left quadrant of the visual lfield in both my eyes. Three years down the line, I still query whether my moments of confusion are down to cognitive difficulties or just because " I didn't see that!". I often wonder if I am still in denial there. I am very very lucky in the fact that I rarely have any head pain. Reading is often difficult and I know the vision I do have is quite bad. I also have glasses for reading, distance and intermediate also. It's a nightmare having so many and I spend much of my time frantically looking for the right pair and chopping and changing them. Like Vanessa I hope to have varifocals soon. My eyes revert to double vision as my mind wanders but I can personally sort that out by just concentrating more. I've been visiting a cheap optician and as I have astigmatism now, I think there's a possibility he's not getting the angles right on my prescription, I have to permanently tilt my reading ones in order to stop the text doubling up and overlapping itself:shocked:. The only time I find lights to cause me problems is if I'm in the car in the dark and oncoming headlights ( being on the side I can see ) seem to overpower my full vision and blind me. I then have to liook further to the left in order to have the road in "front" within my field of sight. Again this will be just down to the missing area and not cos I'm " cognitively challenged". I love to read in bed. Hubby usually sleeps early and I'm not very hi tech with kindles or ipads so I have a ( don't you laugh at me now) light on an elasic which I strap round my head to point at my magazines. The family have a field day teasing me about this and I must admit It does look a bit strange. :redface: Sometimes I forget I have it on and will look around the room and "accidentally" point it in his face or at the mirror ( reflecting back all over the room).

[ Fortunately for me the Co here are aware of the problems this causes & are doing telephone appointments where necessary. Sorry if I'm being stupid Gill, but can you explain who the "Co" are? Thanks Sally x

Hi again, Tried calling them again, and again, and again!! This week alone I have waited in their queue for a total of 152 minutes. I finally got a real person ( only 25 minutes into todays call too). They called my local job centre who rang back to say. I am NOT going to be getting any further payments or arrears! " the decision was changed in your favour which means you are now in the WRAG group and as you have already exhausted a years payments for that, you will have to appeal again asking to be the support group!" Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!!

aww, I feel so humbled now. Daffodil, thank you for your kind words. I'm not even sure I've said hello to you in the past. That's also something I'm guilty of. I am regularly overwhelmed by how many people register here and find it hard to say hello to everyone. I must admit that this makes me not reply to people often as I know my memory will not keep all their details in tow. Asking the same question twice of the same person also has an adverse effect. ( I don't want to appear rude!) Keith, the wit and banter is all in the past posts. I've run out of that now. I wasn't aware you hadn't had a haemorrhage! Tell me what you did experience then? Sorry, I know it's just my lack of concentration thats caused this. I do agree that, when someone thanks you for your help and tells you how much more you have helped in comparasin to the hospital staff, the satisfaction would be immense. Well done to you. I hope you are really proud of yourself. In relation to the feeling of satisfaction you must feel, I sooo wish I had the range of vocabulary Michelle and Lynne have. Don't they just get it right every time? I hope they too, know just what a huge difference their perfectly worded posts make. x Unfortunately, I am with hubbys footy team in this department. Third division (me) v's Premier League( Lynne and Micherlle). Luv you both and thank you sooooo much. xx It has taken me so long to write, re read and correct this post, I have almost lost track of what I am trying to say now. :confused: I do remember I am here to thank you all though. So thank you thank you. Sally. x Daffodil, welcome to BTG. Hope you are feeling good an I promise to read up on all threads to 'spy' on how you're progressing. xxx

Michelle, Sorry to hear the good spell has elapsed. On the other hand it's great to hear you've had one. I hope this was a sign of things changing for the better and that these spells progressively become longer and longer. Since taking on the extra hours at work recently I have had regular periods of not getting a snooze straight after a long day. I do still feel I am 'zombie like' on the whole. Luckily I don't really do anything in work as the shop can be very quiet. It makes for a very very long and boring shift. The lease on the shop is due to end in two or three weeks and I will possibly have no job after that. I am hoping I will still be able to muster the motivation to get up, dress and use time productively. (my house is starting to resemble a shed as I really haven't found a way to keep myself going of an evening ) . I am a great sleeper of a night time and have noticed that, when I haven't had a nap after work too, I am not as refreshed as I'd like to be in the mornings but secretly chuffed i'm still on the go. Perhaps we will all soon be finding ourselves closer to the 'old us' in the long run. I'm feeeling hopeful now. Sally xxx

Hello people, I am feeling really guilty today. I have often told myself " SAH has been the worst thing I've ever had to deal with" I do still believe this is true, and I remember thinking that I can never ever repay those nurses and doctors ( who saved my life). I also thought that even they don't know just how much they help us when we really really need it. I was totally in awe of them. In the last year or so I have thought about approaching the hospital to ask if I, as a survivor of this, could visit with people who are currently having to deal with it in the initial stages ( Which I know is the worst thing ever) with the intention that it could give them hope for the future. Today, I have found two new members writing in with information of Patients who have been in there ( Southern General in Glasgow) fairly recently. I now feel so so guilty that, had I acted on my instincts earlier, I could have been helping give these particular people hope. Fortunately, I know that, now they have found BTG they will still have contact with others who have been through the same as they. the guilt and the knowledge that I could do better for those going through such a hard time will hopefully spur me on now.

Quick visit here. Have totally lost the plot now. got aMassive £111.01 paid into my bank. Called them, waited 38 mins in the queue before finally being advised they "couldn't take my call" and i should " call back later"

Hello folks, I got a letter yesterday, They have looked at my claim again and found in my favour. :-D:-D:-D A call this morning verified I will be getting a payment in my account within a week! :-D:-D I am really excited about this news, but in all honesty still a bit apprehensive. Not sure I can trust them to have got this one right. I was getting contradicting letters and info from two different departments for so long, I feel sure the others are about to follow up with news of errors and cancel it again. The lady on the phone this morning says I am now in the Work related activity group. I was under the impression that, the only way they could pay me anything after a year on contribution based ESA was if I went into the support group. Was this the wrong thing to believe? I sooo hope so now. On another occasion, during a call to ask them how much longer it was likely to take, she told me it had already been forwarded to tribunal. My letter of yesterday contradicts that and says it wont be sent there as they have changed the decision. Baffled I am. :confused: I will be terrified to use any of the money now in case they ask for it back. Incidentally, It has taken them six months to do this and amazingly the letter I got on the 2nd of the month was dated the 1st. I've never had anything mailed from them that quickly before. How about WE start insisting they have the 28 day window they specify for our end of the paperwork issues. So , here i am , fit to burst but scared and desperate to get myself excited. Just proves though that no one should ever just accept their decisions. Always always fight it!

Hello all, Just a wee quickie to say, I asked the doc for ritalin around 10 days ago. He told me he'd have to consult a neurologist first and I am waiting to hear the outcome of that. I get myself excited every time I read this thread and will be really disappointed if it comes back NO. Will let you all know as soon as I hear from them. Sally x

Hi Jill, Yes Gill is right. I did have to sit what the DVLA called a 'driving assessment'. Unfortunately I only has two chioces of location and both were city centres. During the twenty years I held my licence I avoided busy places like this and I was very angry that Those were my only options. I know lots of people who still avoid driving in places where they feel uncomfortable. I do have problems with my eyesight now as I lost the upper left quarter of my visual field. If you have always been comfortable driving in busy places I'm sure you'll have nothing to worry about. The ladies who assessed me were very nice and it wasn't like a driving 'test'. They just watched closely to check for any safety issues. I didn't have a hazard perception test though and, as it wasn't a requirement when I did my test, I couldn't say if I'd pass one or not. I am hoping to ask some of the members here to do a poll to find out how many drivers these days avoid certain places due to discomfort. If I do get the results I expect from that I hope to raise the topic with the dvla in the hope I can be assessed again in the future in a local town where tests are carried out. I've now been licenceless for three years but this is definitely due to my loss of vision, I'm sure if yours is ok you will not have to be so long without. Good luck. Sally xxx

Hello people, I'm onto this one. One comment on this thread has really stuck out for me. Someone said "I love Ritalin". I have made an appointment for Tuesday morning to ask if I can try it. In truth, it scares me, but the though of brain clarity, for even a temporary period, has me really excited. Can't wait to try it now. I will of course keep you all updated on my progress. Love to all, Sally. xxxxx

Dear Michelle, Your post here today is lovely. You're just the perfect Mum you know. And in order to explain this to the teachers ( "head of year" hopefully ) your own words should be all you need. You, yourself are so good with words, I'm convinced if you just print what you've written here, it will have the desired effect on anyone with the slightest smidgeon of ?????? ( I don't know the word I need here?) Unfortunately I'm your total opposite and useless with words. I do hope you will understand what I am trying to say here. xx I do know one thing. Poor Dylan having to go through this is also a very lucky Dylan to have the Mum he has. xxx Sally xx

Patsy, So glad you started this thread. I would really like to hear how you get on with this companys help. I have now been without my licence for three years. I lost a quarter of my visual field in both eyes and admit it causes me quite a lot of confusion. I was made to do a driving assessment in Edinburgh city centre, which I feel was very unfair as I didn't drive in either Edinburgh or Glasgow centres during my 20 years of having my licence. I know quite a few people who drive and also avoid city centres. Wish I had the ability to fight them regarding that rule. Please keep us updated on your progress with this. Also I am curious about your corrective treatment for the double vision. How did they do that? My own eyes are still slightly misaligned and I regularly have double vision. I am able to personally correct it by concentrating more when I realise it's there. Hope I can have this treatment too. Sally. x

Thanks Gill, I guess I will just have to go without seeing it then. Thanks for trying anyway. Sally xx

Hi all, I was away on my hols when this programme was aired. I only heard about it today. I am 'Miss Techophobic 2012'. Been scouring this www thing for the last two hours now. NO luck! Can anyone post a link that I just need to click on to watch it? pleeeeeeeez? xxxx

This thread is a lovely read today. I have been given regular hours at work for the next 3 months. Good... because the benefit people have messed up again, and my appeal forms have turned out to be the wrong ones. However, after only 3 days of working all day long ( well, 10 till 5 ) I am starting to feel like I'm really contributing to the family values again. Haven't actually received any pay for it yet, but the psychological effects are already starting to show for me. I feel I am much more capable of being a productive member of the family again already. It's such a good feeling and I know you are on the verge of experiencing that too Dawn High five! Let's all keep up the momentum here, go BTGers!

Excellent news Mark, Hope you both enjoy your long awaited and well deserved holiday now. Can I ask please? how is upper left vision siuation? I only ask because mine is gone. I suppose in reality I'm hoping you will say " all sorted". I am told by the doctors I will not get mine back and, although I am slowly starting to accept this, I'm always on the look out for any glimmer of hope that proves them wrong. I hope too that her recovery will be speedy for you both. Do keep us updated. Tell her we all wish her well. Sally xx

Carl and Michelle, Thank you both so much for going out of your way to help me define the differences here. I have lots of ammunition to present next time I see 'Mrs Know It All' at the local surgery now. Unfortunately, it's all too much to take in personally, so I plan to print lots of sheets to take with me in the hope she will make some easy reading of it. I should be nice and point out that before she made that comment she did read the sheet I gave her regarding the 'T'BI. I will test her commitment when I give her the next 6 papers and let you know how she scores! Thank you again Sally. x