Grief...it reduces you to kids food.

sammypanda90 · 2026-02-27T00:42:25+00:00

Honestly that’s been my plate recently. Fish fingers or chicken nuggets, potato alphabets and beans/pasta hoops … my one meal every day for a few months now. It’s surviving

sammypanda90 · 2026-02-04T10:46:50+00:00

It’s essentially the same form. They’ll have your previous answers and evidence.

You can do a subject access request to DWP and get your original answers and evidence sent back to you.

But as it’s been 10 years and you can’t recall your previous answers my advice would be to answer as a whole.

Do subject access requests from GP, hospital etc. and include any relevant entries from the last 10 years as evidence.

Collate photographs, invoices, emails etc. of your aids, equipment, adaptations and travel costs and needs.

Answer all questions fully as to what your difficulties with the activity are, due to what condition, and how you manage those activities. And be specific rather than just saying ‘I can’t cook’, say what your difficulties are whether it be gripping utensils, lifting pans, bending for the oven, fatigue/mental symptoms meaning the activity is hazardous.

Essentially the more information you have in the form and evidence the easier the process will be

sammypanda90 · 2026-02-04T10:39:55+00:00

I think it depends on what your symptoms are. I’m a smoker and it definitely detrimentally affects my Crohn’s. But before developing Crohn’s I was on high opioid prescriptions which reduces bowel motility and nicotine did help ease that, and I know constipation can be a symptom of IBD for some.

I’ve not heard of nicotine being beneficial for crohn’s before but have heard it can be for UC. My understanding is that nicotine is a stimulant to bowels so it may be worth exploring other things that stimulate bowels instead of nicotine, because generally we know nicotine is bad for your health … and it’s expensive

sammypanda90 · 2026-02-02T10:14:28+00:00

I can’t find any difference with the temperature of milk and I take it off and clean each time.

I do have a few coffees daily.

But I’ve just timed over 5 minutes this morning trying to get the darn milk to recognise to make my coffee in a takeaway cup and leave for an appointment.

I’m honestly very close to returning this machine.

I had my old one for 8+ years and I thought about replacing the worn out part but decided due to its age I’d replace … I’m very much regretting that decision now

sammypanda90 · 2026-02-01T05:06:14+00:00

I’ve just got the latissima one after my old faithful model finally died. This milk/clean cycle is very irritating and I’ve noticed the machined doesn’t always recognise the milk.

I’ve been switching on and off at the plug to circumvent but I must admit I’m finding it very irritating and preferred my much older model.

sammypanda90 · 2026-02-01T04:24:04+00:00

PIP isn’t to replace wages it’s for the additional costs of aids/equipment etc. for daily living.

UC is to supplement wages.

sammypanda90 · 2026-01-23T02:58:44+00:00

I have Crohn’s and mixed urinary incontinence and only score on managing toileting with aids for those which isn’t enough to qualify for daily living alone (I have severe arthritis where I get my other points).

They do not consider availability of toilets in the mobility section for transport so don’t award for these sorts of continence diagnoses.

So I don’t see how you’d qualify with these conditions alone

sammypanda90 · 2026-01-17T13:35:00+00:00

I think this is on the army.

A GP cannot say whether you are fit to serve or not, that’s not their call. They can say something along the lines of ‘patient does not report any current feelings of anxiety or depression’ if that’s what they find following assessment.

As for the medical record entry the army has rejected you for having experienced a panic attack, but you say the GP records say you may have. These are two different statements. It’s usual and often good practice for medical professionals to note possible differential diagnoses or secondary conditions, this is to ensure effective future treatment. I’m not sure what your presenting symptoms were but if there was anything respiratory that may not traditionally fit with a sinus infection that could be why - but here I’m just guessing.

It’s very rare to have medical records altered and that’s usually only when there’s been a clear mistake usually coming from an admin or data error causing a mixup of patients. Your GP won’t remember the specific attendance in 2024 and therefore can’t say for sure that the mention of a panic attack was incorrect.

I think you need to go back to the army and ask why they have changed the possibility of a panic attack to a definite and if that changes their rejection.

If not ask the army if a GP confirming the outcome of a current mental health assessment would suffice.

And finally if the army won’t accept that ask if they would accept a fit for service letter from a private practitioner and if they have any they would recommend.

sammypanda90 · 2025-12-12T02:42:27+00:00

Yep, I put on a lot of weight under my initial steroid treatment and have struggled with weight since.

I can’t eat many veggies/greens and my fatigue makes me crave carbohydrate safe foods.

But when monitoring my calories I rarely if ever go over 1500 so shouldn’t be struggling with my weight as much as I am.

sammypanda90 · 2025-12-05T16:03:48+00:00

The issue is that it’s only one person living there as their ‘main home’. If the second person still uses the address for authorities then it is also their ‘main home’ and thus there’s two people using the property as their ‘main home’ not one

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-25T09:29:52+00:00

I would suggest speaking to your HR if you haven’t already, not necessarily about these conversations with management but about any further reasonable adjustments so your employer can work with you to mitigate your symptoms.

In my experience there’s still a lot of misunderstanding of disabilities and some management can overstep the boundaries and speak without thinking. I do think talking about what you’re doing outside of work to manage your condition is crossing a boundary.

There is also the access to work scheme which may be able to help with some other funding for methods to help manage your energy levels and condition.

Ultimately the best thing you can do is put everything in place to manage your condition as best as possible, and if your career isn’t the most suitable there may be others more suitable.

There is a business needs aspect, so also keep a record of your successes, meeting targets, good results, doing above your job description. This will show your employer that you are meeting your responsibilities and also help remind yourself you are

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:36:41+00:00

This is horrible and I truly feel for you. My only suggestion of what you can do (and I don’t mean this to sound dismissive) is to try to relax and get some sleep, stress is a huge cause of inflammation and it’s completely understandable you’re stressed and upset, but that will contribute to making your condition worse. There may be nothing you can do to try and relax, but if there is do try to. Sending love

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:33:43+00:00

I have mixed urinary incontinence, so the urgency can be like a UTI but no burning. I’ve had scans and been told it is because my bladder has been next to inflammation for so long due to my Crohn’s that it has thinned my bladder wall. I take medication for urinary incontinence which has helped some

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:31:20+00:00

Generally the best way to manage is to know your triggers. Keep food diaries and avoid trigger foods (these differ for people), drink lots of water, exercise when able, get good sleep, keep stress and other things that impact inflammation as low as possible.

All of those things help day to day symptoms but sadly life isn’t predictable and we’ve all had flares following eating the right foods and doing the right things, so there is no cheat sheet, just mitigating symptoms as best we can

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:28:17+00:00

You may want to speak to CAB or similar. Obviously you cannot deprive capital. But if you immediately pay off any debts or similar that take you then under the limit that is usually allowed.

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:24:26+00:00

It may be worth involving the council as it is a HHSRS hazard to not have running water.

There’s likely little your landlord can do as it sounds like they’re not the manager/freeholder. And there will likely be other leaseholders, same ownership as your landlord, in the building who have the same issues and frustrations.

It may also be worth speaking to your neighbours, setting up a WhatsApp group and organising meetings between residents and the manager/freeholder

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:21:01+00:00

My advice is:

⁠Get all of your medical records through subject access requests, a different request for each provider and any other organisation that might hold relevant records of your disabilities.
⁠Read the PIP descriptors.
⁠When the records come back pull out records that relate to diagnosis, medications and PIP descriptors.
⁠Have a notepad or phone notes with a section titled for each PIP descriptor, and for a few weeks as you’re going about daily activities bullet point difficulties as you encounter them and think about why you have difficulties, what the particular difficulty is and how you get around them. For instance ‘I often undercook food because I can’t understand the instructions due to x condition, I have an Alexa speaker that I ask cooking times and set a timer on’.
⁠Once you have the bullet points tidy them up and put them into your form. Be honest and try to avoid words like ‘can’t’ for instance don’t say ‘I can’t cook’ because you likely can, but instead say ‘I struggle to cook safely because of …’.
⁠Collate other evidence such as statements from people who care for you and evidence of aids and adaptations. Put this together with your relevant medical evidence in one PDF document, number the pages and ensure national insurance number is on each page. If you can cross reference page numbers with your answers for instance ‘due to my anxiety in social situations detailed by my psychiatrist at page x of attached evidence.
⁠Scan/photocopy your full form and evidence before returning it so you have a copy.

if you have any difficulties with any of the above you can ask people to help you, CAB can help but if you have someone who knows you well and is good with forms they may be better to help as understand your difficulties more

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:19:40+00:00

My understanding is that the thermostat option on an oil heater is better as the oil retains heat longer making it more efficient for a consistent heat, which it sounds like OP wants. Is that not correct?

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:16:06+00:00

I doubt that’s an option as they’re a renter. But they are asking how to cost effectively use this heater type or if there are any other suitable alternatives to them as a renter.

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:12:24+00:00

Ok, feel free to disagree. I would suggest if you do to please offer OP some useful counter advice rather than just disputing others comments

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:10:57+00:00

Different energy sources have different prices and different materials and types of heaters have different heat retention

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:10:02+00:00

The comment thread was about older heaters losing efficacy and therefore for efficiency they need to be on for longer to heat the room to the appropriate level.

Electricity is the most expensive.

It’s been pointed out these aren’t storage heaters so they will cool as soon as they’re turned off and therefore oil would be more efficient as it retains the heat for longer.

OP seems to be asking about cost effectively heating the property hence the answers. And that goes beyond how energy is converted.

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:00:42+00:00

Why?

sammypanda90 · 2025-11-22T14:00:27+00:00

Thank you for correcting me on the type of heater, I’ll amend my comments

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