It could do if the pain from it (or the side effects of painkillers taken to control the pain) make it difficult to concentrate for long.
Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support
- Thread starter Zabo
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Well yes, but those would be required for his other injuries - in particular the spinal and pelvic ones - not the amputation. Basically the article has a bad title and it's badly reported. They've gone for the most visible injury and not the ones which are most likely most problematic.
Regardless of what he may or may not theoretically be able to do why should someone with one leg be compelled to look for work? Life's already dealt him a fairly cruel blow in depriving him of one of his pins - What does it benefit anyone to compound his misery by making him work?
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Quite often amputation of a leg can lead to chronic pain and problems with the stump not healing properly or being aggravated by wearing an artificial limb. There's also phantom pain to deal with, as well as potentially PTSD, not to mention a whole of other issues. You cannot state that the amputation and associated problems do not require pain meds.
As the marine himself put it, he lost his leg serving his country and now the government has turned its back on him. He deserves to be supported for the service he gave.
You should work with ATOS with an attitude like that.
Not in the longer term. I have worked with amputees - both military and non-military - before.
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
Hi, Celt. Glad you got through your assessment. Hope it turns out ok.
Are you still allowed to record using your own equipment?
I don't come on this thread very often, and too late for you, but I'll repeat my offer from earlier. If anyone has an ATOS appt coming up and would like to make sure it's recorded on their own equipment for whatever reason but doesn't have access to or can't afford to buy a recording device, let me know. I'll gladly buy them a dictation thingy or whatever suitable device and only ask that they then make it available to be passed on to anyone else facing the same thing.
WouldBe
Dislicksick
If the HCP doesn't know what a leg is you don't expect them to know what a spine or pelvis is do you.
If the HCP doesn't know what a leg is you don't expect them to know what a spine or pelvis is do you.
It's a good example of the general incompetence of ATOS.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Even setting aside his other injuries, phantom pain from an amputation can be severe enough to require constant strong analgesia. If that is the case, he'd be useless for anything requiring a modicum of sustained concentration.
It's often not the injury itself that's the issue, it's the after-effects and how they have to be dealt with that make things complicated and too complex to be dealt with in 20-45 minute "assessment".
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
The medical community disagrees:
This paper talks about using spinal cord stimulation to deal with chronic limb amputation pain, reporting one patient used this technique with decreasing benefit over 19 years:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23009132
This paper talks about pain after amputation (225 participants):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10943752
This paper (full-text available) [WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES] describes in detail the problems found in reconstruction after IED explosions:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013433/
In particular, it mentions that 63% of stumps experience heterotopic ossification (bone growing where it's not supposed to in soft tissues ) which can make wearing a prosthetic difficult, that there may be insufficient fat and muscle tissue for a prosthetic (although where reconstruction is successful there is less ulceration than expected after wearing a prosthetic).
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
80mg oxycontin twice daily is, iirc, one such analgesic used for phantom pain - which is 16 times the dose I'm on for my chronic spinal arthritic pain. Not to mention the problems with sitting during the day and sleeping at night.
I didn't know that. I guess my colleagues were lucky, then.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Osteophytes, i.e. pieces of bone growing where they shouldn't in sites of constant use (especially but not confined to joints), are a common phenomenon in humans, so I'm not surprised that amputees with prosthetics end up with them.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
80mg x 2 a day being a large enough dose that even given the degree of pain it is being used to treat, you're going to form psychological and physiological dependencies to it, too.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
One theory is that amputees experience this after IED explosions because of head injuries incurred at the same time - the head injury is thought to affect the mechanism by which bone regrowth occurs. The paper I posted the link to was very interesting on this topic.Osteophytes, i.e. pieces of bone growing where they shouldn't in sites of constant use (especially but not confined to joints), are a common phenomenon in humans, so I'm not surprised that amputees with prosthetics end up with them.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
{{{audiotech}}} feel better soon.
I hope tomorrow's better (or at least easier) for you. Hang on in there.
audiotech
wav, aiff, mp3, ogg, flac
Thanks both, stuck some medication under my tongue and it's eased. Vascular constrictor though, which means if I'm not careful, either my toes, or fingers could drop off 
.
Edit: Just thought, if that happened I wouldn't be able to "push a button" and Atosser wouldn't assess me as "fit for Work", or would they?
.Edit: Just thought, if that happened I wouldn't be able to "push a button" and Atosser wouldn't assess me as "fit for Work", or would they?
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Well if you could push a button of some description with the stump that was left, then I think they would, sadly.Thanks both, stuck some medication under my tongue and it's eased. Vascular constrictor though, which means if I'm not careful, either my toes, or fingers could drop off
Edit: Just thought, if that happened I wouldn't be able to "push a button" and Atosser wouldn't assess me as "fit for Work", or would they?
You could still push a button with your nose, chin, or forehead. Take up thy bed and walk<snip>Edit: Just thought, if that happened I wouldn't be able to "push a button" and Atosser wouldn't assess me as "fit for Work", or would they?
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Please tell me ATOS aren't involved in any armed forces rehab centres anywhere....
'What do you mean, you've had both legs blown off and part of your left arm? You can still press a button with your other hand, can't you?'
'What do you mean, you've had both legs blown off and part of your left arm? You can still press a button with your other hand, can't you?'
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
Blimey. After being driven to despair by the DWP I'm now having money thrown at me. First I got into the ESA support group, then my DLA claim was approved, now it seems I'll probably get Serious Disability Premium, which I'd never even heard of. All of these payments are backdated for months and months because the whole process has taken so long, so I keep finding that a couple of grand has suddenly arrived in my bank account. It's all because I subscribed to the benefitsandwork.co.uk service - the best £19 I ever spent. I followed their advice to the letter and finally passed my ATOS medical at the third attempt.
One of the B&W top tips is never to simply ask your GP to answer a question on a form or write a letter - you have to give him or her a draft of what you want, or a list of points. And don't let anyone send anything on your behalf - you need to check it, maybe get it rewritten, control who it's sent to, make copies, attach them to other forms and so on.
So I gave my GP a list and he cottoned on to how important it was to my mental health to stop the ATOS/DWP torture, so he wrote that I was on suicide watch. I like to think that it wasn't quite that bad. But maybe it was close. And I would never have been that bad if the DWP hadn't suspended my ESA, which led to my housing benefits being stopped too. Anyway, I reckon that letter is worth £££££.
So if anyone wants me to send them some benefitsandwork documents just say so. You're also welcome to borrow my secret squirrel covert recording devices for your ATOS medical. I've got an audio one and a video one.
One of the B&W top tips is never to simply ask your GP to answer a question on a form or write a letter - you have to give him or her a draft of what you want, or a list of points. And don't let anyone send anything on your behalf - you need to check it, maybe get it rewritten, control who it's sent to, make copies, attach them to other forms and so on.
So I gave my GP a list and he cottoned on to how important it was to my mental health to stop the ATOS/DWP torture, so he wrote that I was on suicide watch. I like to think that it wasn't quite that bad. But maybe it was close. And I would never have been that bad if the DWP hadn't suspended my ESA, which led to my housing benefits being stopped too. Anyway, I reckon that letter is worth £££££.
So if anyone wants me to send them some benefitsandwork documents just say so. You're also welcome to borrow my secret squirrel covert recording devices for your ATOS medical. I've got an audio one and a video one.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Brilliant news, Frusemious B, well done you 
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
I've been a suscriber for 4-5 years now. Worth every penny, even though it can be hard to afford.
Agreed. I haven't needed a letter for DLA or ESA yet (I'm still on IB), but I'll be doing so, even if I have to pay for it (about £50 from my GP surgery). Of course, my other problem is that I haven't seen a specialist for over a decade, which could count against me in an ESA assessment, but why would I waste a consultant's time when all they're going to do is say "keep taking the tablets" (even so, I'm currently hoping for a rheumatology appt from my GP, plus she wants to send me to the "memory clinic")?
TBF, "suicide watch" can mean anything from constant monitoring under commitment, to getting you to come in once a fortnight or month to discuss hoe you're doing. It's a nice "loose" phrase.
I've forwarded the B & W "how to" documents to at least a dozen people, most of whom have said how useful they are. I've also used them for my own and other claims, all of which that have had good results!
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
I keep wondering to myself if Frumious B's surname is Andersnatch. 
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
I tried Bandersnatch but it was too many characters. 
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