Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Griffin wrote: Can your diabetes supply any evidence in support of the probability of CFS? If it has not been formally diagnosed, you can't do more than say it is suspected but evidence of this is supportive of that claim. Have you talked to your GP about the possible CFS? You may want to ask for a referral so a formal diagnosis can be made. If you have CFS symptoms, I hope your life is not too badly affected.

Gordon wrote: Kev

The DWP do treat ME/CFS seriously but the variability of the condition can cause problems in describing your limitations, my experience is that even Tribunals struggle with Post exertional Malaise, so you might want to include a brief reference document this with a link to the source.

One of things that you really need to do is establish the maximum you can do quite clearly or you risk them making assumptions, for PIP the test is the "majority of days" so I would avoid using percentages and refer to days a week or month and weeks a year. For ESA the test is less clear.

Be clear about rest periods and go into detail about how you are affected if you over do and how long the effects of your doing so can persist. For PIP having to take a break after activity can mean that you are not doing it reliably.

It's always a good idea to break the activities down into smaller tasks so you can be more explicit in the problems that you have.

Gordon