Medical at home

Hi I have a medical at home on Monday, I'm so worried I have symptoms of crohns disease and have lost nearly 6 stone in a year, I'm on morphine based medication & take 32 pills a day. I'm so scared they will say I'm ok to work, my daughter in law used to be my carer but since I did my form she has moved and can't come every day, should I tell the dr that me & my hubby (who is also disabled, he has bi-polar disorder) struggle by on our own ATM or should I say my d-I-l still helps me, my hubby thinks we should be honest and say how hard it is struggling to cope each day. Please can anyone give us some advice I'm a nervous wreck

You don't say what the medical is for but you mention being ok for work, so I assume you mean that it is for ESA.

Whether you have a carer at home is not relevant for ESA. The test is about whether you can do particular things, not how you cope with your home life.

(Having a carer is relevant to DLA, but even then what matters is whether you reasonably need care, not whether you get it.)

I'm sorry to say that there is a bias built in to ATOS assessments which means that they assume you can do stuff OK unless you very clearly state otherwise.

So my advice is to set your pride firmly aside. Do NOT put on a brave face. Do not say 'we manage somehow'. Describe exactly how difficult things are on those days when your daughter-in-law is not there. If you have to leave things, like maybe the washing up, until she comes then definitely say "I cannot do this. Someone else has to."

And if you can only do a task with pain, difficulty or after-effects then it's best to say "I can't do that because it hurts, exhausts me, etc."

Good luck.
Andy.