Can I claim PIP for Fibromyalgia?

Can I Claim pip for Fibromyalgia:

This guide provides insights into Fibromyalgia and its potential impact on daily living and mobility. It explains how Fibromyalgia might affect your ability to carry out everyday activities safely, effectively, accurately, and repeatedly.

People with Fibromyalgia suffer from various symptoms and will have different experiences on different days. No two people are the same but common characteristics of Fibromyalgia that may influence PIP claims include:

Widespread Pain – The pain can often be continuous although more severe at certain times and can often be concentrated in certain parts of the body.
Sensitivity – Even the lightest touch can leave people in pain and noises, smells and bright lights can cause discomfort.
Fatigue – Even after a long sleep people with Fibromyalgia wake up tired and exhausted. Even the smallest tasks can make you feel wiped out and in need of rest.
Brain fog – Poor memory both short and long term, inability to focus, poor concentration and attention.
Sleep problems – Pain disrupts sleep and causes non-restorative sleep.
Stiffness – Muscle stiffness can make moving difficult, particularly if you have been in the dame position for a while.
Fibromyalgia can also link and flare up other conditions such as IBS, migraines, anxiety & depression

Other symptoms or issues related to Fibromyalgia should also be considered during the claims process.

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Daily living descriptors

The following sections outline the daily activities assessed in PIP claims and how Fibromyalgia may affect them. This is not an exhaustive list; ensure all relevant details are included in your application.

1. Preparing Food

Fibromyalgia can impact how you prepare a simple meal in a variety of ways:

If you have any aids in the kitchen such as a perching stool, make sure you include this on your PIP claim.
Widespread pain may affect your ability to stand for long periods and prepare/cook a simple meal from fresh ingredients.
Cannot chop or peel due to pain in your hands, arms or shoulders. Do you have someone help or use pre-chopped or frozen vegetables, do you rely on ready meals or takeaways.
Struggle/cannot hold or lift a pot or pan or drain something? Pain in your hands, arms or shoulders may affect your ability to do this. What do you do instead? do you have assistance, someone there to help, do you just have food you can microwave or that doesn’t need preparing or cooking.
Muscle weakness or pain in your arms or hands may cause you to drop hot things making it unsafe for you to do this without supervision or assistance. Does someone stay with you in the kitchen to ensure your safe?
Pain, fatigue and stiffness may mean that cooking takes longer due to taking rest periods between preparation and cooking.
Exhaustion Do you need to rest during or after cooking? How long for?
Fibromyalgia related cognitive issues (fibro fog), you may have difficulty following cooking instructions and overlook use-by dates. You may not be able to prepare food to an acceptable standard.
Fibro fog or the effects of poor sleep may mean that you sometimes forget that you are cooking and so leave pans to burn, making it unsafe for you to do this without supervision or assistance.
Extreme fatigue may mean that you are too tired to cook as often as reasonably required, how many meals do you eat a day? You may batch cook on one day when you feel better in preparation for your bad days.
Pins and needles like sensation in your hands and fingers may mean that hold a sharp knife to cut things or lift hot pans may not be safe and you need assistance.
Extreme sensitivity to heat may mean that you can’t stay in the kitchen when things are cooking.
Low mood, lack of motivation may mean that you can’t get motivated to cook and will just simple eat what is to hand or need prompting to go and cook or keep cooking. You may be reliant on someone else preparing you meals for you.

2. Eating and Drinking

You may experience the following when eating and drinking:

You may have difficulty remembering to eat either due to fibro-fog, pain in your stomach or lack of motivation. Do you need someone to prompt you to eat?
If you have lost weight or been prescribed supplement drinks due to not eating include this on your PIP claim.
Pins and needles like sensation or pain in your fingers and hands may mean that you struggle with cutting up your food. How do you manage this now? Do you only eat soft food or finger foods, do you need assistance to cut food.
You may have dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) leading to a risk or fear of choking, do you require assistance cutting up food into small enough pieces or supervision when eating and drinking.
Due to pain, numbness or pins and needle in your hands do you need to use an aid like adapted cutlery or cup?
Fatigue may make it difficult to eat and you may need support from another to convey food to your mouth. Or you may miss meals because you simply don’t have the energy to eat or need to pace and save your energy for something else.

3. Managing Treatments

This descriptor examines how you manage health-related treatments, and you may find:

Brain fog may mean you forget to take your medication, or you need to be prompted or reminded by another to take it.
A dosette box may need to be used to remind you to take your medication.
Pain – you may be going for physio to try and help with pain, and you may need support, prompting or assisting in doing the exercises at home.
Fatigue may make it difficult for you to complete the exercises.

4. Washing and Bathing

This looks at the ability of being able to bath or shower and what issues you may experience:

Extreme Fatigue & weakness Supervision is needed because you struggle to wash yourself.
You may only be able to wash on certain days and poor energy levels. If you use pacing, you may have to plan what days you will wash based on other activities you need to do that day.
You may have to wash one handed while you hold onto to something and therefore not complete the activity thoroughly.
Grab rails are needed to prevent accidents because you struggle with your balance. You may need a bath seat as you cannot stand for long enough and you are at risk of falling.
Hypersensitivity and pain may mean you avoid the activity or make it very difficult to do.
How often do you manage to wash on a weekly basis? If you cannot wash as much as you would like you should mention it.
Extreme fatigue – after washing you may need to lie down and rest as you are exhausted by washing. You should mention that after washing you cannot do anything else as that has used all your energy.

5. Managing Toilet needs or Incontinence

This descriptor is about the ability to use a toilet independently and to be able clean yourself afterwards and have no continence issues:

Exhaustion and extreme fatigue may mean you need support from another person to get on and off the toilet.
Accidents/Incontinence You should explain that you have accidents because you cannot get to the toilet in time due to fatigue, pain and weakness. You may need to wear pads to prevent accidents. You may avoid going to places unless you know where the toilets are.
IBS is a common symptom of Fibromyalgia with constipation or diarrhoea being a regular occurrence. You may also have pain and cramps.
Aids need to be used because you struggle to get yourself on or off the toilet e.g. raised toilet seat, toilet frame, grab rail etc.

6. Dressing and Undressing

This looks at whether you can dress and undress yourself and choose appropriate clothing:

Are you able to use open/close fastenings on clothes?
You may need help from someone to get dressed/undressed because you struggle to get clothes on/off because of pain, fatigue or weakness. · Skin sensitivity -fabrics and textures may be an issue as you don’t like the feel of them on your skin and they hurt you.
Pacing may make you choose not to get dressed on days that you don’t need to. You may have other things that you need to do so you choose not to dress as it will make you too fatigued.
Does it take you a long time to get dressed? You may have to rest whilst getting dressed. You may have to rest afterwards.
If you cannot do this activity repeatedly you need to say.
Depression may mean you do not have the motivation to get dressed and someone may need to prompt you.

7. Communicating Verbally

This descriptor looks at someone’s ability to verbally communicate and to be able to express and convey information and to be able to receive and understand information:

The ability to retain and remember information you have been told is not taken into consideration.
You need an electro larynx or hearing aid/s in order to speak/hear to an acceptable standard.
You may use British Sign Language (BSL) or Makaton or a digital speech device to communicate.
This can be a difficult activity to get points for when looking at Fibromyalgia as it is about your physical ability to communicate verbally.

8. Reading understanding Signs, Symbols and Words

This relates to the ability to read and understand written or printed information:

You may use an aid to help you to read e.g. a magnifying glass, permanent retinal implant, Braille, text in a larger font size etc.
t’s important to note that retaining, retaining and remember the information you have read wis not part of the criteria. · This is often a difficult activity to get points for with fibromyalgia because although brain fog and exhaustion may make you too tired to read, the assessment is looking at whether you can read or not.
They look at your ability to read your primary language (if not English).
You want get points if you are illiterate unless you have a cognitive condition or learning disability.

9. Engaging with Other people Face to Face

In this descriptor they look at your ability to engage with other people. How does Fibromyalgia affect this activity:

If you have any aids that support your ability to engage with other people face to face such as noise cancelling headphones or sunglasses, make sure you include them in your PIP claim.
Due to low mood, lack of motivation you may find you can’t get motivated to mix with other people. Do you need prompting or support to mix with other people?
Due to fibro-fog, fatigue, poor attention or the side effects of your medication, you may find it difficult to follow conversations and require prompting or support from another person.
Due to fibro fog, fatigue, poor attention or the side effects of your medication it may be hard for you to join in conversations because you speak slowly or lose your train of thought. Do you need prompting or support to partake in conversations?
Due to sensitivity to light and sound you may find it difficult following what people are saying in bright or noisy environments. Do you need support or an aid to manage this?
Due to anxiety or symptoms of depression do you become extremely distressed when dealing with people.
Due to frequent urination or bowel issues do you feel self-conscious about potential having an accident so just avoid going out and engaging with people?

Mobility descriptors

These evaluate how Fibromyalgia may affect mobility related tasks. This is not an exhaustive list; ensure all relevant details are included in your application.

1. Planning and Following a Journeys

Fibromyalgia may make planning and following a journey challenging:

You may struggle to plan or navigate an unfamiliar journey without support from someone else because of brain fog.
You may be overwhelmed trying to plan a journey either in a car or using public transport as it makes you too tired and anxious.
You may need someone to go with you if the place is unfamiliar because of the pain and weakness you experience as this makes you feel very anxious.
Pacing you can have good days and bad days with Fibromyalgia and may need to conserve your energy for other activities. You may have to cancel appointments because on the day you are too exhausted or in too much pain to undertake it.
You may worry that if you manage the outward journey but fail to do the return journey you will be stranded so avoid altogether.
Could you repeat the journey, or would you be too tired?

2. Moving around

This is how far you can work either unaided or aided, on a flat surface, outside:

Remember if you can walk 200m but you stop 4 times, then you divide 200m by 4 meaning you can only manage to walk 50m. You must be able to do this activity reliably, repeatedly and safely. So think about a journey that you feel confident walking on the majority of days. Work out how far it is and how long it takes you. It is best where possible to time yourself doing the journey so that you have precise information.
You may choose not to walk somewhere if you have other things to do that will require your energy.
You may have too much pain to be able to do it or you have to walk at a very slow pace.
You should mention if you have someone with you to keep you safe or steady.
Think about whether you could do this journey 4 – 7 days a week.

Finally…

It is important that when you complete your PIP form, that you include how Fibromyalgia affects you in relation to each descriptor. Ensure that you give specific examples, under each descriptor, where you have struggled due your Fibromyalgia, where appropriate. It is important that you include any aids, adaptations or support/supervision that you need to help you complete each activity, where appropriate.

Please remember that this is not a complete list and if you have other symptoms or conditions that affect this descriptor, they need to be included on your PIP claim. More information can be found at www.gov.uk