Desperate

Hi all,

Been a while since I've been on the site.

Last year I had Whooping Cough for four months. Amazingly my arthritis went into complete remision and for the first time in fifteen years I didn't take prednisilone. I was also off my ANTI-TNF Tomoxilab (excuse spelling).

Ever since I've recovered from whooping cough I've been in flare up. I'm now back on ANTI-TNF and taking Hydoxycholorquine, naproxen, paracetamol and dihydrocodine. I'm in a lot of pain which is effecting my sleep and also triggering my neuro condition (syringomyelia). When I inject into my stomach my skin bruises really badly and a large round lump appears which takes a couple of weeks to fade.

With a lot of support from my wife I'm still able to work, I'm a psychotherapist and supervisor and would like to run my own clinic. I work a lot of hours in order to support my family and fitting appointments around work is a nightmare. My local council is also chaning and restricting all the disabled bays to a maximum stay of three hours which leaves it near on impossible for me to park near work.

My DLA is also being assessed for PIP which is stressful. I'm a wheelchair user for any distance over twenty metres. The rent for our terraced house is £1,500 per month which is cheap for our area and when we moved in there was raw sewage running down the outside steps, there was a serious damp problem in the loft, the glass was falling out the backdoor window and we had a flea infestation. The house was in very poor repair and the letting agents didn't want to do any work. Thankfully my wife is very resourceful and managed to get the landlords email address and we've been in contact with her. Together we have got the work done but in spite of us wanting a direct contract we are still tied into the agents paying them £200.00 a month for doing nothing.

I'm really struggling. I need/want more housing security and need. a house that better supports me. I often fall down one of the many flights of steps we have. I'm working a minimum 40 hours a week to just about stay afloat financially and can't save for a deposit. I'm aware this isn't sustainable and aware of the destruction of my body and yet I'm trapped.

I really love my work but could do with working twenty rather than forty + hours. I would love to own my own home which would support me and my family better but the maths don't work. I want to be free from pain I feel like giving up. I'm doing all that the government says it wants disabled people to do but I'm being sabotaged