When it comes to a physical assessment the examining doctor can only record and report what he/she finds at the time of the examination. This notion that he will note a non-existent symptom is wrong and it would be unethical for him/her to do that.
There is no point in telling the medic what happens on a bad day.
This cuts both ways - I know someone desperate to keep his driving licence for his job who unfortunately at the time of his medical was having a relapse. His pleas that on a good day he had no problems driving fell on deaf ears.
The bottom line is you will be assessed on your physical and mental state at the time of the assessment.
I kind of understand this but it doesn’t reflect what living with ms is like.
Thank you for underlining that point Zetland.
It shows how important it is to be fulsome on your forms for PIP/DLA and ESA. The advice to describe your “worst day” is out of date. It was probably a good idea before so many people had face to face assessments but will just lead to problems now.
On application forms – if you have a variable condition – you MUST quantify this. If the symptom is not evident 24/7 you need to say how much of the day/ week/month it is. The rule of thumb is 50%. (PIP has a nice little caveat that will accept that if a symptom appears just once a day it can be classed as occurring all day – that is really good for my fatigue because I can describe how I am in the pm when I need to sleep or drop, not just the morning when I am more alert)
If you are called for a medical on one of your better days but have filled the form in accurately you will have grounds to ask that the decision be looked at again if you are turned down. The medical is only one piece of the puzzle. If you have filled the form in with just ticks and the odd sentence or two it will be the deciding piece. It is up to us to describe our condition fully.