claiming DLA for dietary issues?

[bethylou]

I've posted in SEN too, but just wondering if any of you have experience of claiming DLA for dietary issues. I've posted before about ds1's dietary stuff. Today we finally heard that his endoscopy and colonoscopy were both clear so he does not gave Coeliac disease or anything else specific. He just can't tolerate dairy or gluten. It had made him anaemic, lethargic, given him tummy pains etc..

The additional things we do are around visits to our regional children's hospital, making and buying foods that he can eat etc.. Personally, I'm used to recommending DLA to families of children with disabilities but the health visitor wants me to claim it. I'm just not sure we'd qualify and it's a massive form to fill in if we're likely to get turned down.

I think the usual 'test' is whether he needs more 'help and support' than a typical child his age. So it not whether he attends more hospital appointments but whether he requires more care to do typical things of a child his age. Don't know whether that's any help?

Thanks. I guess it depends whether cooking separate meals etc.. counts. There's certainly a financial implication, especially now we know he doesn't have Coeliac disease, so won't get stuff on prescription.

I'm not saying you wouldn't but tbh I would think it highly unlikely. Children who require constant 24hour 1:1 supervision in case they stop breathing often have to go to appeal and then can be refused if they haven't got enough evidence or don't use the correct buzz words.

I think your HV has been reading too much of the daily fail tbh.

I think your HV has been reading too much of the daily fail tbh.

How on earth can you apply for DLA just because you can't eat some foods?

Have you looked at the form? There's an online one, there are 30 sections that ask about what support they need over a typical child the same age, I can't see that you'd be able to fill in more than 2 of them at a push, so I think it's unlikely as well

My DS gets middle rate DLA because he has life-threatening allergies, severe eczema & asthma. I would never have thought we could claim until a friend mentioned it & was amazed when we were successful. Main reason I believe Is impact on daily life eg has to be watched constantly due to risk of anaphylaxis, can't go to friends' houses for tea etc

yes, go for it , you wont know until you try!

dd2 has it for her cystic fibrosis care daily nebs, twice daily physio, meds with every meal which have to be worked out for each portion, home iv's if unwell.... But she was refused first off it went to mid rate on appeal.

Our DD1 (and to some extent dd3) sound similar to your ds she can not tolerate dairy or soya, separate meals etc etc. I have been advised by a paed continence nurse to claim for DLA but I do not belive given the challenge we faced with dd2 we would have a hope in hell, (I told the nurse the same!)

Hi Bethylou - I remember you from the "vomiting" thread some time ago, though I was under a different name then.

My HV also told me to claim DLA due to ds2's constant projectile vomiting and the subsequent implications of that (dp had to give up work for a year, then I took a year's unpaid leave, now I have dropped my hours to 50% to take care of ds2). Basically ds2 is dairy allergic, but also suffered with eosinophilic esophagitis, which symptomatically is rather like reflux. He projectile vomited 6 or more times per day, we did not get to leave the house for about 2 years and he is still somewhat underweight and food phobic as a result. We actually didn't claim DLA as when we read the blurb it didn't look as though we would be eligible, though the HV said she would sign the necessary paperwork. I certainly think it may be worth a go.

Surely not

I tried claiming DLA for DS's life-threatening allergies and didn't get it. I didn't bother appealing, although I still think he meets many of the criteria. I asked the anaphylaxis campaign to ask if it was worth claiming, and they said that some people with allergies do get DLA, mostly if they also have asthma and eczema as well (DS has only mild asthma, and his eczema has now pretty much cleared up).

Am amazed by the people on this thread who think it's unreasonable to claim 'just because can't eat certain things'. Do any of you live with allergies?

DS diet is very limited, we have to cook everything from scratch and food costs a fortune (about half our income!) We are pretty much scraping the overdraft every month. He has to be watched all the time because he has sometimes reacted quite severely on skin contact to traces of food, his allergies limit where we can go (e.g. pre-school was unable to keep him safe so after a few taster sessions which scared the living daylights out of me he doesn't go any more). He has never been to a friend's house for tea - his friends tend to come here instead.

I probably won't try claiming DLA again because now I work as a childminder, which brings in just enough to keep us afloat and means I can look after DS at the same time. However, I have often thought that we simply could not do this if we had any less money, and I am frankly terrified of DH losing his job.

It's nothing to do with whether you deserve it.
It is to do with whether you meet certain criteria, and if you can't imagine the lives of the people who do claim DLA, particularly higher rate, then perhaps research them. They get it because they individiully save the government hundreds of thousands of pounds that would otherwise be spent in complex care residential homes.

My DD gets HRC DLA for her many difficulties, she also has allergies, epipen etc and I'm afraid the care she needs for those is a minute fraction of the care she needs for her other issues.

so...yes, we live with allergies (eggs, fish, peanuts, lentils, peas, polyester, apple) to name a few

she has eczema too

We applied for DLA for DS's milk allergy (and deafness) and were told allergies don't require more care because "you'd have to make food for any child" . To be fair, they also said his deafness was not a disability because he had bilateral hearing aids "so that's fixed it then!"
You could give it a go, but get advice from allergy UK about wording to use etc. don't get your hopes up though.

I'm sure living with allergies is stressful and can be hard work, but DLA is awarded on needing support with certain things, things like walking, sleeping, using the toilet, communicating with others, getting dressed.

There is a section about eating, but it asks about whether they need tube feeding, cannot feed themselves, need to be made to eat because they won't or other kinds of help like that.

it is very hard to claim for food allergies im sorry to say .Ds has crohns and we was advised to claim as he struggles cna and does have accidents needs toilet alot gets tired .pain etc .At the moment can not face it and aware that at 14 they will likely say he is able to deal with it

But way things are heading we may well do so ( facing a colnstomy bag which obviosuly does take it up another level )

Yes, I do realise what it is like to live with a serious disability and, every time I am tempted to feel upset about DS's allergies I count our blessings because iit could be so much worse.

Like I said, am not planning to claim DLA, and am working as a childminder to bring in the extra money we need. However, I do still think that DS meets many of the criteria in terms of extra care and supervision required.

Sorry to hear so many of you are struggling, and I am not suggesting our situation is comparable with yours. I suppose I just felt a bit put out by the suggestion that life-threatening allergies on skin contact are not serious enough to be considered at all.

greenbanans

I know how tricky that is to well

Green, no-one said it was fair, nor that they don't have sympathy. I should imagine life can be very tough and worrying. But neither is DLA anywhere near enough for most people who claim it, so the point really is that the bar is set very high indeed.

Having said that, it is the most underclaimed benefit so it doesn't hurt to consider it.