u/AvoCarDoughToes

England. Deductions have been made from Universal Credit claim, due to overpayment many people receiving ESA had in April after the annual uprating caused calculation errors.

Amount deducted recently exceeded overpayment amount on letter from UC; response in journal was to contact Debt Management, who then detailed that the deductions were continuing because there is an additional £250 debt recovery that was decided in March 2026, for a period of approx 10 months in 2022, by ESA.

ESA support group claim was active during that time until migration to UC in 2025. In early 2024, DWP were contacted (due to OCD-fuelled over checking) and told that there may have been some months during the pandemic where capital had gone over the minimum threshold, due to unspent PIP back payment, but unsure. This triggered a mishandled investigation, where the claim was suspended, investigation was started and 5 years of bank statements were sent.

After 3 months of suspended claim and resulting financial hardship/knock on rent & CT arrears, the investigation was closed, the decision maker did not send any comments but all money suspended during the 3 months was back paid. No deductions were made and no explanation was given, just a letter detailing the reinstated benefit and amount due to be repaid. They were aware the initial call had been made by someone in mental health crisis who was calling for reassurance, and still went nuclear...

2 years later, they have now decided a debt of £250 from 2022 is due. No letter was sent, this was only discovered from calling Debt Management. It is extremely strange that on the same month where an error was made in calculating ESA deductions, ESA have also 'found' a debt from 4 years ago, despite doing an in depth 5 year review in 2024 that went to a decision maker and came back as no overpayment made!

Any advice would be much appreciated, TIA.

I'm on the severe end of severe, improved from very severe using LDN since last year. Prescribed Mestinon (pyridostigmine bromide) last week with little to no guidance, have had to use online research to plan titration schedule.

Took for 2 days, 12mg twice on the first day, then 12mg only once on day 2. Had some dizziness and vertigo like feelings while taking.

In the 3 days after, I have become exhausted, sleeping for 9-10 hours and waking up fatigued, feeling drugged like I've stayed awake all night just 2 hours after waking.

It's gotten worse on day 3, migraine, light and sound sensitivity, body pain, swollen glands, neck pain, woke up drenched in sweat but temperature fluctuating, and now just started feeling like I need to vomit after sipping electrolytes.

I also feel extremely anxious and unnerved, I can't explain it.

I thought it was a crash from the 2 home medical appointments I had last week, or the "friend" who refuses to acknowledge my severe state and came banging on my front door at the weekend demanding I let her come and visit, or the safety engineer who had to come and do safety checks at my home and came yet again without a mask, requiring me to interact extensively.

But this doesn't feel like my usual crashes, where I lose the ability to move/breathe/talk. I feel like I have a stomach virus, flu, COVID and tooth infection all in one.

Has anyone else experienced this? Even if not from Mestinon....I just need someone to tell me I'm going to be ok. I have no one to call and I wouldn't have the capacity to talk to anyone anyway.

Please help

My current GP surgery employs a particular male receptionist who is extremely incompetent.

I was calling to chase a district nurse referral for bloods required by the hospital for a bedbound patient (new drug monitoring). This particular receptionist often doesn't understand simple requests, or I will alert him of an issue, he "looks into it", and proceeds to repeat back to me the very issue I JUST raised.

There was a mess up of requesting the housebound patient to come in for the bloods, instead of sending the referral, as the "GP" didn't bother to read the patient's file.

This receptionist said they would correct the mistake and send the referral to district nursing. I've now checked and seen the request form has been sent out, but most of the form is blank except the dates required. Blood sciences is completely blank, so no detail of what bloods are needed.

The form has the same GP's name printed, but is signed by the incompetent receptionist.

Is the receptionist permitted to do a bloods form instead of a GP? It seems he is carrying out tasks on behalf of one of the GPs and making silly errors on top.

Also, what happens when district nursing receives this form? Can the blood requirements be added later, or do I need to go back and ask for it to be done again properly?

It baffles my mind how many incompetent people seem to skate by making major mistakes and no repercussions.