Inside a CPAD Assessment: What Actually Happens When an Insurer Tests Your Ability to Work with ME

If you’ve been diagnosed with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis), you may already know that a lack of treatment and dead ends for support are common. Where insurance is concerned - a benefit from my employer in this case. A Chronic Pain Ability Determination (CPAD) assessment is designed to test whether you’re fit to work, usually at the request of an insurer that wants to verify, stop, or reduce a payout. I’ve written before about my ME diagnosis but going into these sessions I’ve had about a month of spontaneous remission from severe levels to what I’d now call mild or near-recovered, aside from ongoing autonomic dysfunction and some sleep issues. I have been able to cycle for an hour, walk 2 miles etc without any Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM) at all. This post isn’t about that history though. It’s about what actually happens inside a CPAD assessment, step by step, so other ME patients facing one know roughly what to expect. Although my remission and ability to do the assessment should…