PIP Q13 Going out

I have worked through responses for Mrs Phij using you excellent guides and information. Thankyou for the excellent work you doing and the good resources. I am left with one detail I would like to clarify. Mrs P has fibromyalgia that means she has continuous pain scores between 5 and 8 out of 10 when she is at home. The only times she has left home in the last 4 years are to go to medical optical and dental appointments which I take her to. Any form of travel risks setting off muscle spasms which can take days to subside. Clearly taking a journey independently is impossible, but notionally she would qualify for 13e if she did try to take a journey. But presumably 13f would apply as it is pain that would prevent her from going out and that is a physical rather than a psychological distress?

Thanks Gordon, I probably haven't expressed the situation with respect to pain very well, let me try to clarify. Mrs P does not go out on any trips unless they are unavoidable because of the level of pain that she would experience. Even travelling in a car driven by me ie someone who knows her well and is able to give her the smoothest ride possible is something she avoids if atall possible. Mrs P does not even go out for a drive to a shop or a restaurant etc.

Any independent journey would involve either walking or public transport. Either option would result in pain levels that would cause both psychological distress and inability to navigate a route.

I'm not sure what else I could say to express that pain can actually stop you taking journeys. What I can say is that when she was last travelling independently before we left the city 5 years ago, there were occasions where she was in so much pain that she sat on the side of the pavement crying and unable to get home. Her levels of pain are much higher now than then. The wider context is that this is someone who takes morphine daily and is only out of bed for a few hours a day.

What I drafted in my response for this activity includes the following "In the event that she tried to follow a journey route she knew by foot or public transport she would shortly be in so much pain that she would be reduced to tears unable to communicate with anyone trying to help her. This situation occurred on more than one occasion when Mrs P travelled alone before leaving the city in 2012. Today her condition is worse and pain would prevent her from following the route successfully. In addition to her physical pain, travelling alone with strangers would be distressing."

Himphij, can I be bold and post a suggestion, as I also suffer with fibro, I can't take trips and rely on friends to take me places as it's the fibro fog and short term memory that I cudnt get on a bus or train as I wud be forgetting where I'm going or what I have to do,, I forget things because of fibromyalgia, hope this helps u a bit