ESA50 Wording

Hi Gordon,

thanks for your response, I found that confusing at first because the original person that filled in my ESA50 never mentioned a wheelchair but then someone else pointed it out to me a few months ago and the guide explains brilliantly about it.

Using a wheelchair would be just as bad if not worse than me using a stick, using a stick causes me a lot of pain in my shoulders, arms and hands, it also causes cramps and pins and needles, a wheelchair would cause the same thing plus it would affect my back, tailbone, hips etc as sitting as it is, is also uncomfortable. I have included info about using my walking stick and have explained that I wouldn't be able to use a wheelchair and why.

Actually while we are on this subject, I'll post below what my son and I have done in regards to moving around and steps. I was thinking about steps and rails though, I always suffer from pain in my shoulders, arms and hands, can this be considered in regards to using steps?

A bit anxious about posting the info below because I don't know if I've done it properly and I tend to doubt myself a lot due to my low confidence but as the people on here seem quite understanding and helpful, I thought I'd ask for opinions. I don't want the form to be a mass of rambling or overstating etc.

Q1 Moving around and steps

I’ve not ticked any of the boxes above because none apply to me.

Because of my fibromyalgia which causes chronic widespread pain, muscle stiffness and weakness and fatigue and vertigo which causes me to have balance problems, I am always in significant pain and discomfort when mobilising, I can walk 20 meters but not safely, reliably or repeatedly. This affects me both inside and outside of my home.

The pain is located in my back, hips, knees, legs, ankles and feet which cause significant discomfort when mobilising, due to my vertigo I lose my balance which has caused me to fall on to furniture and my son also has helped me to regain my balance. I have to take regular breaks due to the pain, fatigue and dizziness, after exertion I would have to rest for the rest of the day and following days.

When I go out, I use a walking stick to try and help the pain and my balance problems but it worsens the pain in my hands, arms and shoulders and causes me to have cramps in my hands and pins and needles. I wouldn’t be able to use a wheelchair, it would worsen the pain in my neck, shoulders, arms, hands, back, hips, ribs and tailbone and it would impact my fatigue and I’d get out of breath.

I was assessed and moved from my previous home to a bungalow by the council due to me having problems with mobilising and using the stairs and steps there.

I am like this all of the time; I rarely go out partly due to my mobility issues and the added anxiety/worry of falling.

Steps

I can climb 2 steps with the use of a rail but I feel it is important to mention that I cannot do this safely or repeatedly due to my fibromyalgia which causes chronic widespread pain, muscle stiffness and weakness and fatigue, I also have vertigo which causes me balance problems.

Using steps or stairs causes the pain in my back, hips, legs, knees, ankles and feet to worsen, I also become short of breath and it impacts my fatigue.

There are two steps at the back of my property which I have fallen on in the past due to the lack of a rail for me to support myself. As a result, I often don’t go into the garden, due to me having
agoraphobia I rarely go out and therefore my garden is the only outside time that I get.

As stated in moving around, I was assessed and moved from my previous home to a bungalow by the council due to me having problems with mobilising and using the stairs and steps there.

Thank you Catherine, I really appreciate your opinion and kind words, it's refreshing to join a forum and not have people who sound abrupt, there's only one other forum that I've joined where the people are just as nice as the ones on here and they support survivors of abuse.

It's great being able to post and having people reassure you, especially when you don't trust or like people very much (no offence).

If I come across anyone that needs benefit advice, I'll definitely recommend this site/forum. The amount of information that has been put into the guides as well is mind blowing, I can't imagine how long they must have taken to write.