Mobility aids have made a big difference to my quality of life and my safety, although it was a hard process deciding to use them. How do you feel about using mobility aids?
I have fibromyalgia, and I use a cane or elbow crutch when I'm going for longer walks. Around the house or shorter distances, I don't use them. There have been times when I was walking, and my legs were hurting bad, that I wished I had a wheelchair. I hope you continue to find ways to help you manage your situation.......Peace to you and your family.
Thank you! It's hard when things are variable and you don't know in advance which mobility aid is needed. Even now I have the wheelchair, I sometimes go somewhere without it and think I could really use the wheelchair right now! I hope you can access a wheelchair if you find you need it. Take care x
I think the first part was acknowledging that using them could help me. I was struggling to accept being housebound after an operation when it dawned on me that maybe a wheelchair could help. I had to overcome some guilt because I can stand and walk short distances and I thought that meant I shouldn't use a wheelchair. That seems to be a common misconception because there are lots of reasons for using a wheelchair besides paralysis and I had to educate myself about that. I am a fall risk and I take a lot of measures to make sure I don't fall at home. Such as, holding on to furniture and door frames at home and being supervised/ helped when getting out of the bath or shower. My struggles with walking and staying upright also impact on anyone I'm with if I'm out of the house and I wanted to make things easier on others and feel less guilty myself. I mentioned it to my doctor and he understood why I thought it might help but thought it was unlikely I would get any help from wheelchair services because I only needed it some of the time. After talking to my husband and other family members (and googling part time wheelchair use a lot!) I decided to hire a wheelchair from the red cross for a few weeks to see if it really would help. It did help but had it's limitations. I couldn't push myself very far and it was a very heavy chair. I recognised that I would need someone to push me and that buying a lightweight chair would be important. I heard a lot about people becoming reliant on wheelchairs and deconditioning their leg muscles but I found that I still prefer to use my legs when I'm feeling well enough and that saving some energy when out and about means I have more energy to get out and about. That makes a huge difference to my mental health. I also had to get over feeling embarrassed about being seen in a chair and feeling very vulnerable with someone else pushing me. I like to be in control and some people are better at pushing than others! I got used to both those feelings with time and I've learnt to communicate better when someone is pushing and explain what to do and how I like them to do it. My sister gave me a great tip for elevators - face into a corner or the wall in case the elevator gets full. If you're facing out you end up at crotch height with anyone standing and no one likes that! The only way for me to know for sure if mobility aids were the way forward was to try them. I'm glad I trusted my instincts because the payback from going out without my wheelchair is brutal! Getting the wheelchair led to getting the electric wheelchair for walking the dog and giving me more independence. The rollator came when I was having a lot of problems moving around the house safely. It is currently tucked away under the stairs as I don't need it at the moment but it's there if I have a bad POTS day or a really good day and want to walk somewhere. This ended up being a longer reply than I thought lol I hope I answered your question! :)
It varies. At the moment I can walk without support for short periods of time, so I can move around my house ok but a year ago I needed to use a walker or hold on to furniture and grab rails. I still sometimes have days where I need that again. Right now I use my manual wheelchair the most because it is easy to take with me and I usually have someone with me who can push up hills and when I'm too tired.
![It's time to sit down... // Mobility Aids 1 [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/e77wkKOnC6s/mqdefault.jpg)
Mobility aids have made a big difference to my quality of life and my safety, although it was a hard process deciding to use them. How do you feel about using mobility aids?
I have fibromyalgia, and I use a cane or elbow crutch when I'm going for longer walks. Around the house or shorter distances, I don't use them. There have been times when I was walking, and my legs were hurting bad, that I wished I had a wheelchair. I hope you continue to find ways to help you manage your situation.......Peace to you and your family.
Thank you! It's hard when things are variable and you don't know in advance which mobility aid is needed. Even now I have the wheelchair, I sometimes go somewhere without it and think I could really use the wheelchair right now! I hope you can access a wheelchair if you find you need it. Take care x
What was the process like in deciding to use mobility aids?
I think the first part was acknowledging that using them could help me. I was struggling to accept being housebound after an operation when it dawned on me that maybe a wheelchair could help. I had to overcome some guilt because I can stand and walk short distances and I thought that meant I shouldn't use a wheelchair. That seems to be a common misconception because there are lots of reasons for using a wheelchair besides paralysis and I had to educate myself about that. I am a fall risk and I take a lot of measures to make sure I don't fall at home. Such as, holding on to furniture and door frames at home and being supervised/ helped when getting out of the bath or shower. My struggles with walking and staying upright also impact on anyone I'm with if I'm out of the house and I wanted to make things easier on others and feel less guilty myself. I mentioned it to my doctor and he understood why I thought it might help but thought it was unlikely I would get any help from wheelchair services because I only needed it some of the time.
After talking to my husband and other family members (and googling part time wheelchair use a lot!) I decided to hire a wheelchair from the red cross for a few weeks to see if it really would help. It did help but had it's limitations. I couldn't push myself very far and it was a very heavy chair. I recognised that I would need someone to push me and that buying a lightweight chair would be important.
I heard a lot about people becoming reliant on wheelchairs and deconditioning their leg muscles but I found that I still prefer to use my legs when I'm feeling well enough and that saving some energy when out and about means I have more energy to get out and about. That makes a huge difference to my mental health.
I also had to get over feeling embarrassed about being seen in a chair and feeling very vulnerable with someone else pushing me. I like to be in control and some people are better at pushing than others! I got used to both those feelings with time and I've learnt to communicate better when someone is pushing and explain what to do and how I like them to do it. My sister gave me a great tip for elevators - face into a corner or the wall in case the elevator gets full. If you're facing out you end up at crotch height with anyone standing and no one likes that!
The only way for me to know for sure if mobility aids were the way forward was to try them. I'm glad I trusted my instincts because the payback from going out without my wheelchair is brutal! Getting the wheelchair led to getting the electric wheelchair for walking the dog and giving me more independence. The rollator came when I was having a lot of problems moving around the house safely. It is currently tucked away under the stairs as I don't need it at the moment but it's there if I have a bad POTS day or a really good day and want to walk somewhere.
This ended up being a longer reply than I thought lol I hope I answered your question! :)
Which do you use the most? Also can you walk with out leaning on to something?
It varies. At the moment I can walk without support for short periods of time, so I can move around my house ok but a year ago I needed to use a walker or hold on to furniture and grab rails. I still sometimes have days where I need that again. Right now I use my manual wheelchair the most because it is easy to take with me and I usually have someone with me who can push up hills and when I'm too tired.