shopmobility advice please

angeleyes90

Hey i'm 21, i suffer from left sided hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy and have done since birth i always was be able to walk far and it didn't bother me but this last month i had pains in both hips and the doctor said it was muscle spasms and put me on 8 painkillers a day but they haven't helped i can't walk as far as i could without feeling tired and it hurting a lot i recently got my DLA statement back from tribunal which was refused and they put i should of been prescribed a wheelchair or walking aid from an early age i have a splint but it doesn't help it makes me walk worse and this pain i'm suffering from as gotten worse i'm walking on my tip toes to try and reduce pain but it doesn't help as it's move into my legs and i'm in agony i'm back to the doctors on thursday to see what needs doing but what i'm really worried about is going to the shopping centre with my boyfriend as it's a big place i know they have a shopmobility there, Has anyone used it? Was it useful? My boyfriend thinks i should hire a wheelchair from there for the day but i don't know i feel like i'm giving up

angeleyes90

Hey thanks for that, yeah i will try shopmobility as i'm in a lot of pain while i walk now and i'm much worse than i was before my second operation so i refuse anymore surgery as i'm scared.

panther

Hi Angeleyes90

I'm 37 with dipegia cp that affects my legs. Like you in my early 20s I started to get a lot of pain in my back, hips, and tendons I also walk on my toes, there was numerous visits to the doctors before we found a combination of tablets that help with the pain. There are still good days and bad days and this time of year is always worse but keep going back to the doctors. Eventually I found a tablet called Dantrolene which is an anti spasmatic tablet and voltoral which is an antiimaflamatory tablet have helped me but it was a long process to find these. Everyone is different and reacts differently to the various tablets on offer but I'm sure you will get there.

With regards shopmobility I have never used it but in my late 20s I eventually got a manual wheelchair of my own, like you i hated it and felt I was giving up and as I struggled to push it due to cambers of the pavements I used to walk with it everywhere. Except when I went to shopping centres where it was nice and flat.

My boyfriend convinced me to look at it as my mode of transport like a car is his mode of transport, he also pointed out to me that isn't it better to go round the shopping centre in your chair then you can be out for as long as you like rather than only managing to go in to 2 or 3 shops then wanting to go home because you are too tired and in pain, amd then spending the next day in bed recovering.

Thinking of the chair as a mode of transport made me see the chair differently and with a lot of fundraising I got some new battery powered wheels to go on the chair to make it powered I still wheel it like a manual chair but the power makes it easier. Due to bunion surgery and other surgeries that have had to follow that (all of which have been moaned about on here somewhere!) I now need my chair all the time when I am out I manage without it indoors but my attitude towards it has really changed it now enables me to go out more and spend more time shopping etc as I'm not so tired and in pain after without the chair I'd be lost.

Don't see hiring a wheelchair or a mobility scooter as giving in see it as a way for you to have a nice day of retail therapy with your boyfriend.
Hope this post has helped you see you wouldn't be giving up or giving into your disability. In the meantime keep badgering your gp for medication that works for you it took me months to find mine I think the gp got sick of the sight of me!

Helen