Teacher, 26, left housebound for months after suddenly falling seriously ill - Manchester Evening News

A 26-year-old woman says she has been left "housebound for months at a time" after suddenly developing a debilitating chronic illness that has stopped her from living a "normal life". Beth Walsh is now fundraising for an electric wheelchair to help her regain some of her independence.

Beth, a high school teacher from Bolton, first became ill in late 2021 when, seemingly overnight, she was hit by what she describes as a "massive wave of unrelenting pain." She said: "A couple of years ago I got really, really sick. I ended up bedbound for about three months.

"I couldn't cook my own food, I could barely get up and down the stairs - I was basically just living in my room. It was such a jarring experience because I'd always been so independent."

After months of pain, repeated GP appointments and little improvement, Beth and her family paid for a private rheumatology consultation. There, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, hypermobility, and is now being investigated for PoTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).

"It was a relief to finally have someone say, 'This is what's wrong,'" she said. "But the treatment process has been really hard. Even now I'm trying to find a medication that works, and I've been on the waiting list for the pain clinic for over a year."

Although Beth experiences symptoms all year round, the winter months are devastating and she has been forced to use a wheelchair to get about when the temperature drops. "Every year when it gets cold, I really struggle with pain and mobility," she explained.

"My elbows hurt so much I can't even do my own makeup. My mum used to wash my hair because I couldn't do it myself. My partner has carried me up the stairs before.

"In the summer I look like a completely regular person. I can go to my Pilates class and I can walk around. But come winter I lose that independence completely. It's such a contradiction to how I am the rest of the year."

Last winter, Beth reached a point where she could barely leav