It's very difficult to be in the position my family are in right now, although I know there are other families all around the UK in the same state. My husband, myself, my 15 y/o and our small mad Yorkie have been made homeless. Our landlord wants to sell our flat.

Which is fair enough. However in the time since we moved here 5 years ago I've become severely disabled and a wheelchair user. My husband gave up his job as an Environmental Chemist for the Scottish Government to become my carer. I developed Fibromyalgia which has become an all-encompassing, debilatating overwhelming part of my life. It causes an unbelivable amount of pain, constant fatigue and even on a good day it feels as though I have severe flu.

I was also diagnosed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy the same year, which it turns out I've had since I was a toddler. I have sensation seizures where it feels like my body is moving in space. My limbs grow long, heavy and thick. My tongue fels as though it has swollen in my mouth. I see and hear things that aren't there, like small birds that alight on fireplaces where they just can't be. I feel an impending sense of alternating dread and euphoria. My body gets heavy and it feels as though I'm dying and being pulled up into the light. These are my auras and I live with them several times a day, even with medication. When stresssed like I am at the moment, they become a constant part of my life.

After getting the Fibromyalgia diagnosed it was  discovered I have another relatively rare condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome which is also a constant battle to manage. I was diagnosed with Bipolar in 2008 which I've lived with since childhood and I finally got to see the specialist team here in Edinburgh who diagnosed me with PTSD. 

As you can imagine I have to take an array of strong medications which have some pretty unpleasant side effect. I'm effectively housebound, although as we're flat hunting I'm forcing myself to get out of the house about twice a week to see viewings. What people don't see is that the entirety of the rest of my life is spent in bed. 24/7. The amount of stress it is causing on me, my husband and carer Martin and my teenager Adam is difficult to explain.

The hardest part is not the just the fact that:

- having a pet
- living on benefits
- needing a ground floor flat that we can get my wheelchair into
-needing to be close enough to James Gillespies High School (in the centre of Edinburgh) for Adam to get to school each day
- needing to stay close enough to my GP practice so I don't lose the best medical team I've ever had

all makes flat hunting seriously difficult. But the fact that, even with family help we've got to find £1500 in about a fortnight to be able to move. But we have no savings, nothing. Which is normal when you live hand to mouth on benefits. They aren't designed to be able to have any left to save!

But this worry about money and the physicality of flat hunting and packing up the house and moving is making me so sick I'll be bedbound for weeks if not months. Having the funds to cover the costs of deposit, first months rent, rent overlaps, inital insurance payment (all agencies who will accept us insist that tennants have their own contents insurance to protect the landlord), removals companies, extra packaging costs, right down to the costs of paying for items to be taken to the dump, would make our lives much less stressful right now.

Dealing with just the day to day pain while stressed (and having to move more than I actually can without causing injury) is extremely difficult. Moving house is proving to be a sheer nightmare. I'm having to take more painkillers to cope, Martin and my teenager are both having to do far more in the house than normal and packing the house while I'm stuck in bed in a haze of opioids is our lives right now.

 Edinburgh Council Homelessness Team are a last resort as they will put our wee 11lb Yorkie in kennels for an indefinite period while in temporary accommodation. We could be put into a furnished flat anywhere in the area of the city bypass of Edinburgh so Adam will have to move school in the middle of their S4 exams. There is even more demand for social housing now than there was last time I considered it 6 years ago. So the waiting list, even for those of us legally homeless, is over a year.

As you can imagine this is a really difficult time. But if we can raise the money it will mean we can pay the overlap between the two rents so we can move flats with a bit less stress, can clean the old flat so we get our deposit back and have a proper removals company help us move a flat full of belongings.

We all really hope this isn't too cheeky, but we're desperate and we're trying every avenue we can. If you can help us we will be eternally grateful. I will even be happy to give you knitting or crochet lessons for free if you wish. But thank you for reading this and thank you for thinking of us. We appreciate all the positive thoughts and offers of help to pack and move that we can get.

And just for added entertainment (and possible persuasion) this is a news article about our wee Gizlet and Martin at the PDSA last week

Yorkshire Terrier Gizmo freed after leg trapped