Actually the OP isn't alone. The controls aren't an issue for me, but over the last 10 years I've gamed now and then with the same bunch of lads online, and of these lads, 5 or so of them bought ED when it was released along with myself. All of them had trouble with the controls and stopped playing the day they bought it.
I remember they asked me how to do something, like how to send an in-game message, and I replied "Okay, you press 2, E, S, space, ..." and we all burst out laughing before I finished.