14 replies to this topic

[WonderDerek]

A few days ago I started getting some sensations back from the waist on down and I think these feelings are actually my senesations coming back. Everyone else says that they're probably just ghost feelings and I DO get ghost feelings when I'm thinking about it and stuff like that but these feelings I'm getting.. I don't think about it, I feel something and I look and it's on the paralyzed extremety. Like when I take a shoe off I feel the sock come off or when I take a shower I feel the temperature change on my legs and the feelings are coming more often and it's beginning to feel like I can move my legs.

To anyone whom has actually gotten feeling and mobility back, how does it begin and how'd it stop? The sensations I'm getting are very dull(lighter than the light touch). Is this my subconscious playing tricks on me of is this really happening? Thanks guys?

[kanga2433]

Can you remind us what your injury was?

[WonderDerek]

Crushed my T9, T10 pushed forward, and T11 pushed out of alignment. Injury was said to to be at T10 and complete. I think, however, I am incomplete regardless of what doctors say.

Edited by WonderDerek, 02 May 2006 - 09:30 PM.

[Simon]

How long ago too?

[knightrider]

Hi there,
Im the same have been for a while,I had an RTA dec 04 and dislocated t7-8 and now t6 complete but have quite a few feelings like tight legs know when im not comfortable sitting slight temperature feelings like you,allsorts of feelings and can actually use some stomach muscles so to me i dont think im complete either! My cord was'nt severed either so lets hope these feelings are improvements which ofcourse they are because we wouln't feel them.
Is there anyone else like us here?

[WonderDerek]

My injury was 4 months ago, sorry.

Knightrider, I am also like you are with the muscles. I can use some muscles I was told I would not be able to use anymore due to the area and severity of the injury. Doctor said my spinal cord was the worse he's ever seen. I can now move from the waist up and can make my leg spasm sometimes(trying to send messages to my legs) or at least I hope . How were the feelings when you first started getting them? Do you ever think they are just ghost feelings?

[knightrider]

wonderderek, I've noticed like you that when i keep trying to move my toes one of them twitches,but thats after a while of trying say a minute, so its got to be something happening for it to do it. I don't think what we have it phantom fellings because i think you have to think about the part of the body that you want to feel to have phantom feelings. As we dont do that it cant be. Unless pain, But pain can be nerve pain from the damaged nerves trying to fire.

[WonderDerek]

I've been having pain since the rehab hospital. If I hit my leg a certain way, in a certain spot, it hurts. I feel temperature changes, like water or metal, sometimes touch and these are all when I'm not paying attention. I agree with you, knightrider.

[Stewart]

i agree if you beleive you have a feeling its there

[QuadMedic]

WonderDerek, on May 3 2006, 07:20 PM, said:

My injury was 4 months ago, sorry.

Mate you are still in the very early days ... everything before 3 years is considerd early and you still might get return. Keep trying!

[WonderDerek]

One thing that I deal with now is I don't have the sensations everyday, it comes every other day, every few days, etc. etc. Is my brain playing tricks on me?

[cazza]

If it makes you feel any better the guy Im dating was in an accident 9 months ago and was told he wouldnt walk again, and he is now! Not 100% sure on his level of injury yet- too scared to ask! But he is quite mobile now, can stand unaided and walks short distances with crutches! He is a bit of a stubborn bugger though, so thats probably why!

Hope this gives you some hope.

[Gary Anderson]

Wonderderek

Don't give up hope and don't let anyone tell you it is your brain playing tricks.

My best mate (already posted about this) was injured in Iraq in Nov 2004 with the US Army. He broke 3 bones (C5/6/7) in his neck and "burst" fractures of lumbar spine. He woke in hospital completely paralysed. Anyroads, after an op to stabilise his fractures, he felt sensation/movement. The docs told him rubbish.
He persisted and once in a spinal unit in USA he began to get these back regularly.

Now, it is May 2006 and Jake is up and walking on crutches. Soon to be put on 2 sticks. He is not using any callipers or suchlike to walk and can go through his normal life no bother. In fact, he his an attorney and is about to return to work which involves court duty.

Like the previous poster, he is a determined bugger but at the end of the day, he was still written off as totally paralysed with no hope of recovery.

So keep on hoping and keep on trying to move.

As it turned out, my mate's spinal cord was crushed/bruised, however, he still has patches of unfeeling but is now 100% from the waist down which is excellent.

[kanga2433]

Gary,

Do you think there is a tendency for the doctors to give a bleak prognosis so as not raise false hopes? There is such variation in hope injuries affect people that to give a prognosis of never walking again is quite likely true for many but does not raise false hope in people.

I was treated the other way round. I was told that I would be up and walking in weeks and it wasn't worth learning to use a wheelchair. 23 years later and I'm still waiting! I would much have preferred to have been told the thing as bad news fro which things could only get better!

[Gary Anderson]

Kanga,

Yep! I agree with you. I reckon instead of saying "97% of people walk, 3% dont" the doctors should be completely honest and say "look, we dont really know."

Personally, I know a young guy who is about to be released from a spinal unit after breaking his neck. He has some movement in his right arm and a little in his left. He has has 8 months of painful therapy learning how to be a "wheelchair user" and now can only propel his chair painfully slowly. Why did they not put him in an electric one? Anyway, his wife was told he would be permanently on a ventilator and basically a vegetable. He is anything but.

From my own experience, I would prefer people to say the worst case and take me from there. As an anaesthetist I watch doctors all the time and I only know of ONE consultant in a spinal unit who takes this approach. He is totally, brutally honest and tells it as it is. Then, once the patient is used to the situation they are in, he then takes them step by step up the rehab ladder until they are ready to be released. He is the ONLY one I know who does that.

The only reason you are in a spinal unit fot 6, 9, 12 or however many months is because the country is so damned slow at renovating houses for the disabled. If you were lucky enough to live in a ground floor property, with plenty space then you woul be out far quicker. I was told this by a rehab consultant in England. The only reason someone is in hospital for a year is not to rehabilitate them - that is done within a matter of months - it is because they cannot be released to their own home. So, the answer I think is, find a property immediately you have your accident and then see how long you are in.

A bit of a wandering reply but I agree Kanga. Dont dance around with a load of twaddle - tell us the truth from the beginning and for God's sake if you dont know SAY YOU DONT KNOW.