3 replies to this topic

[katie t]

Hey,

So, i've just found this site and have been trawling thru trying to find stuff relevant to me. Maybe im not looking in the right places but so far I seem to have found little. I guess this is prob because I've been pretty lucky in the extent of the effects of my injury.About 6 weeks ago I broke T8 and damaged my spinal cord.There is not an actual tear/cut but the vertabrae dug into the spinal cord and i guess dented/bruised it. At first I had no movement below my belly button except to quiver one toe and i had minimal sensation (only slight feeling of pressure).Over the next week i regained some movement in both legs, altho noticably more in the left. After a week i had an opperation fusing 3 vertabrae. Folowing the opperation i regained more movement in my right leg.my condition was then complicated by hemmorages due to the medication and i stayed in bed a further 3 weeks on drips and stuff to allow the ulcers to heal.during theis time i regained pretty much all movement in my legs and graddually developed more sensation. I can now feel pressure , heat and pain (altho to alesser extent than previously), and cold feels like pain but i know its cold. My legs are very weak but i can walk (albeit like a penguin) and the drs reckon i will hopefuly eventually be able to engage in most sports i used to. At night my legs dont move while im asleep and in the mroning they spasm for a while when i first move them. After 10 moins of moving them about it lessens significantly but then every time i stand after sitting its there a bit. The spasms have intensified over the past week or so and im wondering if this is part of a healing processs as the nerves reconnect or is it likely to woersen...I would like to communicate with other people who have had similar injuries and effects.. Im wondering what the likelihood is of regaining more sensation and whether my muscles will also improve (on top of work i do with physio). I keep reading that improvemnts can occur for many months and it sems a lot of people only start their improvments after a few months, but i feel like maybe my improvments occured early and have now stopped. the drs just tell me to wait and see but id really like to hear from other people. I know every case is different but still itd be good to have more info from others experiences...
cheers, kate

[Apparelyzed]

If you have already regained so much in the last 6 weeks, I'd say the outlook is very good (but I'm not a doctor).

You can still be making significant improvements 12 months after your injury.

Muscle spasms develop as spinal shock wears off, and hopefully, as time goes on and spinal swelling reduce, so will the spasms you are experiencing. You may always have some slight early morning spasms when you wake up, depending how much long term damage was done to the spinal cord.

The reason you get the spasms in the morning, is because you haven't moved overnight, your reflex arc within the spinal cord has no reference to movement, or sensory stimuli, so as soon as you move, or something touches your legs, you get an over reaction of the reflex resulting in a muscle spasm.

As the day goes on, the reflex arc gets used to movement, and the spasms become less powerfull, and the reflex arc becomes less sensitive.

This is why massage, swimming, range of movement exercises, in fact any sensory stimulation to the affected parts of the body, can help decrease muscle spasms.

There is more information here about muscle spasms: http://www.apparelyz...spasticity.html

As far as improvements in your recovery are going, don't be worried if you feel you have stalled for a few weeks, it happens to everyone in rehab, but although you can't see the improvements, others can.

Did the SCI effect bowel and bladder function at all?

Regards

Simon.

[Joed]

I'm with Simon....cautiously hopeful. Cautious only because the outcome can't be guessed at, but you certainly have many things going in your favor for a very strong recovery. You probably still have quite a bit of swelling on or around the cord....once that goes down, you'll likely get a good sense of what the possibilities will be.

I'm three years, post-injury, and I'm still realizing some gains. Not as much in function, as in ability, but there still is some return happening, although minimal.

And Simon's right....reaching a plateau in your recovery is the nature of the beast. It's a slow process, and it's best to think in terms of months or years, as opposed to days or weeks.

That way, if it happens sooner, you'll be pleasantly surprised. ;)

[sam622]

Hey,

sorry

Edited by sam622, 15 October 2006 - 10:00 PM.