Cervical spine damage - Cerebral Palsy Message Board

weneva · 10-06-2007, 04:26 AM

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can give me some information or share a similar story about cervical spine damage.

I am 48 years old and have athetoid cerebral palsy. I have been suffering from increasing weakness and pain in my whole body which is the result of damage to my spine. This damage has been caused by straining my neck back involuntarily over the years. I have a lot of pain in my shoulders, neck and generally feel weaker. I been told that I will keep getting weaker if I don't have surgery or botox injections.

I am in Australia and am finding it very difficult to see a specialist who has knowledge about these symptoms in a person with CP. I would like to hear from anybody who has experienced similar symptoms and what treatment was best. Anyone in Australia or who knows of any Doctors in Australia who could help me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

rhales199 · 10-07-2007, 04:29 PM

Hi, and welcome to the Board!

I'm not sure if I can be of much help, but I'll try. MY husband, Tygh (pronounced 'ty') has Cerebral Palsy. He will be 34 this November, and in MAy he started having pain/ stiffness in his neck and nerve problems down his arm. He could not sleep flat on his back, it hurt so bad (thank goodness we had just gotten one of those lift recliner chairs!). He saw his regular Dr, who knew by his symptoms that he had a pinched nerve, but didn't know what was causing it.
Now, as far as treating a pinched nerve, they start with the least expensive/ drastic procedure (which also many times takes care of the pinched nerve), and if that doesn't work, keep trying the next thing, and only if all the stuff doesn't work will they have you do an MRI and then most likely surgery.

The first thing was a shot (can't remember what kind of shot it was). It took away Tygh's pain for about 2 days, then it was back again. Then they had him go to Physical Therapy. He did that for about a month before we realized that it wasn't working. That is when they did the MRI and found out his pinched nerve was from his C6 disc being herniated. He Had to wait 1 1/2 weeks for Medicaid to approve the surgery, and the next week (Aug 28th) he had his surgery. The neurosurgeon took out the bad disc and put in a steel rod. Tygh was in the hospital for two days. After his surgery, Tygh couldn't eat anything (he threw up Jello), but by the next day he was sitting up in his wheelchair and able to eat regular food. He is still recoveing, but doing better every week. He just started back at PT two weeks ago, which he will be doing for 4-6 weeks. Yes, it is a long road, but he no longer has the pain he had before, so it's worth it!

The symptoms you described are similar to what he had, and are similar to what anyone with dics problems would have, no matter if they have CP or not.

I know very well how hard it is to find a Dr who knows a lot about CP. We have yet to be able to find one in our area that really does!

Thankfully, Tygh's regular doctor is very willing to learn.

The only two Dr's Tygh has seen this whole time are his regular Dr and a neurosurgeon.

I think, in your case, you should (assuming you haven't yet) go to a regular dr, and go from there as far as treatment.

Anywho, Take care and let me know what happens!!
Also, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask, and I'll try to answer them as best I can!
Becky