Imagine my surprise as I was laying in bed in the hospital a week or two after the accident when a leg I could not consciously move jerked a bit all on its own! At first we were excited, thinking it a sign of recovery. But we learned that spasms are almost always a side effect of spinal cord injury. Weird, right?
Here's an example of a couple types of spasms I get on a daily basis:
Some spasms are good, and others suck a lot. Clonus, the one that makes my legs bounce, is a serious pain in the patookis. It usually happens when the ball of my foot makes contact with the floor or my footplate before my heel, and can make transferring hard. It also sometimes kicks up when I go over bumps, which can be a real problem in parking lots. My legs can bounce so much that my feet fall off the footplate, so I have to stop in the middle of the parking lot to fix them. I have a tray I keep on my lap a lot so I can hold things there, and more than once, clonus has made me drop most of what's there, or spill water or hot coffee on myself and anything on my lap (like my phone!).
Other spasms are beneficial. I can usually trigger one in my upper abs that helps me sit up in bed. The ones in my legs I showed you in the video are great for getting my feet up onto the bar under the table just to change my position.
Here's the explanation of why these spasms happen, but boiled down, crazy things happen when you screw up your spinal cord! 😉
I would like to say I feel bad for you. But you are such a fighter! Look at how much you can do on your own with your injury when others would have just given up, and if you didn't appreciate the family you have, I'm 100% sure you appreciate them now. You give people courage to not only overcome an injury, but to overcome life! You are living, and although it may be hard you are not giving up and you girl deserve a HUGE applause for how far you have come. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWow ... I certainly had no idea about any of this. Clonus is a bitch, clearly. I am impressed by how much use you are able to make of your arms and hands ... my guess is you have worked hard at that. Unbelievable journey my friend. Thank you for sharing. XO
ReplyDeleteI just got time to sit down and read this one. Another great topic and great writing as well. I would like to ask, if I may, do you or others feel any sensation when this happens or is it usually a surprise?
ReplyDeleteI have feeling in my legs, but the spasms don't give any warning sensations. Many of them I can predict because of experience, but other times my leg will just jerk unexpectedly. Then sometimes one leg or the other will go through a sort of cycle of spasms. They're also sometimes a result of a stimulus that makes my legs uncomfortable. I spilled hot coffee on my legs once and my legs started jerking like crazy! Lol
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