The next post in my Disability A-Z is about Cerebral Palsy.
Cerebral palsy is, has been, and always will be, a part of my life and what makes me me. It’s just one of my disabilities.
It’s the name given to a group of conditions that affect a person’s ability to move and starts in the area of the brain in charge of muscle movement.
There are various types of CP and doctors classify them depending on a collection of factors.
By type:
Spastic Cerebral Palsy is the most common type (roughly 80% of all people with CP have this type). It has subtypes depending on how many limbs are affected.
Spastic Monoplegia affects one limb (mostly a hand)
Spastic Hemiplegia means one side of the body is affected. The arm or leg on the most affected may be shorter and thinner, meaning people walk on their tiptoes. People may also scoliosis (a curved spine) and seizures if they have hemiplegia.
Spastic Diplegia affects the legs more than the arms and causes some difficulty in the arms, but less than in the legs. Spastic diplegia mostly involves muscle stiffness in the legs. Tight muscles in your legs and hips might cause trouble walking because your legs turn in at the knees. This is also called scissoring.
Spastic Quadriplegia affects all four limbs as well as the trunk and the face.
Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy
Muscle tone which varies between being too tight or too loose. The movements are uncontrolled: slow and twisting, or quick and jerky. If the muscles in your face are affected, you might frown, drool or have trouble speaking.
There are subtypes of Dyskinetic CP too:
Athetoid. Movements are writhing, slow, and curvy.
Choreoathetoid. Movements are aimless and not controlled.
Dystonic. Muscle tone is not normal.
Ataxic Cerebral Palsy
Ataxic CP, which is rare, causes problems with coordination and balance. This causes unsteady walking, shaking and problems with tasks that require steadiness such as writing.
Mixed Cerebral Palsy
People with this type of CP have symptoms of more than one type. Most people with mixed CP have a combination of spastic and dyskinetic.
What Causes Cerebral Palsy?
This is not always clear for doctors, but some of the problems that can cause damage to the brain or disrupt its growth include:
Bleeding in the brain while the baby is in the womb, during birth or afterward
A lack of blood flow to important organs
Seizures at birth or in the first month of life
Some genetic conditions
Traumatic brain injuries
What Are the Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy?
Milestones may be delayed or never reached (rolling over or sitting up to name a few).
Signs can show at birth, but others may take longer to appear.
Babies younger than 6 months:
When you pick your baby up from sleeping (on their back), their head falls backward.
They feel stiff or floppy.
When cradled in your arms, they extend their back and neck, almost as if pushing away from you.
When you pick them up, their legs get stiff and cross over each other (“scissor”).
In a baby older than 6 months:
They can’t roll over.
They can’t bring their hands together.
They have trouble bringing their hands to their mouth.
When they reach, it’s with only one hand. The other stays in a fist.
If your baby is older than 10 months, watch for these signs:
They crawl by pushing off with one hand and one leg while dragging the other side of their body.
They don’t crawl on all fours but scoot instead, or they hop on their knees.
If your baby is more than 1 year old and can’t stand without support or crawl, those are also possible signs of CP.
What Are the Tests for Cerebral Palsy?
CT and MRI. EEG may also help.
How is CP Diagnosed?
Doctors will observe a baby’s development and also take into account their medical history as well as the mother’s because blood incompatibility between mother and baby, twin pregnancies, triplets and more babies being born at the same time are also something to consider in a diagnosis of Cerebral palsy as they are extra risk factors.
Cerebral Palsy is diagnosed anytime between the ages of birth and 3 years old.
How Does This All Relate to Me?
From this information, my diagnosis is Spastic Quadriplegia CP. Some doctors classified it as Mixed (Spastic and Dystonic), but everyone who evaluated me at the time I was diagnosed (birth and shortly after) was in agreement that it affects my entire body.
I was born at 29 weeks with my twin, had severe brain bleeds and a lack of blood flow to my brain and organs as well as multiple infections, collapsed lungs heart problems and jaundice. I also had a low birth weight (2lbs 6oz).
I am registered legally blind as I have 4 visual impairments plus hydrocephalus with VP shunts and use glasses and a powered wheelchair. I require support in every area of my daily life.
My muscles are stiff but weak and my movements are slow and awkward but can also be quick and jerky. I have dysarthria which means my speech is slower than some people’s and can be hard to understand so you need to listen well but I am bilingual too (English and Spanish).
I have some type of pain every day and have muscle spasms and a lack of strength and stamina as well as bad sitting balance and overall coordination as well as hand-eye coordination difficulties and hand tremors. I have other involuntary movements, quick reflexes and also experience seizures.
I tire very easily from the effort of trying to move and my muscles can alternate between being stiff and floppy.
As I always say, CP is part of me but not the whole me.
I hope this post will go a long way in helping spread CP awareness.
March is Cerebral Palsy Month in the USA.
You must be logged in to post a comment.