One of my readers who also has cerebral palsy was just a bit confused when I said I got worse. She mentioned she was confused because it is known to the cerebral palsy community, or should I say as far as we know, cerebral palsy is not supposed to get worse. Since I went through a lot of testing and the fact that I am a college graduate with a B.A. in psychology and with some basic courses in biology I feel I can offer an educated explanation.
I am confident to support the saying that cerebral palsy does not progress, at least in my case. But one may still ask, “How did I get worse”? First, I’d like to offer a very brief history of my early years. When I was diagnosed at six months old it was determined that I needed to overcome certain muscular patterns that my cerebral palsy was causing. As you may sense from my previous blog, I literally overcame all of the muscular patterns that my cerebral palsy was causing and I was able to begin walking at just before two year old. Now, when I started having trouble walking at about fifteen and a half I started having those same muscular patterns that my cerebral palsy caused. Still, one may still ask, “why did I get worse?” A few years before I started having trouble walking I stopped seeing the doctor that was monitoring my prognosis because my mom did not have medical insurance anymore. Without the doctor to monitor me I had no guidance. Furthermore, as for everyone we all go through a growth burst at that age. Since I was not an active person or an athletic person and my growth burst in progress I got weak very fast. My muscles got weaker coordinately. My right arm contracted severely. And my scoliosis got worse.
This explanation makes more sense on number of points from every single test the doctor performed on me, to my knowledge I have about the body and the timing. I feel confident saying that cerebral palsy does not progress, but the conditions can. The damage in a particular area of the brain is there and won’t get worst, unless there is a head trauma or a stroke later in life. It is my hope this explanation will help my readers and bring to light the importance to continue monitoring our cerebral palsy in our adolescent years
This may sound stupid, but perhaps Cerebral Palsy isn't a progressive disorder. Meaning it doesn't get worse however it can cause issues when regression occurs? I was just thinking aloud. I really enjoyed reading your explanation. It was very insightful. Thanks for posting.
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