hemiplegic cerebra palsy

[SuzieQ69]

I am 39 years old and  was born with I was born with mild right spastic hemiplegia and paralysis (Cerebral Palsy). My left arm is of course my dominent arm.  Has anyone ever had problems with daily activities, due to the constant over usage of your dominent side?

I have been diagnosed with carpal tunnel, radial tunnel, tennis elbow, and mayo-facio pain syndrome from the left side of my neck down to my fingers.  The pain was so bad that I could hardly do my daily hygene.  

I've been very depressed lately because it seems as though I'm spinning my wheels with my doctor and therapy.  I've been told that I need to rest my arm, but with spastic hemiplegia cerebral palsy it is virtually impossible.

Can anyone offer any advise?

[eagle51]

I'm 32 years old and have the exact same condition you have (mild right spastic hemiplegia/paralysis). I have a bunch of other disabilites but I'll stick with the CP for answering your question. The only difference between you and me, is that even though my right side is affected more than my left side, my right is my more dominant hand. I am ambidexterous and occassionly use my left for doing many fine motor skills but for most things I like to use the right (including hand writing unfortunately). I started out as a lefty but I remember as a toddler deciding to switch hands to make my right stronger even though I knew it would be tough to do. What can I say, I was an extremely unusual child back then, even more unusual now, but that's beside the point.

I've never been officially diagnosed with any secondary issues but I know have them, just not sure the official names of them. I avoid doctors due too many bad memories of being treated like a ginea pig and not getting any relief. I suffer many damages through out my body like you do. It basically encompasses my entire body (Toes, ankles, feet, knees, hips, fingers, hands, elbows, wrists, shoulders, neck, chest, and lower spine). Basically everywhere that has muscles and joints, which is most of the body unfortunately. I work hard to avoid them and the pains but no matter how hard I try, they always seem to find a way to return again. I also deal with the whole depression/anger thing from time to time but try not to let it catch hold too often, but it does. Anyhow, back to my point.

As I said before, I hate doctors and try to avoid them like they're the plague whenever possible, so I don't take any prescription meds, although the older I get the more tempted I am. I do have several methods that seem to help quite a bit though, hopefully some them can help you too. Most are geared to relaxing the muscles and joints, others are just simple pain relief, but most do both. These are my experiences with them.

Stretching is by far the biggest and best of them all and is the one I'd recommend starting with first. It is an extremely painful progress but works the best when done properly: Yoga, Pilates, Ergonomics, runner/cyclist exercises, etc, pretty much whatever I can find online and incorporate seems to help. Sometimes I use walls, doorjambs, door knobs, chairs, etc to grasp onto and to use for various positions, exercises and stability as well (I've got some minor balance issues). I also use a Valeo 2 lb hand strengthening ball which can be filled with as much (or as little) air as I want, good for stretching and working the fingers, hands, wrists and forearm muscles. Stretch bands help for exercising/stretching the legs and arms.

I've come to realize through out the years, that even though the pain and stiffness is localized in one muscle (say the forearm or wrist like with Carpal Tunnel), I've found that it is all inter-connected. By working out the whole arm/hand and strengthening and stretching all parts of the arm/hand several times per day, releases the tension, helps with contraction and release of the muscles as well. You learn to control it all better over time, thereby eventually fixing the issue bit by bit. It's not an overnight or miracle cure, but as we both know, those are just figments of the imagination. It takes hard work and time to fix things.

The next best thing which is also very difficult is deep tissue massage where I massage the spastic muscle as hard as possible to break it up, it works instantly but normally leaves mild bruisings and pain, but since I'm use to pain anyhow, that's no big deal. If I cannot do it with my fingers, I use inanimate objects to help, like with the back of my legs a metal bench at work helps to break up tense/tight muscles as does counter tops, my thighs I use the palm of my hand or the remote controller, etc, my arms I use the edge of a desk or table. You get the idea, use whatever you can, experiment, it helps.

From there I use chemical intervention. OTC Advil and Motrin are my favorites but they make me groggy, Mineral Ice (topical pain reliever) works great when rubbed on the sore/spastic muscles (warning: it smells). A huge hot cup of Non-caffienated Chamomile tea (doubled up on the chamomile) seems to relax the whole body after ingestion, makes using the bathroom later on a bit easier too. Little tip: Using the tea and ibuproferen together just before bedtime makes for a good nights sleep. Sorry to imply this but I figure you have similar issues with sleeping as I do.

Another thing you can do is to purposefully tighten the muscle and surrounding muscles and then try to relax them all. I do this sometimes with stubborn spasms, repeating it over and over again till it's relaxed and feeling better. It takes a great deal of effort, time and concentration but can be self-taught to do with time. Hot showers is another favorite, I'm talking getting the shower as hot as humanly possible that you can stand without burning yourself and standing in it and stretching the affected muscles for about 15-30 minutes or so. Major relief, it helps.

The last tip I've got works okay but causes a great deal of damage and pain over time and it's not something I recommend you do without trying everything else first and foremost. Joint manipulation, basically popping the joints. I don't know about you but I'm pretty much partially double jointed in most, if not all of my joints. The spasms seem to knock them out of alignment and after I pop them after the relaxation techniques have been done , the surrounding areas feel much better. It has been extremely helpful but also causes early arthritis and pains as well as joint looseness and dislocations and joint damage, which are all completely impossible to fix without surgery once the damage has been done. It can be helpful but I suggest you do not try this, but if you do decide to do this, be extremely careful and go very, very slowly and stop at the first sign of any problems. The second something doesn't feel right, get to the doctor right away and get it fixed before it has a chance to get worse.

Well, that's it in a nutshell, give some of these ideas a try, I gaurantee they do work. I'm living proof of that. I've got to say that it is somewhat comforting to know that there are others out there who are dealing with the same **** as I am. So, If you ever feel like chatting/comparing notes, feel free to contact me by email, I think they allow that here, I'm not sure. If not, well, good luck and I hope that things get better for you.