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What is Cerebral Palsy? Do you have cp or know someone who does? What are the facts vs. the myths about CP? What is CP? We will be looking at answering these questions and much more. Cerebral Palsy is a childhood disease that affects children at birth due to a lack of oxygen or a severe brain injury. Yes. Not all children born with Cerebral Palsy are preemies, not all are diagnosed right away, and not all cp is caused by a lack of oxygen at, during, or shortly after birth. In some cases, CP stems from underlining conditions (ex: meningitis), which can cause dramatic brain damage, which can result in a diagnosis of cerebral palsy.
Cerebral Palsy is caused by brain damage that affects the body, physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, there is more to a child or adult with Cerebral Palsy.
One may ask, is Cerebral Palsy contagious? No. it is not. Another question is, does it get worse? No, it does not. It is merely a neurological condition that affects muscle tone and movement.
Not everyone is aware that there are four types of cerebral palsy. The four types are spastic, ataxia, dyskinetic type, and mixed type. Here is an in-depth look at each type.
Spastic can affect all four limbs, also known as quadriplegia or only two limbs ( usually one arm and one leg, also known as hemiplegia.) It is tightening of the muscles, which results in spasms of the muscles in the hands, feet, arms, and legs. It can also make movement difficult for some.
Dyskinetic type can affect an individual's control over their body from the constant movement of all or some limbs. Studies show that other cp label types fall under this type. Those type ("include, athetoid, choreoathetoid & dystonic type) "cdc.gov,2019"
Ataxic type affects one's coordination and balance. An individual with this type may struggle with depth perception.
A mixed type is precisely that, a combination of any of these types of cp. It can affect walking, talking, depth perception, balance, coordination, it affects muscle tone and movement.
This is just part of what I like to refer to as the Cerebral Palsy package. There is a lot more to cp than meets the eye. One who has cerebral palsy may struggle with seizures (epilepsy), anxiety, depression, speech problems, possibly maybe non-verbal, other mental health issues like OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) to name a few.
Every case of Cerebral Palsy is different for each person, which means each one of us has or should have an individual plan for treatment. Treatment is different for everyone. Some may participate in OT (occupational therapy), PT (physical therapy), equine therapy; others may have a variety of surgeries to help with mobility and movement while others with cp use mobility devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, braces (afo's), communication devices, even medication therapy. Individuals also may struggle with posture problems, spine issues such as scoliosis. Depending on the severity of the condition, some may experience issues with their digestive tract, their immune system, respiratory problems, chronic infections.
How does one not have to deal with these types of problems? How do we who are caretakers care for someone who struggles with different issues? Yes, some of this is in our control. Eating nutritious meals, exercising ( only doing what you can do), getting enough sleep but not too much, having good hygiene habits, and taking care of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health to the best of our abilities can affect our overall well being. I enjoy meditation, positive affirmation, journaling, and yoga. It is essential not to overdo it, nor do something you are not able to do.
Those of us who have cp are highly intelligent individuals. Cerebral Palsy may affect us in some physical form, but it does not make up who we are as a person. Many individual adults have college degrees and are successful, productive, hard-working individuals.
Some fun facts are there are more than 17 million people with a form of Cerebral Palsy, 40 % of those have the most common type, which is spastic type, one child out of four also struggling with a seizure disorder, and there is no cure for this childhood disease. (cerebralpalsy.org.au)
As a child, I only went to school with a few other children with CP, but I never had any friends with CP until I became an adult. Being a certified nurse assistant, I worked with a couple of adults that struggled as I do. Then I found a support group online at Cerebral Palsy Sunrise, where I discovered a whole world of adults and some children with Cerebral Palsy. Anyone can join us for live Facebook sessions weekly or just come and check out the page at Cerebral Palsy Sunrise.
As I mentioned, I have hemiplegia spastic cp, and I do not let it stop me from reaching my goal and dreams. I am a CNA, a blogger, a child author, I have a bachelor's degree in health care administration, and I love helping people on many levels. If you want to reach out to me or learn more of my story you can find me in the following three places, ( facebook/jodynovak (helena, mt), (facebook/cerebralpalsysunrise) and my blogging page ( https://professionalwriter4u.wordpress.com/ living with cerebral palsy).
Author note: Please excuse me for not linking jody's websites, the linking feature is not working properly. You can do a simple a search, and you will find Jody online.
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