When you're dealing with symptoms like mine –- paralyzing spasticity, intention tremors, numbness and visual problems – spaticity or tone can become overwhelming, making movement and performing simple tasks terribly difficult if not impossable... and in some cases acutely imbarrssing. Consider the other day: I woke up at 6 a.m., taking care to adjust the firmness of my Sleep Number bed so that I would be able to sit up and slide out of bed. A soft mattress just means that as I attempt to sit up I will just fall backwards increasing the spasticity and tone in my legs rendering my legs useless. The tone and spasticity only becoming greater with each attempt to sit up, of course it's morning so I have to urinate and the more I flop around on the bed like a flounder the more urgent that need becomes. And, we all know that as the situation becomes more dire it becomes more stressful resulting in greater tone in my legs. From there, I managed to get into my motorized chair. (My power chair, grunt, grunt! Sounds masculine doesn't it? Well, hold on, because I'm about to be emasculate).I shot into my beautifully-renovated handicapped-accessible bathroom. Utilizing a jungle gym of grab bars I managed to sit myself onto the toilet but my legs were locked tightly together in front of me, toes pointing at the ceiling, not exactly the position most conducive for a guy to empty his bladder. What to do, what to do? Not much time to consider that. We were down to the buzzer, as they say. I grabbed a towel and threw it on my lap. Ahhh... Sometimes a guy just has to do what he has to do. Spasticity sucks! Time for a shower.
Is there any relief beyond the frequently prescribed drugs life Baclofen and Zannaflex? Yes, there is... it's called Botox. Botox the same stuff injected by many to reduce wrinkles in one's face,, by temporarily paralyzing the facial muscles has been used successfully to reduce and in many cases eliminate spatisity and tone. I have been getting Botox injections in my thighs, calves and ankles every two or three months for the past year and I feel like a new man. Stressful situations still bring on the tone, but for the most part the tone is gone. My knees bend easily for simple entry and exhibiting to and from the passenger seat of the car. When I am sitting in my wheelchair my knees are bent and my feet are on the floor. Don't just take my word for it... read my friend Ami's testimony below...
Ami says, "O"Okay the botox shots have helped a ton! I don't feel my legs any weaker than before, but the spasticity has gone down a lot! I can bend my legs without having to pry them to bend, can straighten them and they'll relax and start bending in, my feet go flat,and my legs open a little! (hard to self cath when your legs are locked closed!) and I can sleep once again in my normal position! Although I end up back on my side. Should have had this done a LONG time ago!!"I have to agree with Ami... Why did I go years, before giving the Botox injections a shot? Pun intended, smile.
Be sure to visit Chris at his author's website Life Interrupted, It's Not All About Me.
