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T-12 Incomplete

janders199
0 Recommendations

I am a T-12 incomplete. Have been since 2006. I work really hard to use my legs again, but it seems like my return has stopped. Anyone out there who had return after 3 years?

Thanks, Jim

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Exercise Pain Heart attack Paralysis

15 replies

creekwater

Jim God Bless YOU and I know he will. A positive attitude also helps as well as eating well and speaking properly, ie: I'll never walk again, don't state things like this because the spirit realm picks it up and cashes in on it. Everyday is a battle, w/ hills and valleys. Talk to you again. Blessings, C.W.

creekwater

The "professionals" state that the body is in shock for about a year after a SCI. They also state that you can get return up to 5 yrs post. I've been injuried nearly 30 yrs and the other nite I was washing my back and felt the brush in an area I've not been able to feel since day 10. Keep up the GOOD fight. I also have walking dreams, running, hopping, flying, and often I can't see below my waist. One nite back in 1993 I found myself across the bedroom, 15 ft from my bed, when I woke up, saw my W/C and piled up on the floor. My wife woke up and found me in a pile on the floor sobbing and to this day neither of us know how I got there. That was the DREAM of DREAMS my friend!!!Creekwater

janders199

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement . . . I intend to press forward . . . I have nothing to lose!

Thanks again for picking me up when I was down.

God bless you all,

Jim

Learning1

Janders,
I don't know if you have run across Christopher Reeve's story. If you haven't read it, you'll find some of the details of interest. (see http://historicalbiographies.suite101.com/article.cfm/christopher_reeve_and _spirituality).
There are some interesting details related there which don't seem to generally get told. He was an example of not giving up. By sheer willpower, and confidence that he could improve, where virtually his only stimulation was exercise, he got his first movement 5 year post accident. And he was still making progress 4 years later, when he passed away from a heart attack. His example shows there is no end time for potential improvement. And he made his progress without benefit from the advancements available today. As I understand the story, shortly before his death 5 years ago, he was told by the laser researchers in Israel that they were only a year of so from a breakthrough which should be able to help his condition (and he had a C1-2 injury, and was on a respirator). Near the end, without any real technologies, he was able to go for up to an hour without using his respirator, he had gained a number of feelings, and he was getting some muscle response.

marimike

It is so encouraging to her all of these stories. I have been a t12 para since summer 2007. It is amazing to see how many people out there don't know the power of faith and hope, God. I receive so many comments such as "you are such a strong person, I don't think I could go on if this happen to me". But I just smile because I am at peace with what God has in store for me. I have already touched so many lives around me and I have just started. Of course my ultimate dream is to walk again, but if it does not happen at least I know I did not allow my injury to define me and hold m back.

Learning1

I agree with Nina 100% - NEVER give up.
I am a firm believer in the scripture "with God all things are possible."

I look at the tools that science around us is now providing, and they are good as far as they go. For example, the doctors do all they know how to, and in addition, some of the leading edge technologies like LLLT, Scenar / Cosmodic, and pulsed magnetic therapy are all hold a lot of potential for creating the stimulation to help the body recover, and can sometimes provide the stimulation to get the body's natural healing processes going again. But they are merely tools, and with any of them, no matter when begun, they take time.

While I don't buy into some of his conclusions about religion (reincarnation, etc), the book The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton, makes some great points about the mind helping to create the physical atmosphere in the body for healing, and the physical atmosphere the cells are in helps determine their responses. Lipton was a cellular micro-biologist who was doing stem cell research a good 40 years ago, someone who for years was a professor at medical schools, someone who learned from his studies that it was the environment that determined what a stem cell would become. He went on to see that other cells were affected the same way. This ultimately became the foundation for what became the new science of epigenetics around 15 years or so ago, the theory that has replaced standard genetics as the leading edge theory. Eventually Lipton left his teaching positions because what he was seeing in the lab was different from accepted medical theory, which he was expected to teach. Lipton's positon is not that it is mind over matter, but that your mind controls the environment in your body, and the environment in your body is what controls your health and recovery. And he points out that normally it is not the conscious mind that controls the body's environment, but the subconscious, because with most people, the conscious mind is actually in control less than 5% of the time. What is necessary is to get the subconscious mind in agreements so it is giving the same message, since if the subconscious mind is continually telling you that you'll never get any better, you generally won't.

janders199

Thanks to all of you for your answers. I am 3 years now since my SCI at T-12. I am surprised that I am still getting return because all the docs told me my return was done. Because of your encouragement I will keep on plugging . . . . and too, give all the glory to God for whatever happens next.
Love you guys!
Jim

Nina372

Never, never, never, never, never, NEVER give up on the hope of you someday walking again no matter what stats say!!

When I was 15 I became paralyzed and was told by many doctors never to expect to walk again, I caught the flu and it destroyed my autonomic system and nervous system.
I would always tell the docs "nope I WILL walk again" and just to see the looks on their faces was not encouraging, they treated me as though I was in denial. For two years I was in p.t. and o.t. working at getting my ability to walk back. I just kept praying.
All the time people would tell me that I just needed to accept it and learn to move on, I ignored their comments and took it straight to God I told him "If you want to use me in a wheelchair then so be it if it is your will" after two years I do have to admit it was discouraging then I started seeing progress, before I knew it I was using crutches! I knew God had different plans. I spent a year on crutches and yet another year in p.t. then I moved to only using my orthodics. I still can't feel anything warm or hot and have really bad nerve pain and the fear that the paralysis might come back, as it almost did a couple of months ago but His grace is sufficient.
and I am now grateful to give God the credit that He deserves for giving me the faith I needed.
Hang in there and don't give up!
Nina

chefdoggyd

Dear Jim, I am 37 years old. I am a T-12 complete and to my surprise and the doctors I started getting some movement back in my legs. My accident was in April of 2006 and I am still getting some movement back. I have heard some doctors say you only get it up to two years and one doctor told me seven. I have found you have to just push what you have and keep an open mind because anything is possible. They told me i would have zero movement under my injury site and i do. Goodluck my man and remember Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do!

ols23

Hi Jim,

As what my doctor told me, one year after is when you will see the most recovery you can have. But like the rest, you should never stop to exercise because it strengthen your muscles and you have more use for your legs.

Learning1

That fits with what has recently been coming out about brain and spinal cord neurons. For many years they said that the brain and spinal cord cells were not replaced by the body in its regular cell replacement. In the last few years those leading in the field have now recognized that they are replaced also. They are just some of the slowest to be replaced. And because of how they work, for you to have a noticeable difference, there have to be signals present to put the neurons to use. As well, some of the leading research has found that, with right stimulation, scar tissue cells can be turned into a stem-cell like cells that the body can use to repair damaged functionality. The next step will be to come up with the stimulation for this to happen with spinal cord and brain nerves.

angelbrd67

My son went to see his physiatrist today, We talked about long term return's.. He is also a Neurosurgeon. He said where there is will there is way. That in studies being done where signals in the spinal cord couldn't get through the body was rerouting the signals and finding other way's to get through. He told Matt today there is no way to tell when return's stop because every day someone proves theory wrong. He gave examples of someone 10 year's post just now learning to walk after some trunk return. He also said to never slack back on your exercises no matter if return seem's to have stopped or not because you never know what may happen down the line and if you let your body go then the return won't help you much. It was a good lesion today.

graybeard

I am 4 yrs post, and the major returns are done. I still get some return, right now its in the trunk area, where I am finding better strength. I recently started to flex my left leg in small movements. Nothing that is functional.....yet. It is inconsistent, but it still happens here and there, so we'll see going forward what is next. Keep trying!

Learning1

I don't know about statistics. But some of the situations I've heard of were longer - around the 5 year mark - but it apparently was a different stimulation than tried before which was the trigger. I put the details of the 3 situations I am thinking about, along with the links that discuss two of them, on in a discussion on LLLT a few weeks ago.

mikey

Statistically speaking after 3 years there is not going to be any new return. After I became paralyzed, I exercised 7 days a week for 5 hours a day. I busted my ass. The motivation was there as long as I saw improvement.
But about 10 months post onset, the improvement
ceased and in fact I have lost some return. It is so
frustrating, but I still exercise my legs 4 times a week.
In fact, I just rode my exercise bike for an hour and it was brutal.

Any hope of any additional recovery is going to be
predicated on some type of treatment that differs from existing protocols.

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