Second time in hospital due to loss of use to legs

gazzhoward

i have a 19 year old son with minor CP. He competes at athletics and is a very strong athlete.
He is currently in hospital for the second time in three months suffering from a total loss of use to both legs.the first time this happened it continued for a period of 10 days with mobility/movement coming back to full use over that period. during his stay he had an MRI scan, Lumber punch and a nerve check through his body all these tests came back clear. a Neurologist came to see him and basically said that there is nothing to worry about his movement will return and put it down to his CP.
now after three months it has happened again and he is in hospital going through the same tests.

my initial question is, has anyone within this forum experienced the same or knows of any friend, dependant or relative that suffers from CP and has had the same experiences.

we did not get an outpatients appointment from the hospital to see a neurologist we went to the GP who sorted this for us but that is not for anther four weeks.

i would be grateful for any advice or a direction to take in order to ascertain what the cause could be or is it something that my son will have to put up with for the rest of his life.

thanx in advance

Gary 

 

Richard_Scope

Hi @gazzhoward ;
Thanks for your post and it's good to meet you.
I have heard of this anecdotally but I must add that the people who were affected had other impairments alongside their CP. When this happens to your son, does he lose feeling in the legs as well as the ability to move them?

gazzhoward

No he still has feeling and I assume all the sensations that one should have but he just cannot move his legs. He can now move his toes in both feet and his right ankle. I am sure after a number of days, like before, full mobility will come back. I was wondering if anyone else had had any similar experiences. 

Thanks very much much for getting back so soon. 

GalDriver

I have no idea if this info will be useful but I have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and have lost the use of my legs and arms, to a lesser extent, a few times taking me to hospital each time. The cause? A urine infection! I still have no idea why that happens, maybe because I retain water and the infection takes hold wherever there's water (brain is always fuzzy, with the infection, too). Antibiotics are then, sadly, necessary to drag them back into use.

Has your son ever been tested for a UTI? I keep test strips at home now so I can test regularly. I know this to be, particularly, an MS thing but it can presumably happen with anyone.

gazzhoward

He has had urine retention following surgery and when he was initially admitted this time he was catheterised to start off with as he had a large amount of urine in his bladder and he had no feeling to go to the toilet. That has since came out and his bladder function is normal. 

Thanx for the reply. 

GalDriver

Ah, maybe connected then. I hope it doesn't happen again, horrid. Good luck the pair of you.