> At 11:24 PM 11/13/97 -0500, steve cappelson wrote:
> >I have been told by my neuro that it can take up to 18 months for the
>
> >original inflammation to consolidate i.e. heal. Has anyone else heard
> of
> >this?
>
> Mine said he wouldn't expect to see any significant change for 7 to 10
>
> years. I was diagnosed with ATM in May 1989. From the onset I have
> been
> paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on my own. The
> first few
> months I was in extreme pain (was getting morphine shots and taking a
> pain
> cocktail). I also had no feeling from the neck down. In July '89 I
> started
> getting feeling back on my left side. By September I was no longer
> feeling
> any pain. The next few years I got more feeling back on the left side
> of my
> body and started getting feeling on my right side. About 2 years ago I
>
> first started to be able to feel when my bladder is full.
>
> So at this point, I'm still paralyzed from the neck down and dependent
> on a
> repirator to breathe. I have pretty much noramal feeling on my whole
> left
> side, less feeling on my right side and cannot feel my right arm.
>
> Jim Lubin
> jlubin(AT)eskimo.com
> http://www.eskimo.com/~jlubin
> ----
> A searchable archive and more TM information is available at:
> Transverse Myelitis Internet Club
> http://www.eskimo.com/~jlubin/disabled/tmic
Jim,
I think what I was trying to say is can you get worse? My ATM improved
steadily from almost the onset. Now, 10 months later, I'm feeling more
spasm, pain and loss of sensation. However, I'm also walking better. I
thought the typical course of the disease was no improvement, fair
improvement or good improvement. I've never heard anyone talk about a
gradual change for the worse of the symptoms after all that time.
Thanks,
Steve