"Kate Page was an active,outgoing student at Nottingham University
until, in the course of just 24 hours her body became paralysed from the
chest down for no apparent reason. In fact Kate,21 was suffering from a
condition known as Transverse Myelitis in which an ordinary viral
infection gets into the spinal column. It could happen to anyone at any
time and many people never recover. But Kate who lives in
Kidderminster,fought her way back."
I will skip the rest of the piece because the story reads like anyone of
a hundred cases we all have told this list,but i will put the diagnosis
footnote to the story.
"Dr Paul Lyons, consultant neurologist at the Royal United Hospital,
Bath says:
" Transverse Myelitis. arises from an injury across the spinal cord.It
is usually an inflammatory injury produced after exposure to a virus
such as the one responsible for glandular fever.
We do not know why some viruses can attack the spinal cord in this way,
but they attack the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves directly, or
trigger an anti-immune response which tricks the body's own immune
system into attacking itself.
It usually starts with a sensory disturbance in the feet and paralysis
sets in over a period of 12-24 hours, which is very frightening.
If the injury is very severe and near the top of the spine, the patient
may need ventilation in order to breathe.In this situation,they can die
without appropriate medical care.
In recent years, the drug "Immuno-Globulin" has been administered to
manipulate the immune system into doing what it is supposed to.
Before that steroids were used.Apart from that,physiotherapy is the main
treatment. Fortunately around 70% of patients make a near full recovery.
Around 5-10% will not recover at all.The myelin tissue around the nerve
can be regenerated, although it is a slow process.
The prognosis depends on the severity and site of the injury-although
I've seen people with complete paraplegia make a full recovery and
believe that willpower plays an important role in a patients recovery.
In some patients, the injury can occur again"
End of quote.......
I send this story from the THE DAILY MAIL newspaper to the list as it
was written and make no personal comments,it is the first story i have
seen in the three and half years that i have had Transverse Myelitis, in
a UK newspaper.
Robert......
-- Robert e Parker