Introduction
Steve Nickell (snickell.dev(AT)hsutx.edu)
Wed, 11 Mar 1998 08:23:37 -0700
My name is Steven Nickell. I am a 27 year old white male, and a
>graduate fellow of the school of English at Hardon-Simmons University.
>2 years ago, I had surgery on my left ankle to correct a rather serious
>injury to the exterior ligaments of that joint. One month later, I
>began experiencing vague "back pain"; within one 24 hour period, on
>February 10, 1997, I went from unbelievable spasticity of the legs and
>abdomen to total paralysis from the Pectoralis minor region down to my
>feet. Included in this were numbness, vibration sense, temperature
>discernment, and positional acknowledgement loss. It was like a
>complete lesion, involving bowel and bladder control as well.
> At first, (within 3 months) I experienced an almost complete recovery:
>I could walk with a cane or cuff-crutch, but was easily fatigued, often
>encountering numbness in the lower extremities. I assumed this would
>pass if I merely "worked through it." How wrong I was! Gradually, I
>began to get weaker and weaker again, with less sensation and less
>bowel/bladder control. I am now confined to a wheelchair. The
>diagnosis is acute, chronic transverse myelitis with lesions apparent.
>The origin has been determined as spinal arterial thrombosis. So it is
>now acute myelitis compounded by the "stroke." When I (timidly) asked
>my neourologist about my recovery outlook, he merely told me to get used
>to the 'chair.
> I am trying to get used to it...and the many other things that come
>with it. The current theory is that years of chronic steroid usage (for
>asthma), and the accompanying side effects, combined with a very active
>lifestyle (I was a professional martial artist instructor and tournament
>fighter) somehow created a weakness of the entire vertebral column. I
>also have complete compression of all lumbar vertebrae, and a variety of
>disc intrusions into the canal.
> The worst part of all this is the horrible, desolate feeling that
>somehow takes me over. It somehow comforts me to know it is chronic. I
>now have somnething to build on, a reference point to proceed from. And
>best of all, I find this group and learn that I am not alone.
> I am grateful to you all for your service to the TM community, and to
>myself. If there is any way in which I may assist you please let me
>know. We do, after all, seem to have a mutual enemy.
>
>Steven Nickell
>Hardin -Simmons University
P.S. Has anyone heard of other steroid-dependency related cases of TM?
If so, I would like to hear about it.
God Bless,
Steve