recovery

Pershing J. Hill (pjhillpp(AT)corecom.net)
Sun, 1 Dec 1996 21:23:27 -0900

Renee's note regarding her stepdaughter's recovery prompted me to
write. Trying to get information about recovery is why I am in this group.
It has been 8 years since I came down with severe tm sypmtoms. Although I
am not at the same athletic level I was at before oct. 88, I consider myself
lucky to be able to do most of the things I did before. I don't know how a
doctor could say there is 85% chance of recovery. I've read all the medical
literature I know of and there has yet to be a study with a big enough
sample size of patients that any statements about recovery rates or
reoccurance could be made. My biggest surprize in finding this group is the
variety of recovery and how the length of time for recovery has varied.
Doctors told me that after two years I shouldn't expect much more recovery
but my recovery has been in spurts for eight years. I have had one
reoccurance for a four month period during the last eight years.
Anyway, back to how different our stories are -- I've often wondered if
there is a group of people who have had more complete recovery from tm and
because they have more fully recovered they have not attempted to get more
information, or contact others. In other words they are not a part of this
group.

The only literature source I have for pediatrics is: Transverse myelitis
following mumps in children. Act Paediatr. 81:182-184, 1992 by
Nussinovitch, M., Brand, N., Frydman,M. and Varsan,I.
"Although acute transversy myelitis is a rare complication of mumps, it is
relatively well documented. We describe a child who developed mumps
associated acute tansverse myelitis and who subsequently recovered
completely. To our knowledge, only 13 cases have been reported in children.
This case is compared with 13 previously reported patients."

This was written in 1992. I hope Renee, your stepdaughter is in the full
recovery group and maybe the diagnosis is better for children.

The most informational article for me was: Transversy myelitis.
Retrospective anlysis of 33 cases, with differentiation of cases associated
with multiple sclerosis and parainfectious events. in Archives of
Neurology. 50(5):532-5 May 1993

Some more recent articles -- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery &
Psychiatry. 60(3):336-8 March 1996
BMJ.311(7002):P422, Aug 1995
Journal of Neurology. 242(5):326-31 May 1995

For the record, my MRI never showed lesions. My diagnosis was made on the
basis of presentation of symptoms. Diagnosis was damage at C6 because my
hands showed the most damage and I was paralysed from the chest down.

To Terry and Kay Cole in New Zealand. I lived in Wellington on sabbatical
in 1983. My son was born there. I have very fond memories of our stay
there and high regard for the medical system. However, I think you may have
the same problem I run into as an Alaskan. There is such a small population
that very few of the doctors I worked with were knowledgable or had much
experience with tm. I was flown to Stanford Medical Center in California
before a diagnosis was made. I hope this forum can help you find answers.
I never had a lot of pain but a lot of uncomfortable tingling and buzzing.
It eventually worked away, though my feet "buzzed" for years and
occasionally still do.

Thank you to everyone in this group who has shared so much.

Mimi Hogan
pjhillpp(AT)corecom.net