Yes, right here. Funny, but I never thought it might be connected to CP. I'm 27, with spastic hemiplegia (left side), and a list of disorders connected to it (sciatica, epilepsy, arthritis, excessive supination). And I've noticed that it's become more and more difficult to process too much stimuli. As a child, I was always very, very sensitive to any sort of temperature change or environmental change, and my doctors and therapists suggested it was because of the CP. My spasticity increases, I become irritable and anxious, very overwhelmed, and more prone toward seizures (I have temporal lobe epilepsy with partial seizures).
Thank you so much for bringing this up. Between this community and the epileptics community, I am finally starting to really understand myself and my disorders!
your welcome! you have sciatica too? i had to give up standing service jobs because of it, but now i get the shocks and tinglies whether standing or sitting. thanks for mentioning that secondary condition. i have spastic hemiplegia on the right side. the sciatica is now affecting on the left. right in time for my monthly 'friend' with endometriosis to boot!
on a side note, i wonder if people with CP are more susceptible to autoimmune/inflammatory disorders. i certainly am, and know a few others. but this gives me a thought, if a survey were ever done, to ask others about secondary conditions that they have, and see if there's a significant increase compared to the general population.
Hashimoto's hypothyroid, Type 1 diabetes, and myofacial pain. The latter we've attributed to my toewalking and other CP-related body mechanics. The first two, though?
Oh, and allergies and asthma too. I'm an immunological mess.
I have a bunch of sensory issues, although I'm not sure if they are new so much as newly noticed/newly problematic. I've long noticed I have autistic/aspergers tendencies and attributed it more to that than to the CP, though. Although it could be the same wiring in my brain causing both. I don't do well with chaotic crowds or flashing lights or being touched.
It's not a problem socially because I socialize in small groups or larger groups where I know enough of the people to be comfortable. I don't go to huge concerts or dark bars or anything like that.
I do have trouble with the crowds at school. People are loud, push and shove and even throw things. My "solution" is to avoid all informal relations with my classmates as possible and when going to class, get to the lecutre hall early, sit on the floor (better for my pain as well as more stable) and not get up until the crowd has disapated, stay close to the walls and hold onto my cane or chairs or tables whenever possible.
yes. I don't have any real tips, except that I try to limit the amount of activity I do at one time. My sister has CP and is autistic, and has always had much more drastic problems with overstimulation (she will just shut down entirely, not speak or move etc, whereas I just get irritable and spastic and start panicking a little). So it took a while for me to realize that I was going through the same thing, just different degrees...
I've also found that when I come home overstimulated, taking an hour or two to unwind alone with silence or my own comforting music (headphones, so the world is blocked out) helps it not carry over... otherwise it tends to escalate into overload more quickly the next day.
While I don't notice any accompanying spasticity, I have ALWAYS been sensitive to stimuli and it has gotten worse. I checked out the book "Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight" which seemed to address this. Though I never finished it (such a slacker) it might be something for you to read.
Thanks everyone for your two cents! pacing activity is key and I'll check out the book at a local library when i get settled into my new digs in w mass. i hear you about school, i always used to go early or 5 mins late to the start of class and leave late to avoid the madness.
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I'm 27, with spastic hemiplegia (left side), and a list of disorders connected to it (sciatica, epilepsy, arthritis, excessive supination). And I've noticed that it's become more and more difficult to process too much stimuli. As a child, I was always very, very sensitive to any sort of temperature change or environmental change, and my doctors and therapists suggested it was because of the CP. My spasticity increases, I become irritable and anxious, very overwhelmed, and more prone toward seizures (I have temporal lobe epilepsy with partial seizures).
Thank you so much for bringing this up. Between this community and the epileptics community, I am finally starting to really understand myself and my disorders!
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on a side note, i wonder if people with CP are more susceptible to autoimmune/inflammatory disorders. i certainly am, and know a few others. but this gives me a thought, if a survey were ever done, to ask others about secondary conditions that they have, and see if there's a significant increase compared to the general population.
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Oh, and allergies and asthma too. I'm an immunological mess.
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It's not a problem socially because I socialize in small groups or larger groups where I know enough of the people to be comfortable. I don't go to huge concerts or dark bars or anything like that.
I do have trouble with the crowds at school. People are loud, push and shove and even throw things. My "solution" is to avoid all informal relations with my classmates as possible and when going to class, get to the lecutre hall early, sit on the floor (better for my pain as well as more stable) and not get up until the crowd has disapated, stay close to the walls and hold onto my cane or chairs or tables whenever possible.
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I've also found that when I come home overstimulated, taking an hour or two to unwind alone with silence or my own comforting music (headphones, so the world is blocked out) helps it not carry over... otherwise it tends to escalate into overload more quickly the next day.
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