Coping with Temporary Paralysis

Paralysis is a condition that affects specific muscles in the body, usually as a result of damage to the spinal cord or brain, and it can occur following an injury or the development of a neurological disorder. Temporary paralysis, while frightening, means that the paralysis eventually ends, usually after rigorous medical treatment. In most cases, paralysis occurs below the point of damage to the spinal cord. It often results in not only loss of muscle control but also feeling.

The most common cause of temporary paralysis is an injury to the spinal cord that causes tissue to swell, compressing the vertebrae. Once anti-inflammatory medication is administered for a period of time, the swelling goes down and feeling is slowly returned to the extremities. When paralysis affects the body from the waist down, the patient is considered a paraplegic; when it happens from the neck down, the victim is a quadriplegic.

According to WrongDiagnosis.com, approximately 2.5 million people in the United States suffer from some sort of paralysis, whether temporary or permanent, and about 1 million of those are caused by an injury to the spinal cord. Although temporary paralysis is not so uncommon as to be considered rare, it is certainly not the most frequently occurring condition.

When Shirley Starks awoke in her hospital bed on May 12, 2002, she was terrified to discover that not only had she been unconscious for nearly 72 hours, but she also had lost the ability to feel anything below her waist. Panic seized her as she fumbled for the call button next to her bed, frantic to find someone to answer her questions, but her fears were not allayed when two nurses and a doctor rushed into her room. She was suffering from paralysis from the hips down, and the doctors didn't know if it was temporary or not.