Recognising whether or not you have a spinal cord injury seems fairly self-evident. However, the symptoms can be much more diverse and obscure than the sufferer might expect. Paralysis, nerve damage, and chronic muscle pain may certainly feature, but not always.
If you’ve had an injury that affected you, or you have a friend or loved one in mind who may have a spinal injury due to negligence, the below symptoms may ring some bells for you. Common spinal cord injury symptoms includes:
Bladder or Bowel Dysfunction
Also called “neurogenic bladder” or “neurogenic bowel, bladder and bowel dysfunction”, it can occur when communication between the nerves in the spinal cord and the brain is interrupted, causing incontinence. Neurogenic bladder might be just present as a marked increase in urinary frequency or as an outright inability to control the bladder, causing complete urinary incontinence; or in the other extreme, it might be that the suffer cannot empty the bladder at all. Frequent urinary tract infections are also likely.
As with the bladder dysfunction symptoms, neurogenic bowel can present in extremes of complete loss of bowel control causing incontinence or as an inability to move the bowels at all. In other cases, frequent constipation or an ongoing change in frequency that impacts the sufferer’s lifestyle may be evident.
Frequent Infections and Difficulty breathing
Did you know that more than half of all cervical spinal cord injury sufferers experience recurring pneumonia and infections of the airways? Difficulty breathing is a common symptom of injury to the upper part of the spinal cord, and the need for a respirator can develop over time in extreme cases.
Cervical spinal cord injuries are commonly seen in victims of traffic accidents, sports injuries, assault, or falls.
Headaches
People with spinal cord injuries often report an increase in migrainous episodes. Actually, the head paid experienced as a result of spinal cord injury starts in the neck, and is called a cervicogenic headache. The pain may come and go, spread from one one side to the other, and last for days or weeks.
A key feature of a cervicogenic headache is pain that is exacerbated by neck movement, or is worsened by a particular neck position.
Changes in Mood or Personality
A recent study by The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry in Australia found that nearly half of all spinal cord injury victims suffer from depression, anxiety, clinical stress, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
It has been found that such problems, including mood disturbances and depression, are often related to chronic pain and sleeplessness, which cause ongoing and often escalating problems for the victim’s general health and wellbeing.
Dealing with Spinal Cord Injury
Each and every spinal cord injury and its prognosis is different. Some require years of physical therapy and still never quite mend, while others might call for special surgery and even the help of foreign experts.
The outcome depends very much on the quality of medical care received and ensuring prompt and correct treatment. If you, or someone you know, is suffering the above symptoms and suspects spinal cord injury as the cause due to negligence, contact our advisors on 01772 562084 to find out what how to make a claim.