Researching Cerebral Palsy: General Overview of Symptoms and Causes

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Introduction

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder, i.e. it is an ailment that is linked to the brain. It primarily stems from the immature development of the brain and is most often a congenital disability. It is most commonly diagnosed in small children or infants. It affects motor functions such as muscle movement, posture, and overall hand-eye coordination. Also, cerebral palsy is characterized by involuntary muscle movement including random and sudden jerks or gestures as well as stiffness of muscles. This prevents the body from moving in a coordinated manner as it has a significant impact on one’s gait and posture as well. In other cases, cerebral palsy can also be linked to hindrance in common bodily functions such as talking, breathing, regular digestive movement, etc. Depending on their case, some individuals may also experience blurry vision or blindness due to unbalanced eye muscles, epileptic episodes, or deafness. Apart from that, some cases of cerebral palsy are characterized by learning and/or intellectual disabilities while others are not affected as such.

Cerebral Palsy Symptoms

There are several noticeable cerebral palsy symptoms that one can look out for, some of which are listed below. Depending on cerebral palsy, these symptoms may vary from individual to individual. The following section lists the different types of cerebral palsy followed by the symptoms.

1. Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy is a type of cerebral palsy that affects one entire side of the body. According to the Birth Injury Guide, Hemiplegia is a more aggressive form of the disorder because it can even result in total paralysis in extreme cases. (x) Individuals suffering from hemiplegic cerebral palsy constitute about one-third of the total population of people having been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. There are several symptoms for Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy and depending on the extremity of the case; some may display quite a few while others may not. These include muscle stiffness, unbalanced gait, and typically using only one hand for all tasks indicating that only one side of the body is functioning properly.

2. Diplegic Cerebral Palsy

Diplegic Cerebral Palsy also sometimes referred to as spastic diplegia is another form of CP. It is mostly characterized by tense muscles and frequent spastic episodes, i.e. spasms. Initially, the muscle tension and stiffness is confined to the legs, but over time, one might experience increased difficulty in walking or moving joints as the consistent tension takes its toll. It is, however, much less aggressive than Hemiplegic CP and has little to no impact on a child’s intellectual abilities. Some common symptoms include immobility during infancy, floppy leg muscles, and very little stamina resulting in the child getting tired out after a few minutes of activity.

3. Spastic Cerebral Palsy

According to the research foundation, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Spastic Cerebral Palsy is the most common form of Cerebral Palsy found in children. (x) Much like Diplegic CP, people with Spastic CP may suffer from stiff muscles and involuntary jerking movements that indicate spasms. Spastic CP is often characterized as a condition of hypertonia that leads to the bundling of neurons and causes neurological messages to be sent to the wrong limbs resulting in sudden muscle movement and increased stiffness.

4. Athetoid Cerebral Palsy

Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, also commonly known as Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy is a variant of CP that it causes children to shift between hypertonia and hypotonia, i.e. random fluctuations between episodes of unusually high and low muscle tone. This means that either muscle experience extreme stiffness or becomes completely floppy or sluggish at other times. According to the Cerebral Palsy Guide, it is synonymous with various other types of cerebral palsy as well, owing to symptoms such as difficulty in using limbs, i.e. arms, hands, and legs and having trouble dealing with and grasping objects. (x)There are several subtypes of Athetoid Cerebral Palsy including:

Dystonia
Chorea
Athetosis
Rigidity
Dyskinesia

All of the aforementioned have different symptoms that include a mixture of hypertonic and hypotonic muscle tones. Additional symptoms may include imbalanced movement and loss of hand-eye coordination, slow rotational movement of the back, torso, arms or legs and spasms in various parts of the body including fingers and even in facial muscles.

5. Ataxic Cerebral Palsy

Ataxic Cerebral Palsy is the least common variant of Cerebral Palsy found in patients. Like several other forms of Cerebral Palsy, Ataxia is also characterized by unsteady or shaky muscle movements. Also, it may lead to unbalanced limb functions and hinder one’s depth perception as well. This further causes instability in movement as well as posture. Ataxia also has an impact on common day-to-day tasks such as eating and swallowing food. Furthermore, using cutlery such as spoons and forks, and writing is affected due to the tremulous movement of the fingers. This may cause the patient to fall quite often as there is a lack of coordination between the brain and the muscles. In most cases of Ataxic Cerebral Palsy, the patient can suffer because the brain tends to ‘over-correct’ muscle movement to compensate for the lack of coordination which may cause even more problems.

6. Hypotonic Cerebral Palsy

As aforementioned, hypotonic cerebral palsy is characterized by a sluggish or floppy muscle structure, that stems from an unusually low muscle tone. Common symptoms include awkward or involuntary muscle jerking and head movements, muscle spasms, imbalanced movement, and spontaneous contraction of the muscles. Hypotonic DP can also cause respiratory trouble, difficulty keeping up a straight posture and/or having trouble standing up and walking without assistance. Moreover, it has been observed that several symptoms of Hypotonic CP are also synonymous with symptoms of autism.

Causes of Cerebral Palsy

There are several common causes of cerebral palsy. To give a brief overview, CP usually stems from infections and/or some other medical ailments suffered by the mother during pregnancy, infantile strokes during or after birth, or other genetic disorders. CP is more commonly diagnosed in premature babies, or multiple birth cases, i.e. twins, triplets or quadruplets. In other cases, a child may develop cerebral palsy if something goes wrong or there are some complications during their actual birth. The section explains in detail the various causes of cerebral palsy, ranging from but not limited to genetic as well as non-genetic factors.

1. Maternal Factors

There are various diseases and infections that, if contracted during pregnancy, tend to increase the risk of cerebral palsy in a child significantly. This is mainly because any problems in maternal health directly affect fetal growth as well. The most common of these include viruses such as Rubella (also known as German measles), Varicella (chicken pox), and Cytomegalovirus, i.e. a flu-like virus that is bound to cause some damage during the early onset of pregnancy. Other infections include sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes and syphilis. Herpes can be transmitted from the mother to the child during pregnancy through the womb and placenta. Herpes causes inflammation of these glands and hampers the baby’s oxygen and food supply leading to hindered growth the central nervous system. Moreover, these include toxoplasmosis, the Zika virus and thyroid problems. Toxoplasmosis and Zika virus are particularly troublesome because they are on the rarer front of infections and can be tricky to diagnose. Toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite that thrives on the ingestion of contaminated food, soil and even the feces of house cats that have been affected with cerebral palsy. On the other hand, the Zika virus causes the development of microcephaly which can further lead to the onset of cerebral palsy. Exposure can also prove very harmful during pregnancy, as coming in contact with toxins such as methyl mercury can also cause cerebral palsy among other congenital disabilities.

2. Diseases in Infancy

Some forms of cerebral can also be caused by weak immunity and infections suffered in infancy. This includes severe forms on jaundice that are not entirely untreated. Jaundice is commonly characterized by the yellowing of the skin and eyes. It is caused when dead blood cells and their waste products are not removed from the bloodstream naturally. Secondly, there is bacterial meningitis which is the inflammation of the membranes that envelop the central nervous system as well as the spinal cord. Moreover, another condition that may cause CP is viral encephalitis. Similar to bacterial meningitis, it too causes inflammation of the vessels and membranes surrounding the spinal cord and brain. This leads to stunted growth in infants and eventually to the onset of cerebral palsy.

3. Complications During Birth

Complications during birth are some of the leading causes of cerebral palsy. These include cases of breech births, premature births and multiple births as aforementioned. In the case of premature births, there is a high risk that the brain has not yet developed fully while in multiple births, there are chances that not every baby has received proper nourishment during the pregnancy which can lead to brain damage. Also, it can be attributed to low birth weight and incompatibility of the Rh blood group between the mother and the baby. A mismatch Rh blood group means that the mother’s body recognizes the baby and its blood cells as a foreign object and begins producing antibodies that attack the baby’s blood cells in the womb. This can cause severe repercussions including stunted growth of the central nervous system and brain damage. Most of these conditions cause the baby to go into respiratory or vascular distress, i.e. the baby does not get enough oxygen during the time of birth, or there is a hindrance to the blood flow to the brain which causes brain damage.

4. Non-natural factors

Some non-natural factors can cause cerebral palsy as well. These include child abuse wherein a child might develop CP as a coping mechanism for physical and/or mental trauma. Other cases include car accidents with blunt force trauma to the head, and even shaking a child too much during its infancy. As several structures of the body, especially the head and the brain are still under development in the early years of childhood, any aggressive handling of a baby can lead to defects in brain damage.

Cerebral Palsy Remedies and Supplements

It is imperative that you remember that cerebral palsy is relatively treatable, and one can get better over time with the use of remedies and supplements. At Bulk Supplements, you can find organic and non-invasive supplements that combat cerebral palsy using naturally found ingredients and products. (x) These include Ginger, i.e. their Ginger Root Extract Powder which is available in a wide range of package sizes, ranging from 100g, 250g, 500g up to 5kg and 25kg depending on the size of your required dosage. Another popular supplement is their Fish Oil Softgels as well as the Asparagus Extract Powder which promotes healthy bones and has anti-inflammatory qualities that are perfect for combating cerebral palsy. All these supplements range from $9-12 per package; however, prices may vary according to the dosage. Also, there are cerebral palsy treatments that include physical therapy and speech therapy. All these are extremely helpful in keeping muscles in check and practicing the regular movement of a muscle to normalize bodily functions.

Conclusions

Conclusively, we need to keep in mind that most forms of cerebral palsy can be prevented owing to their symptoms, i.e. many maternal health risks are preventable through vaccines, and other non-natural factors can also be taken care of. It the important to remember that one should never lose hope and keep striving for cerebral palsy awareness and treatment for the betterment of both themselves and any loved ones that might be affected by CP in order to give them the possible chance at a healthy and happy lifestyle.

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