Treatments and Drugs for Cerebral Palsy
It is usually a family’s joy to witness how a baby learns his first step and his first uttered words. In rare cases, a baby becomes unable to do such activities. Children with cerebral palsy are generally finding it uneasy if not impossible to take a first step or to say the first words. The condition is inborn and could be totally affecting all the activities and movements that children normally do everyday. Thus, many children with this problem are often confined within the use of wheelchairs, braces, or crutches.
Cerebral palsy is not a totally new disease or condition. It is currently affecting thousands of infants and children from all around the world annually. You should not worry too much because the condition is not in any way contagious. That means other children could still play with and interact with children suffering from cerebral palsy. Because the condition is greatly affecting the human brain, it is more often deemed very hard, if not impossible to treat. However, there are currently certain special medications and procedures that are administered and performed to help cerebral palsy patients come close to living normal lives.
When a person has cerebral palsy, his brain is exposed to damage or abnormality that could worsen over time. The condition shows very early in life and even during infancy. It could stay on until adulthood or until the entire lifespan of a patient. Children and other patients of cerebral palsy need long-term caring. There are treatments and medications available. The amount and type of treatment could depend on how many problems the child could have or how severe those problems could become. Here are several of the most usual and massively used medications, therapies and surgical procedure that are available for cerebral palsy patients.
Medications available could include muscle relaxants and Botox. Muscle relaxants could be of great help because they could provide an option to relax even the most contracted and stiffest muscles. They may have side effects, though, which include upset stomach and drowsiness. Botulinum toxin or more commonly called as Botox is popular among plastic surgeons. They are often injected into facial muscles to make tissues swell and in turn help eliminate wrinkles. Botox is also used to treat cerebral palsy patients because they could relieve muscle contractures and spasms that are common to cerebral palsy patients.
There are three different kinds of therapies available for cerebral palsy patients. Physical therapy involves muscle exercises and training to help a patient develop flexibility, strength, motor development, and balance. In such therapies, splints and braces could be recommended. Occupational therapies are also necessary. Occupational therapists use particularly adaptive machines to help promote independent participation in usual activities in home, community, and school. Speech therapy may also be very helpful. Undergoing one could help a child with the condition learn to speak clearly or at least communicate through sign language.
Surgical procedures should also not be ruled out. In several cases, special surgical procedures have to cut nerves that serve spastic muscles. This helps reduce pain and relax muscles. Orthopedic procedures are also necessary in treating severe deformities and contractures on tendons, joints, and bones so that legs and arms’ inborn positions could be corrected.
This procedure could help a patient use braces, crutches, and walkers more easily.
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