Cerebral Palsy A disease or condition

 Disease or Condition

So there are various ways that cerebral palsy has been boxed as either a disease or a condition. Below are the definitions by dictionary.com of each word or group of words.

Disease

noun

a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavourable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment.

any abnormal condition in a plant that interferes with its vital physiological processes, caused by pathogenic microorganisms, parasites, unfavourable environmental, genetic, or nutritional factors, etc.

any harmful, depraved, or morbid condition, as of the mind or society:

His fascination with executions is a disease.

decomposition of material under special circumstances:

Condition

a particular mode of being of a person or thing; existing state; situation concerning circumstances.

state of health:

He was reported to be in critical condition.

fit or requisite state:

to be out of condition; to be in no condition to run.

 

Cerebral palsy

noun Pathology.

a form of paralysis believed to be caused by a prenatal brain defect or by brain injury during birth, most marked in certain motor areas and characterized by difficulty in control of the voluntary muscles.

My thoughts

As a person with cerebral palsy, I don’t consider it as a disease as it's not like an illness such as a cold or cancer which has two different options of either getting better or not.

I use those examples as the simplest form of the disease because they are the most common. Although there are many more.

But cerebral palsy in my point of view is a condition as the initial brain damage has already happened but its secondary effects continually change as the person gets older. 

It also means that there are differences in every different case of cerebral palsy and there is no way to cure a person with it. Whereas with a disease you can be cured or not. But a condition you live with. 

And things change daily and you either have a good or a bad day. And you have to continue with whatever you are doing. The same goes on with people with fibromyalgia or MS and other lifelong conditions. Whereas someone with some types of cancer has limited time, not decades. Although that is possible.

The Effects of Cerebral Palsy

I talk about those throughout the whole of this blog as I live with the condition and the following is a list of some of the posts

What is spastic cerebral palsy?

Ataxic Cerebral Palsy What is it?

Life with diplegic mixed cerebral palsy

Common Questions for me

And many more just check them out.

Final Thoughts

So you see it's slowly changing as the effects are less evident unless the initial brain damage is severe enough when the cerebral palsy is spotted. Especially if the condition happens as a baby during the early months. Or when it occurs from an accident later.

But also seasons and age affect the way cerebral palsy reacts within the body. This is mentioned in the series of posts that started with The Seasons and how they affect cerebral palsy. 

I hope you see my point of view and understand why I class it as a condition, not a disease.

So We Are Coming Out The Other Side! Of this Pandemic!

We are coming out the other side! 

So it's coming to the end of 2021 and the world has been in the most horrific since the end of 2019 when the world first heard of COVID-19 and the global pandemic first started. I have spoken about this in various posts such as Is this going to be another groundhog year?

But is the new year ahead of going to be the same as the last 2? 

There was a comment made about previous pandemics that I realised was a good observation and that the average time a pandemic lasts is 3 years. The most notable one is the Spanish flu which I mentioned in keeping your distance to stay safe. And that was from December 1918 to the middle of 1921 towards the end of the year.

Right now

Since beginning to write this post there is another variation of COVID-19 that was discovered in South Africa very recently so things have become more difficult again.

But changes are happening all the time so it can be a real struggle to know what to do for the best.

 What can everyone do for now?

The simplest thing people can do is follow the simple rules below.

• Wear a mask on public transport

• Wear a mask in shops and restaurants unless eating and drinking.

• In enclosed places that you don’t usually go wear a mask.

• Keep your interactions as minimal as possible. But do keep an eye on the elderly and those who are vulnerable.

• Staying at home as much as you can.

• Have the injections and boosters

• Carry hand sanitiser and use it 

Some people won’t follow these but they are putting everyone at risk. So unless there is a valid reason like some kind of medical or physical reason then masks should be worn.

Moving forward!

I mentioned before that in some places people are wearing masks for other reasons such as pollution. This is evident, particularly in Japan and China. Where the pollution is more noticeable. So following the simple rules will make it easier and quicker for things to go back to a similar way as before.

Hope for the future?

There is always hope for the future but this depends on everyone who can take action. It also depends on what actions everyone takes.

What does this mean for the exempt?

The following is what is meant for us who are exempt. 

• Stay home as much as possible.

• Have the injections that help everyone.

• Limit your interactions with others.

I get it that limiting your interactions can make you feel lonely but try to make a routine of seeing someone in your network every day. Even if you don’t touch the people you see it's important to be in touch with them. So that could be through:

• Texts

• Phone calls,

• Zoom or face calls.

• Meet up at an open space or garden. 

• Meet at a spacious place. This might be a cafe or coffee place with lots of space.

What ??

So we are all going to be doing indoors? those of us who are indoors more than others may not find as much difference but those who are could follow some of the ideas that I suggest in How are you coping in these strange times

But that is up to you and those around you. But remember that it's not just your life that is being affected by your decisions. It is everyone on the planet.

Final thoughts!

My final thoughts on this are that it is up to everyone to make an informed decision. I will be doing everything I can to ensure that everyone I love and know will be safe.

Here and Now with CP! Life as it Happens with the Condition!

 I've been in this house, seven months now. I love it. I am used to being able to walk around a lot more easily and do more things for myself. It's so much b8igger than my original home But I would be silly enough on Friday to slip on a wet floor. That's what anyone can do.

So at the moment, I've got a top bigger top lip than I would normally have. I love it, but I wouldn't go down the operation route for it, I don't like injections or anything because it can go wrong that way unless it's done professionally.

Anyway, I have been quiet because of things going on around me, and I've been very worried about things going on as well. And life has taken over. Unfortunately, which is not what I wanted to do.

But I think in times of healing. Everything else has to go out the window, and it doesn't matter what you think is going on in your head or personally need to be able to do it quickly, or for as short long a period as you need. So if I do go quiet, it was because I'm going through a state of not being brilliant, and I'm just wanting to get on with getting things organised on one going life-ise and making myself feel a bit better.

Today, I managed to put a bit of primer on my face. Maybelline Baby Skin Pore Eraser is my favourite. It's so like the benefit one, but much cheaper. I love it, it stops me from feeling sweaty.

So I've realised, I'm just gonna keep using that, even if I don't wear makeup every day, I might just wear the primer to start with, because although I love makeup. I haven't worn it for a long time. I’ve not felt as if I've been well enough, mentally to do it, because of the way. I have been stressed out panicked about other little things that are not worth worrying about.

But they still make me worry about them, but also things in the family have been going on so I've been concentrating on those two. I know that I should probably be writing the video and everything else, a lot more emotion than I have been. I will try, but life gets in the way as I had said to you before.

I wanted to do it this way so that I didn't have to make it such a stressful, feeling for myself this Sunday, via the phone. And yes, to everyone else in the house, I'll probably look like a complete idiot talking to myself over the phone. But actually, this is a speedier way of me writing everything down. Doing anything else, because I can edit what I said. For the posts that I do for my blog. And I can keep it real on the audio and video because that's who I am not some kind of portrayed as someone else.

After all, this is the other thing I've been thinking about recently, and it's being true to yourself and wondering what is true to you and what do others perceive of you, or expect of you, because for a very long time and I mean a very long time. I have been. Although, trying to be me. I've always been what everyone else expected doesn't need to be. So, it's nothing, not been easy and I'm beginning to go through that process of thinking, Okay, it's time for me to be me and find the level of exception, except citations that I want, or anyone else wants because no one else matters in that respect because

it's my life, and, and, yeah, it's not what everyone else expects me to do.

But it's what I've wanted to do. I've noticed certain things that I've thought in their dreams that I've thought about a long long long time ago. They're slowly coming to fruition, you know, there have been things that have been stopping the flourishing of the plans because of other people's meddling or life generally getting in a way, because people think they know you better than yourself, which, which isn't the truth. After all, I know you, you know yourself.

If you can't get any feelings for yourself to accept and be who you should be, then you're you'll always be the one, what everyone else expects you to be what they think. Being honest to yourself and truthful to yourself is the most important thing because I'm slowly beginning to learn that people who I, thought was very, what I thought were important, are not very important at all.

After all, they don't understand my situation properly. I have been worried about that. But I'm gonna live my own life when I wanted to because it's important for me to do it the way I wanted. Not what everyone else expects.

I have been pretty lucky is what I've got and done and because a path from cerebral palsy is not expected to have a family, not expected to get married or have children. They are expected to be cared for by their parents or expected as I say to be put in a home, or something else. In my case that isn't because I am married, I'm happily married and have a family, and I'm very lucky and there are lots of us who have got so cosy who do have this chart, and have this in my blog, I have talked about ages. And what disability does throughout the ages! Challenges ahead part one and Challenges ahead part 2

But this is just a general to chat about today. Because of the way things have been this last week or two what I'm suspecting is the beginning of the hormone situation where things are changing because but we'll wait and see what's going on with that as well because it can take ages to find out what's going on.

You know what, though it doesn't matter. I'm happy, I'm safe, I know where I am, I know who I'm with. I also know that it's going to be okay in the future. Although it might seem to be boring or stressful waiting for the future or day by day, I know it's going to be okay. I know that it's going to be fine at times but the disability of realising has problems in some respect. Anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Because you wonder, people who have lots of money are happy or the because they haven't got everything else that they want people who have minimal money are very happy because they got all the people that they want, but may want some actual stuff but that they not necessarily can afford right now, it doesn't mean they can't have it, it can be a gold small goal to have in the future, or whatever. I'm gonna leave this one because it's I'm rambling again, I'm not making too many points in this post.

So I need to split them up, I think, talking about each topic at a time.