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.
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:
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.
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
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.
