What it feels like to be paralysed

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be paralysed? It is not as straight forward as you might think. Pain sensation in one place, touch sensation in another - not to mention hot or cold. It is very strange.
Welcome to my crazy freewheeling life! Join with me, navigating from a wheelchair (blame troublesome Lupus for that), to explore the complex world of chronic illness, paraplegia and medicine. My aim with this channel is to help, educate and amuse those who may be in similar situation or to have a peek into my world of sport, specialists and spectacular health ups and downs.

[@timburgess2417]

This is really interesting! I learned heaps. And your editing is great considering your stuck with Imovie

[@freewheelingwithelise9421]

Thanks, yeah I am going well with sneaky hacks around the system to make it work. Haha....it’s still a bit of a push though

[@Elizabeth-eo6ie]

great work Elsie.

[@shannonrichards664]

Very interesting!!

[@jennyi6u6]

I'm a new subscriber. As a T10 complete it was very interesting to see the differences to an incomplete injury. My map would be ink free unfortunately for all 3 categories. Did you regain any function or is it just the touch sensitivities?

[@freewheelingwithelise9421]

My spinal damage is pretty significant and really spread out. I could move my big toe a bit for a while but then it disappeared. I did regain a small amount of hip flexion soon after my injury and slowly some temperature sensitivity returned. My autonomic system (blood pressure, digestion etc) improved a lot in the first two years, which meant that my legs didn't get as cold. Since then there has been almost no changes. The main change that has happened after I reduced my back height of my wheelchair, very quickly I gained more trunk control - significant for me but doesn't look like much to others.

[@jennyi6u6]

@@freewheelingwithelise9421 That makes perfect sense with reducing the back height. I did the same with my 2nd chair. At the time just for vanity reasons. Makes you engage balance more often. Have you played with the dump/seat angle?

[@stayclassyj]

Hi Elise, great video! So amazing that the different types of sensation are independent like that... I guess that means they are carried on different nerves.

[@freewheelingwithelise9421]

Absolutely!!

[@rileywilsoncarson2082]

I agree with Shannon. Very interesting. Are you able to use leg braces?

[@freewheelingwithelise9421]

I wear AFOs sometimes, no leg braces for walking as I can’t walk at all.

[@rileywilsoncarson2082]

@@freewheelingwithelise9421 oh, I see. How do the AFO's help you?

[@freewheelingwithelise9421]

@@rileywilsoncarson2082 They stretch my achilles tendons to help prevent contractures.

[@rileywilsoncarson2082]

@@freewheelingwithelise9421 oh. I see, that makes sense. How much time do wear them for?

[@freewheelingwithelise9421]

It depends, I would mostly wear them at school for an hour or two. They help my legs with spasms (specifically clonus), although they aren’t much fun to wear.

[@DG-op2jk]

You are so beautiful 😍