my question whether injury can speed up the the symptoms of theCMT disease.

[haim]

my question whether injury can speed up the the symptoms of theCMT disease.

[CMT2012]

Hi haim! I am not a medical expert but I have CMT and I believe that severe and sustained stress over a period of time can speed up the symptoms of it. I don't know about an injury, but if there is a great deal of stress associated with the injury, it may be quite possible.

Please understand that this is my personal belief... my symptoms of CMT seemed to manifest exponentially when I was in a job that became VERY stressful VERY fast! It was extremely intense stress that I faced on a daily basis. I had 5 months of this before I really began showing dramatic symptoms of my CMT. I hope you have found my response helpful. Best regards! Jean

[haim in reply to CMT2012]

thanks for your reply cmt2012

[Barry52]

I was hit whilst driving by another driver since then my condition got worse that's how they found CMT,thought it was carpel tunnel but sadly CMT....

Since then I have got worse (Sadly)

[haim in reply to Barry52]

thanks for your reply barry

[Primary-Bursar]

Before I was diagnosed with CMT I was repeatedly twisting/spraining my ankle, which I know is due the muscles in my ankle getting weaker. Howver, because I remained undiagnosed this eventually caused my foot to drop. So I wouldn't be surprised if an injury may speed up CMT.

Hope this helps.

[haim in reply to Primary-Bursar]

thanks

[steveshawx]

my personal experience started when i suffered the stresses of losing both my parents and father in law within 6 weeks of each other. I believe that the stress accelerated to my current symptoms. I suffered a distal bicep rupture shortly after the bereavements, (snapping of arm muscle) - had it repaired and the anaesthetic took days to leave my system, the hospital said it was because It was "normal" . Since then (2009), I deteriorated to my current state, which isn't good. My neurologist said in his experience, he had no evidence to support the theory of injury accelerating symptoms of CMT - but to quote him "you are the first, you might not be the last and we are all learning"..

CMT is still a mystery to many medics, so I wouldn't read too much into personal experiences as each person with CMT is different.

[haim]

Hi thanks for your response. Sorry for your loss god bless you.

[lilybet]

Hi haim, the main experience I have with this is via knee dislocations. It's a Catch 22 - I began dislocating my knees at 20 yrs old (45 now) because of the neuromuscular weakness which I now know is CMT. But dislocations affect the tendons and further compromise the neuromuscular weakness as (so I've read) when you have CMT the muscles become oxygen starved because the nerves have to re-route around the damaged areas to more innapropriate parts of the muscle, causing further muscle wastage and therefore more weakness. My left knee is worse, it swells with heat, standing & stress. My 6 free NHS Physio sessions taught me about Tens Machines - they send electrical impulses to help route damaged nerves and also reduce swelling. You can buy them from your local chemist but ask your doctor about physio first. And if you buy yourself a tens machine read the instructions fully, or read up online first, because you must not place the pads on the bone, head or chest areas- only the muscular parts.

Unfortunately, my left leg is now slightly slimmer than my right leg, where it has wasted slightly because I have favoured it. I also have similiar problems with my feet too, sprained ankles & foot deformity causing more weakness, foot drop, tripping etc.

So in my opinion & experience, localised injuries can cause more localised weakness but I think that overall if CMT was to worsen it might be because it was going to with time anyway, and this will depend on each individual.

[haim]

Many thanks for your most kind comment

[xrawrkittenx]

I remember reading somewhere that if you suffered from cmt and you injured yourself, such as broke your ankle, the original strength that you had would never be regained and that ankle would always be much weaker.