Cerebellar Ataxia: I was diagnosed with... - Myeloma America S...

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Cerebellar Ataxia

DennisAustin3 profile image
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I was diagnosed with this after I felt like I was leaning almost falling over while standing upright

Luckily my hospital has a neurologist working there and I was referred to him after a nurse did a number of tests and was for lack of a better word clueless about this.

The Neurologist did some tests and sent me for a CT Scan which showed nothing puzzled he booked me for a MRI again showing nothing as the cause he determined it was idiopathic since I had this but nothing like a tumor or virus or anything else caused it.I have friends with MS who told me this was classed with MS by the Mayo Clinic difference being MS affects mainly muscles while Ataxia affects almost everything else like Walking,,Vision,Speech,eventually Swallowing,and balance to list a few. The two are classed together because the symptoms are so alike as a matter of fact he told me what he went through and I went through alot of them but not all. I am 6 feet tall and cannot walk the length of myself without a walker!I even have grab bars and shower wands and a shower bench also handles to help me off and on the toilet I even fell a few times luckily never got more than a bruise from the falls.I even went to the store one day and noticed my knee felt funny, I got to my driveway and it was like my leg was going /ataxia--without me and I fell and needed help to get up.Even in the mornings getting out of bed is a chore I need 3 or 4 tries to stand up and if I stumble or something touches the back of my leg I fall back on the bed. This is a permanent disability since it involves damage to part of the brain I lost the ability to write letter or numbers, I can still type somewhat but use speell check alot since I lookat a letter on the keyboard and hit keys next to it! my left eye was seeing double not it so sensitive to light I often need to close that eye and I was ordered never operate machinery or drive again. This almost killed me too I started to show signs in a training college and was going for my shift on a Excavator and fell in front on it,it was raining so I thought I slipped,my friend said if he did not see my hard hat he would have ran over me

I told my Instructors and they said he has 2 months left and let me finish but kept a close eye on me. In the dorm I was holding both rail going up or down and my dorm room was on the second floor Now 2 steps give me trouble and I need to have help or grab something to get up or down...I now have a ramp. This disability is full of surprises lol !

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DennisAustin3
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tclementi profile image
tclementi

Wow what a diagnosis story! Thanks for sharing!!