I received my first question last night (thank you!) so I’m here to answer 📷:-)
“Can you feel anything where you are paralyzed? What does it feel like?”
First of all, let me make it known that I can only answer for myself. Every spinal cord injury is different as is every BODY. People with SCIs share many things in common but there are also many differences. When I speak here, I am speaking for myself and my own experiences.
Here is a very short science lesson. Feel free to look up more info if you choose to do so.
My spinal injury occurred at level T9-10. The spinal column is made up of vertebrae which are divided into sections. The ’T’ stands for ‘thoracic’ and the 9 and 10 are the vertebrae that were effected.
The line of my injury basically falls right across my waistline.
See. You learn something new every day. Or maybe you already knew that, good for you.
Okay, so what does it feel like? It’s hard to put it into words but I will do my best. I think the easiest way to describe it is like this:
There are some spots where my sensation is better than others, and some where it is worse. It’s all very random. In addition, my body has its own automatic responses to pain or extreme cold and sometimes extreme heat - although for ME that one is not as sensitive. My legs will spasm involuntarily to signal something is not right.
Now, imagine your skin in layers. When something touches my skin in most of the areas below my belly button, I can’t feel it ‘on top’. Like, if you put a hand on my leg, I won’t feel your hand, BUT I will feel the touch below the surface. Does that make sense?
So I can’t really feel what is touching but I have the sensation that I’m being touched. Kind of like pressure but below the surface. Nine Inch Nails actually wrote a song about it with the lyrics, “I want to feel you from the inside.”
They didn’t. I made that up to make sure you were still paying attention.
Anyway, That’s the easiest way for me to explain it. I’m not sure if that makes it any more clear to you, secret question asker, but that’s the gist of it. If you need me to break it down anymore, just ask!
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