MSA and Neuroplasticity – how to make the occasional gain

14 December 2014 at 02:21

There was a time I could not walk or talk, or feed myself, but the problem is with the brain and the brain can rewire, you have to trick it into thinking it is learning something new. something I learned while studying psychology and biofeedback. It is of course not an accepted medical approach which is why no one else seems to do it. In 2001 when I had my infarct and was recovering from it I could not stand or talk, even two years later I could not feed myself. I am still not very good at any of those things but good enough to get by. I also think it is why I am still alive, because if you do not fight like a friend you fall of the mountain very fast.

This might really help,
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.richardsenelick.com%2Farticles%2Frewiring-brains-rehabilitation-plasticity-and-transplants&ei=ZliNVNX_AtCvogTml4LwDg&usg=AFQjCNGSuY03zbtDXwRfSOFehdFXMzfYrQ&sig2=GDPz-DS41cv8vBeISv6MTQ&bvm=bv.81828268,d.cGU
and any other recent articles on neuro-plasticity might help also, and articles on therapy after stroke, because dead and dying brain cells act the same no matter what the cause.

With MSA we are often operating on false knowledge, the brain perceives one thing while the reality is something else. I started limping when I lost sensation in my feet, but really that was no reason to limp. Once I convinced myself of that (meditation and just plain rationalizing) I stopped limping. After the infarct I woke up unable to speak or walk, but really I had not lost the ability but simply forgotten how to, so I taught myself to walk as if I were dancing, rethink, relearn each movement without telling yourself this is stupid, I already know how too dance. Most MSA literature uses the term “lost”, but it would be more helpful to say unlearned, then you can relearn. With speech I taught myself to sing because I did not want to to think this is stupid I already know how to talk.

Instead most MSA literature tells you to adjust and cope with your losses, nowhere have I seen it written that you can regain what has been lost to a great degree.  What I do now is not the same, but it keeps me going and independent, it is exhausting, because everything has to be willed, nothing is automatic, we o not just put one foot forward to take a step without thinking, we have to do it as a result of willing it. At some point I can see myself being too tired and ending up in bed never to get up again, but that day is not today.

me in 2005 with dog and new grandchild

four years in a row starting 2003, I need to update this, but I got rounder as I re-learned feeding myself 😉

Walking my daughter down the ilse, took me two years but I walked it without a trip or fall