🚀 go-pugleaf

Index Number: 26402

My friend has been having wicked pain, mainly back pain, for about
two months now. She has been a quad for seven years now.  She has
gone to the hospital a few times for tests and they still haven't
reached any conclusions yet nor have they done anything to treat
this yet.

About three months ago, her catheter tubing started to get
discoloured quite quickly (a few days after it was changed). We
thought it was blood at first, but a home test indicated it
wasn't.

At first they thought it was kidney problems, but a kidney
specialist said that her urine contained muscle tissue (myoglobin I
think?!). Anyway, they think her muscles are breaking down from the
spasms she gets.

I asked the doctor why, all of a sudden, this has started now. He
was brief, but indicated that sometimes this breakdown takes years
to start.

She has always had mild spasms before, but it never affected her
like this.  Also, she has always had excellent muscle tone in her
legs. ie, it looks like she could get up and walk off any second.

So, my questions to other quads, etc, is "Is this normal?"  Will
her muscles start to atrophy now?  Will she have to live with this
pain for the rest of her life now?  Is there any way to stop it?

I know, none of you are probably doctors, and every person is
different, but I was just wondering what others have found in this
area.

BTW, I read this group via the internet newsgroup misc.handicap,
but haven't gotten any traffic for about a week now. Am not sure if
it is a feed problem.  I would appreciate it any replies are also
sent to me via mail -- just in case. Thanks!

--
Weave's 10/90 recipe for insanity: Take one programmer, divide into portions:
10% programming consisting of equal parts in systems and applications plus
admin duties broken down into 20% for Unix, 5% PRIMOS, 10% hardware & network,
35% DOS/Windows, 10% news, 5% postmaster, and 5% babysitting IRC kiddies.