Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP)
A mild, degenerative form of cerebral palsy that affects every 1 in 11000 people, or every 1 in 77000 people.
What happens/are the symptoms?
It ranges from person to person, but common symptoms mostly include pain, weakness and muscle spasming in the lower limbs. For me, a spasm is like a sharp, continuous pain in the muscle that eventually goes away, but obviously it may be different for others.
Some other symptoms include:
Chronic back and shoulder pain
Lack of balance and coordination
Learning and developmental problems
Trouble with fine motor skills
Trouble with gross motor skills
Bladder problems/incontinence
Obviously it’s possible to not have all the symptoms, or different mixes of them, differing in seriousness, which is completely natural.
This one’s always a bit of an odd question, because some people don’t understand that hereditary means it’s genetically inherited. I inherited it from my mother, who inherited it from her father and so on and so on. The men in the family typically carry the gene and may pass it onto their children even if they themselves never develop symptoms, but there’s also a likely chance that at least one of my biological children in the future, if I ever have any, could also inherit the condition.
When I was seven, but it’s different for everyone. Some people are very obviously afflicted from birth, some people take longer to show any symptoms, some people may never develop any symptoms and some may not not develop symptoms until later in life. My brothers, for instance, do not show any symptoms as of yet but may develop some as they progress into adulthood, but they may not. It’s all down to possibility.
For now, yes. The condition is degenerative which means it’s fairly likely I may end up more wheelchair dependant in the future. I already rely on a cane to aid mobility outside of my home, but this is a recent development. And there are other individuals with the condition who may not be able to walk, or have never been able to walk. It’s a spectrum.
Sometimes. It’s not uncommon for a lot of people with HSP to use a wheelchair or some other device to assist with mobility. Personally, I tend to use it for walking in unfamiliar areas or going long distances that I’m not used to.
