#quadriplegic

[gayaest]

[OC] Farrokh, Iranian, He/They, Trans masculine/man, Gay, c8 quadriplegic uses a powerchair 🍏🧸🪴

Cervical Instability, Tethered-Cord Syndrome ⭐️ Description in Alt-Text.

[only-knives]

Quadriparesis Awareness: My Experience

Most people know about quadriplegia (also known as tetraplegia), which is paralysis of all 4 limbs. Quadriparesis is weakness in all 4 limbs, often cause by nerve damage.

This is what I have! It's not quite partial paralysis, though it is somewhat of a step down. My muscles can be very limp or stiff, depending on which limb it is. I have a tremor in my arms and legs. Difficulty with balance and walking. My reflexes are abnormal.

In daily life, this comes up as difficulty doing... literally everything. It takes me longer to do things because my muscles don't do what I tell them to. I can't go on long walks, ride a bike, skateboard, ice skate, roller blade, play badminton, run around, climb trees/buildings - all things I used to do before my body began to break down. Art takes me much longer, and I can't do things that I used to be able to anymore.

I wanted to share this because there's already misinfo about paralysis, and no one really talks about paresis. Paralyzed people are interrogated when they can partially move, because people think it's either All or Nothing - either you cant move or feel anything, or you can. But that isn't true.

It's a long way from full mobility to paralysis - it's not always caused by acute injury. For me, my quadriparesis is a downstream effect of a connective tissue disorder. For someone else, it could be from multiple sclerosis. In both cases, it can take years to develop severe symptoms.

I don't really know how to end this but, I guess if I could say one more thing, it'd be to be considerate. If you see someone lagging behind, slow down to meet them. If someone seems tired or shakey, accomodate them (ask if they need help, change plans to something calm, offer them a seat). If someone says they're disabled, believe them.

You've probably met people with quadriparesis (or nerve damage in general), but it's easy to just assume we're just low energy or clumsy people. And maybe we are - but we may also be struggling to keep up with a world that isn't built for us. And I just wish more people saw that.

PS: If anyone with paralysis would like to add on, feel free! <3

[vikingblood8888]

[flossr]

[onlytiktoks]

More of these cuts are coming. More of these stories will emerge

[stellaltumi]

shoutout to all the fellow disabled people who spread awareness and advocacy even when they have no energy to do so, I see you, I love you, and you are so deeply appreciated. your story has the potential to be someone else's survival guide.

[butch-reidentified]

hey gyns,

ik I haven't posted a personal update in ages, but I've been insanely busy arranging and preparing for my participation in a study involving ✨️NERVE TRANSFER SURGERY✨️

here is my surgery schedule (first one was yesterday!):

the aim here is to recover some degree of movement function in my hands & triceps.

despite a very physically/neurologically traumatic cause of injury, and EMG results from late January that one of my doctors described simply as "not good," genuinely against all odds, I had already begun to regain triceps nerve function in both arms at a low level and a small amount of voluntary movement in my right hand -- before my surgery.

during surgery yesterday, my surgery team successfully identified multiple actively firing nerves in my right triceps, enough that they redirected the nerve transfer to the weakest active nerve identified. meaning basically that this transfer should function more like an extra boost to whatever triceps function I was naturally gaining back rather than being the source of any triceps function.

my arm is in a sling for 3 days & next surgery is on Monday. I am sore but very optimistic, and so, so proud of myself & the strength & joy & hope & determination I've found within myself. quadriplegia is an insane experience to say the least, but it's also led me to find the friends I needed and deserved after the heartbreak of losing my closest friend of a decade. I am, perhaps surprisingly, happy.

oh and I don't have them yet, but my surgeon took pics and videos!

EDIT June 4th, 2025, 3:28am -- Stage 3 was moved to today per this post. I am currently preparing for surgery. Stage 4 date tentatively the same.

EDIT June 6th, 2025, 11:11am -- Stage 4 is now scheduled for this coming Monday, June 9th, since there was an opening then due to my rescheduling Stage 3 as per above. They tried to push my surgeries back to the end of July and instead I'm having the last one 9 days earlier than was originally scheduled, in a move that is just so very me lol