SPINAL CORD INJURY
5. Temperature control Normally, when a person feels hot, he sweats and the blood
vessels beneath the skin swell. This automatic cooling system is partly lost in persons
with high spinal cord injury. In hot weather, they may get high fever or can even die of
heat stroke.
For this reason they must learn (and be allowed) to
rest quietly in the shade, in the coolest place possible,
during the hottest part of the day.
Children with spinal cord injury can learn to paddle
around very well in old tire tubes. They love it, and
it is excellent arm and shoulder exercise. However,
it is very important that someone watches them.
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A green leafy
cover helps
cool the air.
water dripping
to keep person
wet
fan
If he can
spend part
of the hottest
hours of the day
in a shaded,
shallow pool
or pond, this
is ideal.
For hot weather,
a plastic spray
bottle works
very well for
cooling the body.
TAKE CARE also to protect against
cold. Body temperature can also drop
too low.
DYSREFLEXIA (Sudden high blood pressure with
pounding headaches)
Persons with quadriplegia or very high paraplegia run the risk of ‘dysreflexia’—or
sudden, dangerous increase in blood pressure with severe pounding headaches.
Dysreflexia is the body’s reaction to something that would normally cause pain or
irritation, but which the person does not feel because of the spinal cord injury.
COMMON CAUSES OF DYSREFLEXIA
• bladder problems—especially when the bladder
is too full, infected, or has bladder stones (This is
by far the most common cause.)
• stretching of the bowel—from constipation,
with a big ball of hard shit, or from finger
pressure to remove the shit
• pressure areas or sores—or even irritation from
lying on a small object without knowing it
• burns
• spasm of the womb—especially just before or
in the first days of a woman’s monthly period,
or during childbirth
SIGNS (OF DYSREFLEXIA)
• severe pounding headache
• sweating of the head
• stuffy nose
• reddish skin patches on face and neck
• goose pimples above the level of injury
• slow pulse
• high blood pressure (up to 240/150)
disabled village children