That startle response can knock my shoes off. If my door is opened even if expected to I feel as though I will jump out of my skin. This may be more frequent if something some where is wrong.
_____ From: bob quinn [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 4:25 AM To: Steve Crowder; [email protected] Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] This Is Pretty Long -- Sorry It may sound simplistic, but to deal with your startle response it sounds like you need to learn how to relax. Have you tried meditation? It can have amazing, transformative results given a good teacher/guide and when practiced on a regular basis. At 04:26 AM 10/11/2009, Steve Crowder wrote: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> CRY FOR HELP FOR MY STARTLE RESPONSE I have a huge problem I need to throw out to you guys. Over the past six years, I have developed a severe case of scoliosis, curvature of my spine. The curve of my spine, which used to have me shaped like a banana. Now I am even more bent. It gets worse every time I sit in my wheelchair. If my body were allowed to assume its natural shape, then it would be excruciatingly painful. So just about everything I do, from lying in bed to sitting in my wheelchair, requires compensatory measures. In bed, I have to roll over on one side of my body, and then back onto my back and somebody takes really guides my legs and a. When I sit in my wheelchair, as I am right about to sit down, I have to have someone guide my hips into my seat, otherwise I sit down in a painful position. So dealing with that is an issue in itself. Here's my problem. I've developed a startle response. I startle at anything -- anything. The worst is when I'm out in public. Everything gets me. The overhead loudspeaker at stores paging people announcing things, every loud voice, which is almost every voice, children laughing, babies crying, car horns and alarms honking, you name it -- I get to the point where I live in a pain, but worse -- my head is turned almost sideways, which kills my neck (I have a C/3-C/6 fusion) and my only way out is to get out of my wheelchair Something is always getting me when I'm in bed, also. Every time it happens, it puts me into the most horrible pain. The very worst case is when I jump. By jump, I mean my body actually moves and my legs go up in the air. Like I said, I'm very incomplete and am capable of standing and even taking some steps with assistance. But, without going too deeply into the subject, bit and I move enough to be placed in agonizing pain. So I need somebody to help me work on my startle problem. I have people rolling me like crazy. A "roll" is when somebody rolls me onto my side and then back on my back. a number of steps involved, and if I startle during one of the steps, we have to start all over again, which happens extremely frequently. I'm wearing everyone out. It happens throughout the night, and when I don't get rolled, the pain is through the roof. I need to find solutions to the following questions: What do I do to stop? Who should I go to? I have a stage IV pressure sore that will require surgery very soon, and I'll go nuts in the hospital.
