Cerebral Palsy Symptoms: Will They Worsen?

Cerebral palsy is a devastating condition that results from a brain injury. Oftentimes, baby brain damage occurs during the birthing process. It may occur as an unavoidable result of a difficult birth or it may occur specifically due to medical negligence on the part of the attending physicians or the nurses involved in the birthing process. It can also occur in the womb and, in some cases, CP can result from causes that aren't entirely clear. There are some basic facts about cerebral palsy that anyone dealing with the disorder should understand.

Does Cerebral Palsy Get Worse?

Cerebral palsy is the direct result of a brain injury. The brain injury does not generally get worse with time. Being that it is a brain injury, however, it also has absolutely no chance of ever healing. Cerebral palsy is generally identified, at first, by the symptoms. For example, CP is associated with problems with muscle tone and, oftentimes, parents first notice something is wrong when they notice that the child's limbs seem unusually floppy or rigid. After an initial diagnosis has been made, doctors will oftentimes order brain scans and other complicated methods of testing to verify the diagnosis.

What are the Symptoms?

There are different types of cerebral palsy. For example, dyskinetic cerebral palsy is a condition that is defined by problems maintaining muscle tone. Many of the individuals who are affected with this type of cerebral palsy are perfectly normal mentally but have severe physical symptoms.

Ataxic cerebral palsy is more associated with trouble with fine motor skills. It is known to cause people to have trouble walking, giving them a trembling gait. It is also known for its association with what are called intention tremors. Intention tremors occur when the individual affected with CP attempts to do anything that involves fine motor skills. The harder they try to accomplish one of these tasks, the more their muscles shake involuntarily.

Finding out that the child has CP is never easy. The bad news is that the brain injury will never heal and that the symptoms may worsen over time. The good news is that the brain injury will not become worse on its own. One of the hardest things to deal with where cerebral palsy is concerned is facing down the costs of the medical treatments that the affected individual will inevitably require over time.