My life with DCP (dystonic cerebral palsy) and depression a little more info

At the age of 30 I got diagnosed with dystonic cerebral palsy and even though I’ve lived with it all my life I never had a name for it. I spent 3 years feeling sorry for myself as I was told it affects the right side of my body more than my left! When I got close to my 33rd birthday I discovered female body building and said fuck it I’m giving it agoNow I’m a year in and getting stronger everyday. I can now deal with the painful spasms a lot better and I’m just here to prove everyone wrong

They said I could never do it and like any woman never tell me I can’t as I will! I decided to show my journey on YouTube to inspire others and so far I’ve got 69 subs and that makes me happy! I’m not giving up as I don’t believe in it,

I just want to take a little bit of time to tell you about my DCP and what it is,

Cerebral palsy is a general term for a group of movement and posture disorders that arise as a result of non-progressive damage to the developing brain of a foetus or infant. The symptoms of cerebral palsy are different in each person affected and will be very dependent on the extent of the damage to the developing brain. The impact on movement and other activity will also be different for each individual. Some may only be mildly affected with minimal disability whereas others may have a lot of challenges to their development.

There are a number of types of cerebral palsy – the most common is spasticity which causes the muscles to be stiff and inflexible (in this case the muscle is described as having “high tone”). Spasticity is present in around 80% of cerebral palsy cases. Alternatively in ataxic cerebral palsy, the muscle can be too flexible making the child’s limb or body appear floppy (the muscle is described as having low tone). The child is unsteady in their posture and when trying to reach.

In around one in six cases, cerebral palsy causes involuntary muscle spasms and unwanted movement – this is described as dystonic cerebral palsy (or alternatively dyskinetic or choreoathetoid cerebral palsy). The symptoms of dystonic cerebral palsy are usually of muscle spasms which can be difficult to control and sometimes painful. These are a result of incorrect signals from the brain. The spasms cause a range of different unwanted movements.

Dystonic cerebral palsy often appears in combination with other symptoms of cerebral palsy – usually the dystonic movements appear in combination with high and/or low muscle tone. For this reason, the condition is often described as cerebral palsy with dystonia. Now like I said I’ve had this all of my life but I only found out what it was called when I was 30! once I knew everything just seemed to start to make sense to me again, all the problems I had as a kid, why I found P.E at school such a challenge and why I had such a short attention span, I found trying to learn things really difficult as I struggled with reading, writing and spelling and often my brain would (and still dose) just freeze and not take in the information. As I grew older kids would make fun of the way I spoke more and more, that’s when another side affect of DCP kicked in Depression, I’ve been battling with it on and off for many years but it wasn’t until after I got married and moved away from home it got really bad (no it was nothing to do with my husband before anyone says it lol )

My Depression got so bad that I lost my motivation, didn’t want to go out and even lost my friends, I piled on the weight and things I once loved to do became another chore! As I approached my 33rd birthday I decided enough was enough and looked into fitness. I had a few people tell me I couldn’t do what I was looking at but that just made me even more determined to give it ago. Now I can’t afford to go to a gym every day so I work out at home with simple movements that are slowly making me stronger and happier. Its given my husband and I something to talk about other than out work (he’s been fit since I’ve know him) Its a slow process but everyday I’m getting stronger and learning new things about my body Some people still don’t agree with my way of dealing with my issues but hey that’s up to them, yes I take medication for my DCP and my Depression but one day I hope to come of f the anti depressants I know I will probably be on the DCP meds for a long time if not the rest of my life but I’m not going to let it get to me any more, My aim is to just show people that ANYONE can work out if they want to, disabled or not, whether you have access to a gym or not, its your life to live however YOU see fit. I still struggle with the thought of people not liking me but hey that’s just something else I need to work on and one day I will be able to just walk away from the people who make me feel bad or drag me down. one step at a time though.

Thanks for reading guys I hope that some of you go and check out my YouTube and see exactly what it is I do (yes I will talk funny on occasion but that part of who I am) or even check out one of my live scopes as and when I do them. no matter what you do just remember to LIVE IT, LOVE IT, DREAM IT, ACHIEVE IT.