Epidural Hematoma & Cerebral Palsy

CP and Its Relationship with This Condition

Often, when your child develops this condition, doctors do not recognize it right away. It usually takes anywhere from 18 months to 24 months of age to obtain an accurate diagnosis. This is because you often cannot instantly recognize some of the symptoms until much later. Usually, the pediatrician will see that certain developmental milestones were not reached, and as a result, they look a little deeper to discover that the child has CP. In some cases, it could even take years before doctors learn that your child has this condition.

One of the most important things that you can do as a parent is to search for some of the potential signs that your child has this condition. Some of the signs include:

  • Can’t grasp objects
  • Milestones and motor skills
  • Excessive drooling
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Speech problems like unnatural slowness or unnatural acceleration
  • Spastic and jerky movements, along with poor coordination

You should also understand how not all infants will display the same signs. While one child might only have one of these symptoms, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have CP. You have to visit a doctor to determine if they have this birth injury.

Prognosis: CP Caused as a Result of This Condition

When cerebral palsy happens as a result of epidural hematoma, the prognosis largely depends on the severity of it. This is often the case of the prognosis with most CP.  Someone with a severe case with many disabilities will most likely suffer a grimmer outlook than an individual with fewer disabilities. In many cases, when someone dies at age 30 from CP, it happens as a result of what arises out of the CP, rather than the CP itself. In many cases where a child has a severe form of CP, they may require feeding tubes, surgery, medication, and more.

It is difficult for any parent to hear, “your child has CP”. Unfortunately, there’s no definitive way to prevent it, and currently, no cure is available. One of the difficulties of treating this disorder is that no two cases will be exactly alike. That and the fact that it deals with the brain, and researchers are continuously learning more about the human brain and exploring new treatment mechanisms.