Clarification on Saebo Stretch, Botox, Adderall

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After reading a comment on today's post, I decided that I better write a bit of a clarification statement.

First off, I need to state that I'm only writing about how these things effect Jessie and it might be different for other kids. Keep trying things and do whatever works for your child.

Saebo Stretch is effective for stretching the fingers and thumb, but I believe that many other orthotics that are built for that purpose would work as well. If insurance will pay for one, get it, knowing that your child might need to "grow into it". Bottom line, I think that stretching the fingers and thumb at night are good for presentation of the hand at a minimum, maybe functional use too, but I'm not willing to stand behind that one yet. Jessie is a long way from any functional use of that hand. She may never get there.

Botox. The bottom line is that Botox does reduce the finger spacticity (tightness in the muscles and tendons). Most people say that this will only last for a few months and then you have to do it again. I agree with that statement. The idea, is to keep the spacticity down during the first year of recovery, and see if we can get some functionality back in the hand. It is near impossible with stiff fingers and thumb, but at least there will be a fighting chance if the fingers and thumb are loose. So that's the idea. We won't be able to say if it helped long-term for a couple of years, but in the short-term, it does loosen up those fingers and thumb.

As a side note, the Botox will help with the dorsiflection (drop toe) if injected in the hyper-toned calf muscle. Once again temporarily.

Last but not least. Adderall, which has nothing to do with the first two. Adderall is given to help Jessie focus. It is Amphetamine Salt tablets that are usually given in 5mg or 10mg doses to kids her age. This drug, seems to be helping with Jessie's focus, but we're not really ready to make that call yet. We're doing a blind study with Jessie's teacher to see if it is truly effective, and at what dose. The teacher gives Jessie a focus grade each day, and she doesn't know if Jessie has been given the drug or not. Right now, the drug does seem to have some positive impact on Jessie's focus, but we really don't have enough days (sample size) yet.

I'll definitely keep reporting on Botox and Adderall and other things as we move forward. I don't, however, want to mislead anyone in the "honeymoon" phase of a drug or treatment. So I'll try to be cautious in my reporting.

I hope that this helps.

God Bless,

Cris

http://www.hemifoundation.org