You may experience sudden sweating above the level of injury, accompanied by a sudden pounding headache or rapid heartbeat and feelings of panic. The autonomic nervous system controls things you don't have to think about, like heart rate, breathing, and digestion. Autonomic Dysreflexia indicates over-activity of that system. It means something is...

Taking care of your skin has to be a daily priority from the very beginning. Prolonged pressure on the skin damages underlying tissue, especially on the bony parts of your body where you don't have a lot of skin: heels, ankles, elbows, hips, shoulder blades, and the tailbone.

Regardless of level, in the beginning it may be difficult to breathe because the muscles that are responsible for breathing and coughing may not function or only partially function. It is not uncommon to be intubated or undergo a tracheostomy, so breathing with the help of a ventilator is possible.

You may see a speech-language pathologist for assessments of swallowing, motor speech, and voice. Voice impairment is secondary to poor respiratory support. Your syllables per breath, pitch control, vocal intensity and vocal quality may be impaired. The length of phrases that you can articulate may be shortened.

In the beginning the challenges ahead look daunting. The questions keep you up at night and evade you when the whitecoats suddenly appear only to disappear again. Intensive Care Unit staff and skilled nursing facility CNA's don't have answers for you. A good inpatient rehabilitation program does.