10 Things An Aging Quadriplegic Needs To Focus On

Like it’s your job. Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are one of the most prevalent health problems that people with paralysis from SCIs experience. UTIs can quickly turn into kidney stones which can then turn into kidney infections which often lead to extended hospital stays. Been there and done that too many times during my paralyzed days. The best way to maintain a healthy urinary tract is to pound the purest water possible all day long. A gallon of the freshest spring water you can find is ideal. I swore off tap water years ago and have seen my UTIs decline dramatically since making that decision. Water. All day every day.

This dovetails with drinking water to maintain maximum bladder health. Daily shots of the pure, organic concentrate can work wonders if you can consistently choke it down. It’s bitter and not the best tasting for my money. I don’t always do it and I need to. It flushes out the piping like nothing else (next to good old fashioned water).

It’s pure poison to start with no matter what your condition, but when poured into a broken bladder it intensifies all kinds of problems. I’ve had periods where I drank heavily both before and after my accident and having been there and done that, I rarely imbibe anymore. The backside is too much to deal with and it’s simply not worth it to me anymore. Not to mention it undermines every other effort I make to maintain my health. Speaking as a person firmly planted in my mid-life or perhaps even later, I tell all my children the same thing—it’s not worth it, so weigh the consequences carefully before dumping too much progress-eraser down your pie hole.

It can be a struggle depending on where you live and the time of year. I live in Maine so it’s more than a little challenging to get outside for extended periods of time for half the year (it’s cloudy and 28° today for reference) but it’s essential to maintaining good health. I do my best to sit outside for at least 20-minutes a day with as little clothing as possible to maximize exposure.

When you’re paralyzed a minimized percentage of your body becomes responsible for 100% of your movement. The human body wasn’t built to sit down for a lifetime and our shoulders weren’t designed to walk on, but technology has made up the difference and now we can do it. When you use a wheelchair you need to protect your shoulders like they’re national treasure. Stretching every day is critical.

In living over a quarter century with quadriplegia I’ve had seasons where I’ve done this well and where I’ve done this poorly. Added weight is never good no matter what your health status, but it’s especially problematic when you’re planted in a seat for every moment of your daily life. Calories come off much harder because it requires a higher degree of creativity and output to sweat (interruption of your thermal regulatory system is one symptom that is almost universal across the snowflake spectrum of spinal cord injuries). Dialing in the right balance between diet and exercise is a constant struggle across all humankind, but like most things in the aftermath of a spinal cord injury, its relevance becomes amplified.

The immediate move traditional medicine will make is prescribe you antibiotics at the first sign of infection—whether it be a UTI, skin infection like STAPH, etc. I’m not suggesting that someone shouldn’t follow their doctor’s orders, but I am proposing that it’s my responsibility as a person living with a disability to do everything possible within my power to prevent myself from getting to the point where I need antibiotics. Of course things happen and sometimes it can’t be avoided and a course must be taken, but what are the long-term impacts of repetitive antibiotic use? What bomb does that detonate on our gut health? If you’re forced to take four or five oral courses of antibiotics in one year for chronic infections—which is entirely possible for someone with an SCI—what other factors are contributing to those recurring infections that could be addressed? I’m trying to make it a point to remind myself of this on a daily basis to avoid the hospital and the prescription pill bottle.

I’ve loved the water my whole life so I confess my bias, but I believe swimming is the best exercise for paralyzed people hands down. It’s the one impact-free environment we can access to get upright. The stretch for your legs, abdomen and internal organs can’t be replicated on land. Not to mention the freedom to stretch every other part of your body. The buoyancy you feel is freedom. No one is running in the water—it’s the great equalizer when you’re paralyzed. It’s not easy to access a body of water when you have quadriplegia, but the juice is certainly worth the squeeze. No better exercise available as we know it, so far.

This is an easy one. It’s a part of my daily regimen. Vitamin D (again, especially for where I live), D-Mannose (for bladder health), all-natural blood sugar regulators, etc. As long as you’re consuming copious amounts of water as detailed up above, combining the right supplements can help keep the machine moving along.

I’ve seen a lot of people pass this last year, including my only sibling, my beloved brother, who I never expected to outlive. I’m constantly trying to meditate on my end without obsessing about it. I try to employ Miyamoto Musashi’s “way of the warrior” “resolute acceptance of death” as my operating system. I stress about money, I stress about making my family happy, I stress about fulfilling my daily purpose as that pertains to my life’s purpose, but I also try to stay mindful of the inevitable and maintain gratitude for this great, productive ride I’ve been granted.

Sleep sets the stage for everything. I have relied too heavily on sleep aids in recent years. I need to do a better job of staging my environment for optimized all-natural sleep results.