doctors and wheelchair predicitions

[Guest guest]

I have heard time and again on here from people who have had doctors tell them

they'd be in a wheelchair by a certain age. I was diagnosed at age 5 in 1975

and was

told a few years later that by the time I was 20 I'd be in a wheelchair. I've

worn AFOs

since age 5 and have had a " few " corrective surgeries but at age 33 I'm still

not in a

wheelchair and don't see that happening any time soon. I think that it is

absolutely

horrible for doctors to give this sort of diagnosis or prediction to people. It

does

nothing but instill fear and uncertainty and more often than not, the

predictions are

so far from being accurate it's disgusting. I remember being young and thinking

if

that's what I had to look forward to I didn't even want to be around.

I went to a neurologist when I was 20 and I wanted to know about new

advancements

and set up a physical therapy or exercise routine. You know what I was told?

This

jackass stood there and had the nerve to tell me that there was no sense setting

up

any sort of exercise program because with CMT it wouldn't do me any good and 6

months from now I wouldn't be able to tell any difference and I'd only be

wasting my

time and the time of the therapist. Needless to say I stood up and told him I

disagreed and I left.

I think this type of advice from a doctor does a heck of a lot of harm. It

promotes

giving up rather than doing what you can to maintain and gain any strength that

you

can. CMT can be hard enough without idiots like these guys in the medical

profession.

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