Eye Drops

It's not that eye drops are necessarily a common need for quads, it's that administering them is difficult to do independently for a few reasons.

First is simply the dexterity needed to control the bottle with two hands in order to squeeze it gently and precisely enough to apply just a drop or two. Both hands are occupied so forget using one, or both, to hold your eyelid open.

Second is the complication of the reduced range of motion in our necks. Many of us have had neck vertebrae fused as part of the treatment after our injury to prevent further damage by stabilizing the neck with hardware. This reduction in our range of motion makes it more difficult to tip our heads back far enough to administer the eye drop. As much as we become good at compensating for lost range by bending at the back or waist, being in a properly fitted wheelchair holds us in an upright position quite well. This struggle to overcome limited range can be eliminated by administering the drops while in bed, but many eye drops call for more than the two times per day when you'd definitely be in bed.

Holding the bottle two-handed, without dropping it in your eye, keeping your eyelid open, all while maintaining your balance is no small task. But practice makes perfect. Of course, I do not take for granted the times my wife has taken care of the application leaving the balance and eyelid to me.

Solution: Look away from the bottle to prevent blinking and back up to a wall or corner and lock your wheels then use the wall to lean on to help with balance. These tricks may help with or without someone else's help.

Medications

It's no surprise that persons with a disability often need additional medication to maintain their health and have the fewest factors interfering with their lives. Some of the medications quads or paraplegics may need include antispasmodics, including targeted antispasmodics such as those that relax and deliver a mild analgesic to the smooth muscles in the body, for example, bladder muscles. These increase bladder capacity and reduces the detrusor muscle contractions, which cause the urge to drain the bladder, or even incontinence.

I'm grateful to be able to adequately control my body and limb spasms with stretching, the exception being when I'm in significant discomfort. Those are the times it is wise to look for a pain problem and remove it, if possible. It disappoints me to learn of how many physicians and physiatrists prescribe a liver or kidney deteriorating pain killer or blood pressure medication rather than seek to solve to problem causing the issues. The blood pressure increase is a result of autonomic dysreflexia.

I much prefer to solve problems through natural options such as diet, physiotherapy, and massage, saving more invasive medical treatments for when they are really needed.

Many of my peers are on a constant low dose of antibiotics to keep bladder infections in check. Regularly inserting and withdrawing a catheter, as clean as you try to be, will result in infection on occasion. Others require significant antispasmodics to keep their body from spasming them right out of their chair. Once again, I'm glad my stretching is adequate.

By no means is this comprehensive, just a sample of what many of us need to make the most of life each day. I'm thankful to need only one prescription and a few vitamins to function well. We'll look at the ubiquitous child-proof quad-proof bottles that most of those come in soon.

Source: Your doctor. Even vitamins and minerals should be discussed as to how they may interact with other medications or affect your body.