Effects of polio on family and friendships

• April 27, 2024

The International Post-Polio Health Organization (PPHI, for its acronym in English) concerned about the impact of the poliomyelitis in the family and social environment of the patient, offers a series of recommendations to make more inclusive and life-sustaining for those survivors of the poliomyelitis .

Understand and accept what the late effects of the polio , is not easy. The people who survive the polio experience feelings of guilt; afraid to be a burden or you may feel sadness for a possible "relapse" in his health.

The family may experience some resentment about the new responsibilities they must assume. The important thing, the specialists affirm, is to address the concerns as a team, between patient, family and friends, which also includes health professionals.

According to PPHI, the experience of having had poliomyelitis It is very personal, particularly among minors. Having remained hospitalized or isolated for months and being in constant rehabilitation therapies and for a long time, affect the self-esteem and the way of relating to the rest of the people. The memories of the polio They also vary, depending on the acuteness of the infection or the age at which it was acquired.

Polio and forgetting

Those survivors who suffered from polio when they were infants, perhaps they may not have conscious memories of the disease or the rehabilitation , while others vividly recall the pain and the paralysis of the acute infection and his medical treatments.

The knowledge of the disease and the late effects of it must be known by the family, schoolmates and friends.

For example, if it is a survivor of polio who experiences the Post Polio Syndrome (SPP), it should be known that the new problems that the person faces are not caused primarily by the virus , but it is secondary disorders as a result of having had polio .

Importance of the medical checkup

Post-Polio Health International recommends that those who are polio survivors get annual medical exams and that those who are suffering from symptoms of weakness, pain, fatigue and respiratory problems be evaluated exhaustive neuromuscular .

Some patients refuse to seek medical attention and evade visiting a doctor, because they have bad memories of the disease or are convinced that no doctor will understand the late effects.

The responsibility of the doctor will be to face all these complaints in a methodical way and not consider them as simple signs of aging .

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