Post-polio syndrome (PPS)

What is post-polio syndrome?

Polio, a highly contagious disease that ravaged thousands of North Americans in the early 1900s, is rarely spoken of today. However, many survivors of the polio epidemics are now finding that they are ill again, this time with post-polio syndrome (PPS).

After people recovered from polio, it was assumed that they were well and would no longer be affected by the crippling disease. PPS has surprised the medical community by appearing in 25 to 50% of people who had had polio many years before. The cause isn’t known or understood, but the syndrome is real and can be life-altering. It is important to realize that unlike polio, PPS is not contagious.

One theory of the cause of PPS is that while the nerves were able to heal after the initial bout with polio, they may not have healed to be strong enough to tolerate years of use by the body and then begin to deteriorate after a certain amount of time.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of PPS generally come on slowly and not all at once. A person with PPS can experience one symptom and then nothing else for a while until another symptom begins appearing. The symptoms include:

New muscle weakness in limbs that were originally affected or in limbs that didn’t seem to have been affected at the time of the initial illness

·         Breathing or swallowing problems

·         Decreased tolerance of cold temperatures

·         General fatigue and exhaustion with minimal activity

·         Muscle and joint pain

·         Sleep-related breathing disorders, such as sleep apnea

Why does it cause pain?

The pain can be in the joints or the muscles. As muscles get weaker, they begin to atrophy, waste away.

What can be done?

There is a major push for awareness about PPS among those who have it. Unfortunately, because it isn’t well known, there isn’t a lot of understanding.

There are no treatments available yet, but studies are under way to find medications that can manage or slow the deterioration. Medications may help relieve some of the pain and discomfort and physiotherapy may help people slow down the muscle atrophy. However, there must be caution not to overdo the exercise as this can result in extreme fatigue and an extended period of recovery.

For more in-depth information, here are some sites that have reliable and up-to-date information:

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

MayoClinic.com