The Globe and Mail - Adriana Barton - Matthew Sheppard can spend hours playing the video gam Minecraft, but he has trouble pouring water into a glass. Like other 13 year old boys, he loves hurtling through nature on an ATV. But when a waitress asks for his order,he blinks uncontrollably and shakes all over. Matthew has dystonia, a movement disorder that casused involuntary muscle contractions and spasms. More
Tremors rattle through his body, especially when he’s nervous, says his mother, Cathy Sheppard. His inability to write, feed himself and perform other simple tasks has put him behind in school and affected his emotional health, she adds.
Matthew hasn’t reacted well to medications used to treat dystonia, but the Sheppards, who live in Toronto, are hopeful that brain surgery will help. Research has shown that deep brain stimulation, in which an implanted device sends electrical signals to the brain, can lessen the symptoms of dystonia in some patients.
If a battery of tests reveals he is a good candidate, Matthew may be booked for the surgery before next summer.
Ms. Sheppard realizes that deep brain stimulation is not a cure, but, she says, “I’m crossing my fingers that it will improve Matthew’s life enough that he won’t shake whenever someone looks at him.”
Dystonia affects tens of thousands of Canadians and is the most common movement disorder after Parkinson’s disease. Nevertheless, dystonia is little known by the public as well as general practitioners, says Robert Chen, a neurologist at the Morton and Gloria Shulman Centre for Movement Disorders at Toronto Western Hospital. Full Article