Paralyzing illness starts in the feet
December 6, 2011 – 5:56 amIn January 2007, I was a passenger in a friend’s car when it was involved in an accident. I received two fractured vertebrae and severe bruising across my stomach. In June of 2007, I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. I was paralyzed from my feet to my neck, and stayed in the hospital for 63 days.
Could the onset of GBS have been triggered by the stress and trauma of the auto accident?— T.M.
Guillain-Barré (gee-YAWN buh-RAY) syndrome first begins as funny sensations in the feet. A paralysis then sets in, starting in the legs and moving upward in the body. The paralysis results from an antibody attack on nerves by the immune system. Antibodies are proteins that serve as ammunition for the immune attack.
In 70 percent of GB patients, the ascending paralysis is preceded by a respiratory or digestive-tract infection by one to three weeks. I’m sure there are different time intervals for this; nothing in medicine is set in stone. The germ causing the digestive-tract illness is most often the bacterium Campylobacter (KAM-puh-low-BACK-tur). One of the viruses causing a preceding respiratory illness is the Epstein-Barr virus — the virus of mononucleosis, which features a sore throat as part of its symptoms.
The bacteria and viruses don’t actually cause GB. They cause the immune system to produce antibodies against these germs. Those antibodies also are directed against nerves. It’s the antibodies that are responsible for GB.
I cannot find information supporting stress or trauma as causing this illness.
Many people stricken with GB find it hard to remember if an infection preceded the onset of their paralysis. It’s interesting to know if it did, but it doesn’t affect the treatment or duration of GB.
Write Dr. Donohue at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, Fla. 32853-6475.
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