Hi,
My mother (60 Yrs) had mild fever (101 degree Farenite) after which she started feeling week in the legs and hands and lost her grip, we took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with having AIDP better known as GBS. After two days of keeping her under observation the doctor started a dose of IVIG of 2gm per kg of body wieght which was given over a 5 Day period.
During her stay in the hospital she deterioated and could not lift her hands and legs and had severe pain in the whole body. All through the stay they did the regular tests like NCV and spinal tap. The doctor said since we have started IVIG in the initial stage of the disease it will not progress any further and thankfully it did not, her ability to speak or eat or breath were not affected.
She was admitted on 1st of May 2010 and released on 8th of May 2010 after the 5 Day dose of IVIG and some physiotherapy. We were told to continue physiotherapy at home and give her medication as prescribed by the doctor. After two weeks of physiotherapy she is able to walk slowly with support (needs more confidence to walk alone) and can move her hands and change sides on the bed. She still has some weeknes in the shoulders though. The physiotherapist says that she is recovering well and can start doing small chores around the house like cutting the fruits and vegetables etc and that she does not need further physiotherapy.
My questions in this regard are as follows:
1. Is it advisable to stop physiotherapy after just 2 weeks of discharge from the hospital as advised by the physiotherapist?
2. She is recovering well but still has a lot of weekness which increases towards the evening and night time and has shaky hands. She has painful and restless nights. Is there anything we can do in this regard and generally how long would it take for this to go away.
3. On searching the net I found forums, blogs, case studies related to the initial stages of the disease and the post recovery stage, I could not find much info on what to expect during recovery, could you please shed some light on this matter.
4. The doctor said that AIDP is a one time thing and it is very rare that it can come back, on searching the net the majority cases that I found were CIDP patients which has me worried if a relapse is more common than what the doctor made us believe. What signs should we be looking for.
5. The symptoms of GBS started after a 2 day period of mild fever (101 degree F), was it in any way related to the medicine we gave for the fever and should we take any speacial precautions going forward if she has fever and is it advisable to give the same medication.
6. After this disease she has started getting increasing gastric problems and attacks, is this in any way related to this disease.
Sorry for such a long question but could not help it, just want to get some questions answered to reduce the anxiety and help her recover from this disease.
Help is much appreciated,
Thanks
This discussion is related to
recovery from GBS.