
How is GBS Treated?
What causes GBS?

I
was a healthy 17 year old that was into all kinds of sports and was
very active. I enjoyed track and field. I ran the anchor for my High
School. I was on the girls basketball team, cross country and volleyball
team. Anything athletic was what I enjoyed participating in. It was
nothing to run 10-12 miles a day. I loved the adrenaline rush.
I quit
school and move to Texas where my future and present husband Chuck was
stationed. Well just a month or so after I moved to Texas I started to
feel weird. I have never been sick with anything major besides the
normal cold and flu stuff. Boy was in in for something new.
I was getting really tired all of the sudden. I had no idea what was happening. I would take a walk into town, which was just little less than a mile. That was easy, no sweat at all. Well as I got into town, my legs felt very heavy and tired. I could barely get enough energy to cross the street. I managed to get home, which to this day I have clue how I made it that far. I made it to the step and had to rest a few to make it up but eventually I did. I was under 18 so it was hard to get to see a Dr. I wasn't about to tell my parents I wasn't feeling good, especially since I ran away from home.
Well as a day or so passed by , I noticed that
my feet was becoming numb and that they tingled really bad. I couldn't
even lift them anymore and it was slowly going up my body. Things just
didn't look too good. Well Chuck and I decided to go to the ER and we
tried to lie about my age. That didn't work. I guess I'm not that good
at that, lol.
We were sent home and
still not knowing what was happening. I knew that somehow I had to get
some help. It got to the point when there was no choice. We went to a
different hospital. By this time I couldn't walk at all. I was having a
lot of problems breathing. I couldn't move my eyes or any muscles on my
face. I couldn't move period. After we got to the hospital the Drs in
the ER automatically assumed that I was on drugs. I guess it was that
70's thing. Every teen was suppose to be strung out on drugs. I knew I
wasn't but they ran tests anyhow. They came back negative.
They admitted me into the hospital and put me in ICU. My breathing by this time has been worse than when I went in . They ended up doing a spinal tap and found out that I had Guillian Barre Syndrome. I was totally clueless on what this was and what it meant for me. I was rushed to a hospital that had a top notch Neuro Unit and was placed on a vent and was basically a vegetable.

Post GBS:
I
still have many residual effects from GBS and have been diagnosed with
Myasthenia Gravis on top of that. How they figured that out, I have no
clue. My Dr's told me that it is common for people that have auto-immune diseases to have more than one since the the body is fighting itself. I was pretty shocked to hear how common it is to have Guillian Barre Syndrome and Myashtenia Gravis. But it is what it is. I will put together a page for Myasthenia
Gravis and how they found out I had that.
For me I think my
faith in Christ is the biggest thing that helped me deal with all the
medical things like GBS and MG. I don't know how people can get through
things like this without Christ.