Reply To: Undiagnosed Adult GBS, mild case?

December 1, 2017 at 2:12 pm

mw17, I don’t if you’re still following your post as its been close to 3 months now, but I wanted to say that I found it very helpful. I had a respiratory virus that lasted 2 weeks, followed by a bad sinus infection that was treated with anti-biotics. About the time the sinus infection was at its worst, I started getting thermal dysesthesia and mild numbness in my legs, feet, arms, and hands. At different times of the day my limbs felt mildly numb and more sensitive to cold and heat. Anything cool felt icy cold, and mildly warm was interpreted as very warm, almost hot. Then after another 5 days passed I began getting severe lower back pain that radiated down both legs. The back and leg pain was a nightly occurence. At that point I went back to my PCP who gave me gabapentin, which didn’t help. I was instructed to come back if symptoms worsened, and sure enough I started getting weakness in both legs, I even fell while descending steps at one point. When I went back, the doctor said it could be GBS or some type of post-viral syndrome. He gave me one dose of prednisone to see if I felt any improvement afterward, but agreed that full treatment with a steroid might not be a good idea. He said the single dose could be useful in determining whether its GBS. That’s where I’m at now, the prednisone did seem to stop the pain last night, though the leg weakness and skin dysesthesia remained about the same. I’m about 2 weeks into this and the dysesthesia seems to be stable. My walking is slow, especially where stairs are concerned, and for now the back and leg pain has abated. Despite my trouble with leg weakness, when the doctor tests my leg strength and reflexes they seem good. I tend to think my muscle strength is there, but the instantaneous muscle reaction needed for navigating steps/stairs is lacking, as you might expect if nerve communication with the brain is slowed down. Whatever this is, it seems much like what mw17 experienced, and like him I feel lucky that my symptoms have been so mild thus far.