Your baby is not at risk of Guillain Barre disease

Anonymous
November 28, 2007 at 10:02 pm

There is a wealth of knowledge here if you would like to ask questions here. You might also be able to contact the office of your former neurologist and ask for the phone nurse or leave a request for answers to specific questions from your previous neurologist. Neurologists are often really busy, so the last may not work.

Regarding the question if you son is predisposed to Guillain Barre because you were pregnant with him when you had it, the answer is no. Whereas GBS is rare, there are more cases of other immune mediated diseases that moms can get when pregnant and that are also not associated with an increased risk of the disease in the babies. So do not worry about this. The logical explanation is that the problem in Guillain Barre is that B cells make antibodies. These antibodies can cross the placenta and possibly affect the baby before birth or shortly after birth, but transferred antibody has a short time to stay in anyone’s body. It is a possibly shared manifestation of the disease, but is not the disease. So babies are okay because they do not get the cells misprogramed to make antibody that reacts against nerve cells. It is the antibody producing B cells that continue the disease.

With Hope for cure of these illnesses (and health to our children).