19 Year-Old Dies from COVID: GBS also suspected

    • October 2, 2020 at 1:57 pm

      Some of you may have seen this in the NY Times. A 19 year-old in North Carolina died this week after contracting COVID-19. The initial report I read mentioned only that he experienced “neurological problems” and could not walk (which naturally piqued my curiosity). Now the article quotes a family friend: “doctors told the family that they suspected he had a previously undetected case of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks nerves. Many viruses can trigger the syndrome, and there have been cases linked to Covid-19.”

      I suspect that there will be more information on linkages between GBS and COVID as time goes on. And what about the vaccine? How many GBS patients are going to be willing to get it?

      There’s no mention of a flu shot, but ’tis the season. I was diagnosed exactly one year ago this week after getting the flu shot. I’m glad to say that I’m now fully recovered except for a few relatively minor symptoms.

    • October 18, 2020 at 7:33 pm

      Hey. I`ve seen on the internet about the GBS and COVID…
      How was the recovery for you and how old are you, if you don`t mind?
      Did you got immunoglobulins or plasmapheresis?

      Please if you want to describe more your minor residual symptoms.

    • October 18, 2020 at 9:03 pm

      Hi Robert. I am 62, and a year ago at this time I was holed up in an acute rehab hospital for what turned out to be a month’s stay, give or take. My initial treatment was IVIG. My first week in rehab coincided with the low points of my condition: terrible night pain, severe leg weakness, loss of bladder control, numbness moving from my feet up to my knees…

      What followed was several weeks of intense rehab, mainly physical therapy. After a month I went home — still dependent on a walker — and continued outpatient PT and workouts at home. A month later, I graduated to a cane. A month after that, I was starting to walk on my own. Other symptoms were markedly improved. My recovery was really accelerating during this time. I was driving and returned to work by early January, and not long after that I was able to run some and walk long distances unaided. By Spring I was maybe 80% recovered, by my estimation, and I continued to improve with each month. I’m a very active person, and I think that being in decent shape and doing a lot of physical activity had a lot to do with my recovery.

      The symptoms I have still have are numbness in my right foot, what one might call “slightly reduced” bladder control, as well as occasional trips or stumbles that seem attributable to the GBS, and possibly the foot numbness. Perhaps the it’s damage to the same nerve area that causes all of these things. But these are pretty minor things compared to what many people are experiencing, so I consider myself extremely lucky.

      How about you?

    • October 22, 2020 at 5:24 pm
    • October 22, 2020 at 6:03 pm

      @Jim-LA That’s tongue-in-cheek, right?

    • October 22, 2020 at 6:30 pm
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