Age affect GBS recovery???

older age slows you down a little, but not too much. many here are her age. suggest you keep your ques to one thread or it will be hard for us to follow her progress, thx. take care. be well.

gene gbs 8-99
in numbers there is strength

My FIL is 83 and he was diagnosed with GBS in July07. He is still wheelchair bound and he has a catheter. I think he can overcome his GBS, but he is using his age and sayign he doesnt have the energy and wants to rest all the time. I think a lot to do with the recovery is the mental attitude. He seems to have given up and seems to think that not walking is the answer for him now. and the rest of his life he will be liek this. But I think if he was more positive he would do better.

Rakshanda ~ you may be seeing depression related to this life-changing disease. When your FIL tells you he is tired, without energy, that is “for real”! It is not anything like you would mean if you said that you were tired. The residuals are so difficult to explain to a healthy person that even most of our doctors “don’t get it” 😮 Please hear me, he is not using his age as a cop out. It may seem like he has given up but most of us here were in that same spot ~ more than once. At age 43, this disease was “crazy-making” for me with all the ensuing adjustments and I can’t begin to imagine what it like for FIL at 83. You can’t even imagine just how bad he wants to walk again but “at the moment” he is betrayed by his physical body. As Gene always reminds us:

GBS ~ getting better “slowly”

Keep coming back and asking questions of us and our caregivers. We hope to help make this journey less difficult for all of you.

[B]Rakshanda,

I totally agree with what Judi has just posted. You have no idea of the tiredness,no energy and pain that a GBSER/CIDPER goes through, just because you can’t see the illness, it is there big time. Some people never will get out of their wheelchair and not because they do not want to, it’s physically impossible for some. I would suggest you do some research on this subject.[/B]

[QUOTE=S Eckhoff]Rakshanda,

How severely was FIL hit with GBS? Mom was in ICU on vent with feeding tube in less than 24 hours. I am just curious, since now (7 months later) your FIL is in wheelchair. I assume he has some range of movement in upper torso?

Thanks to all for responding to my posts, this really helps.[/QUOTE]

My FIL was diagnosed within 24-48 hours. He was on the IVIG before we could be told what it was he had! He wasnt as severe as your mom. He never lost his breathing control and from the neck to the waist stayed normal, from the waist down he was paralysed and the mouth and eyes were paralysed too. He was int he hospital for about 4weeks and then theraphy and then home. He tried to walk with the walker and he does take about 10 steps with us holding him since he is scared he will fall.
I know I am saying he is copping out, maybe since I am well it is very frustrating for me. I know he is doing his best and he is in pain and sick, as his primary care giver it just gets so hard sometimes and I need to vent. I cant to anybody else so I do it here.
He is on cymbalta only 60mg a day. I have to take him to the neorologist and get him on something else, because this isnt working.
Good Luck with your mom.

Experts believe that GBS is an autoimmune disorder. These happen when the resistant system, which typically protects us by offensive some invading organisms that might damage the body, mistakes the body’s own cells for foreign fabric and begins to hit them. GBS can affect people of any age, but it becomes more general with increasing age.