Numbness and tingling in hands, result of GB

Hi Len: SOrry to hear about your wife, but welcome to the forum. If you read through some of the posts you will see that many people have different experiences with GBS as it effects us each differently. However, tingling and numbness in hands and feet are very common symptoms related to GBS and can last a long time. The good news is that hands often heal first while feet are the most difficult. There are medications that might help with these symptoms; the most common is neurontin. It helps a great many people keep the neuropathy under control. You should ask your doctors about it. As the nerves heal the numbness goes away, so it is all question of how fast they might heal. There is little to be done to make nerves heal, but a lot of rest and not overdoing help. I am sure others might have more suggestions but good luck and let your wife know there is a very helpful community here waiting to help however we can. Jeff

I am 8 weeks out of the hospital. I am working 3 hours per day. Numbness in my hands comes and goes as does little tingles or pins in all parts of my body. my feet are still the worst. They still have some numbness but I walk fine with a cane. When I first started this roller coaster ride in January I thought that in six weeks I would be fine. In six weeks I was much much better and able to function at most things for a short time. I take no drugs at the current time. Everyone is different in how they progress. Good luck on your journey with us. I have learned to notice the warning signs for when I am doing to much. My signs are that my face get a liitle numn, then my hands. At noticing these sighs I know I MUST rest or else a great deal of the symptoms reapper.
Harry
My glass is not half full nor half empty…I am just happy to have a glass

I had mild GBS in November, and I still have tingling in my fingers, numbness in hands and arms when I sleep. Tingling up and down my left leg intermittently. Occasional numbness and weird sensations in my feet. Every morning when I get out of bed, I feel like I have pins and needles in my feet.

I did not have any treatment (plasma, IVIG) etc. so you can take my info with a grain of salt. I also did not have a definitive diagnosis of GBS because no spinal tap, but I know with 99% certainty that I had a neurological reaction to the H1N1 vaccine. I think that what your wife is experiencing is very common. It seems as though some recover quickly such as in months, while others have what we call “residuals” for years.

Hello Len,

I’m 18 years post GBS and have intermittent bouts of numbness, tingling and burning, mostly in my feet. It’s difficult to determine the length of recovery time, though it sounds like your wife is coming along quite well. 🙂

Take care,

Tina

Hi Len…………..I wish you and your wife well in her GBS recovery. Jeff was accurate when he said that the recoveries for GBS patients vary. Ask 100 GBS sufferers how long it took their tingling and numbness to go away and your might get 100 different answers. In my case (paralized from the neck down, one year ago), it took about 4-5 months for the numbness to go away, once the body started to repair itself. My feet are still involved, but have recent assurances that in 6-12 months that numbness will be gone too. As quickly as some people are affected by GBS, it takes a long time and a lot of patience to begin the road to recovery. I did not take any medicine to alleviate the symptoms. I did actively use occupational therapies to help improve my condition, always being careful to allow for plenty of rest. If you are patient and remain positive, good things will happen to you. Good luck!

Welcome to this wonderfully supportive and informational forum. All the folks who have written in have had great information – and I can add little to what they have said. The numbness and tingling, pins and needles, cramping and feeling very cold in hands and feet is so very common. And it lasts a while. I am still in “active” recovery – still on a LOA from work and couldn’t imagine returning. I get exhausted with very little effort. I take a 3 hour nap every afternoon and that gives me strength to prepare a very simple supper for my husband and me. Bed about 9 – 10 and up about 8 AM. I putz around the house (adn do physical therapy exercises) in my walker until 1 or 2ish, and then it is nap time. That’s my day. My husband has been very supportive – and that is probably the most important part of my recovery. He only asks that I take care of myself and get enough sleep. When my feet are so cold I cry he rubs them with warm lotion (I can’t reach them yet) and then puts fuzzy socks on, wraps them in a blanket and turns a small little space heater on them. It helps a little, but warms my heart more than my feet.

Your loving support and understanding is more important than anything. I hope you have a best friend, or a basketball hoop or something similar that you can vent your frustrations with. I feel so bad for my husband – I used to be so strong, supportive and busy – and now I can’t pick up something that fell on the ground, or stay awake a full day. And he doesn’t complain, as he does all the laundry, cleaning, and works full time. I feel you are supportive of your wife, too – that’s why you found us. Every day some of us are up, some down – but always supportive of each other. Hang in there, and know that this is a forum full of support – I am so glad to have found it!

Blessings to you both.

My situation was similar. I 1st got it Jan ’08 and 2 years later, I still get numbness in my fingertips. It isnt too bothersome though.

wow talking about tingling and that, well I think it is 4 year now, well I still have tingle in my feet and hand and also numb in my feet and hands, but I deal with it and I think your wife will get better. this take time and we all have more of it :))
Just tell you wife to take it easy, I did that hard way, started to work too soon and too much, so that is my fault how I’m too day I think 🙂

Len, When I was in Critical Care the docs told me almost everyone recovers fully. When I was in rehab hospital a volunteer who had gbs told me she still had tingling and numbness after 6 years. That did not sound like full recovery to me. I am now almost 5 years down the road and I still have numbness and tingling in feet and hands and some facial numbness.
Feet feel like I am walking on bunched up socks.
But, it doesn’t affect what I do….walking, working, golfing, gardening, scouting, canoeing, driving……..living. She can do it.
My case was similar to your wife- 2 weeks critical care, 2 weeks specialty hospital to wean off vent, 5 weeks rehab hospital and 6 weeks out patient therapy.

Len, It has now been one year since I came down with GBS that practically took my life…(April 20, 2009). It kept me in the hospital for (4) months on a ventilator and G-tube, my heart rate went from 134 beats/Minute to 20 beats/minute, thought I would never survive yet be able to walk again. But the Lord’s grace is sufficient. Could never have done it w/o Him. Prayer, time, Physical therapy and eating healthy are the only advice I can give you that can help get you through this tough time, but eventually your wife will recover, just keep the faith, be there for her because its going to be a long road to recovery…its been 8-months since I left the hospital and I am still not 100% recovered, still can’t feel my feet or bend my toes and continue to have nerve pain and numbness in few fingers and exhaustion. But I am going to college to be an optician have completed 4-months and got 4 more to go until I get into The College of Optometry. The best thing thats happened is my life has change 360 degrees and look forward to a new way of life. Everyday I think of where I was to where I am and grateful to God for His wonderful Love….Can’t do many things like run, but I still have life!

Misterb –
Welcome to the forum – I have found it to be a wonderful light on a dake day – and help me understand the “disease” we have been gifted. GBS is a long walk; yours sounds like a very difficult tiime. I used to think 2 months in the hospital was awful, but have realized others have had it so much worse. Keep returning to this site, you’ll find support and friendship here.