re: Travis Frederick Diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome

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Good chance he winds up paralyzed and bed ridden for a while.

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Not likely at all


He has been diagnosed already and getting treated while still being pretty healthy


The people you see bed ridden and on breathing machines are the ones that had the disease progress this far without diagnoses


Knew two people with GBS


One wasnt diagnosed until late and was on a breathing machine and in pretty dire situation


The other was diagnosed very early, when he was simply having a limp. He got some treatments, was out the hospital pretty quick


But rehab on his leg that first showed symptoms took a while. About 7-8 months


If Frederick is still walking around and relatively strong and already diagnosed he will have some rehab ahead but likely wont face the far worse symptoms

Granddad had it, caught it on vacation, rode an ambulance back to Louisiana, was completely paralyzed for a couple of weeks, finally began recovering and was slowly getting better when he caught a fatal blood clot from being bedridden so long. Still remember my dad waking me up to tell me the news. I was 12 years old.

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This can be really bad. I have a friend who got this & was completely paralyzed for a few months. It took him a few years to be fully back to normal. It is a bad deal. I hope he is okay.

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Back in early 05 my stepson came home from LSU during the week, which was unusual with him having classes. He could hardly walk and off to the hospital we went. After several tests, he was initially diagnosed with GBS or some other neuromuscular ailment, all of which were even more severe than GBS.


Within a week he was losing his bodily functions with use of the legs going first, then the use of his arms. In a month he was totally paralyzed and fortunately for us, I was retired by then and could take care of his needs. It was a blessing that it didn't get to the point he needed to be put on a machine to do his breathing for him like many GBS patients have to undergo.

Long story short, he came down with this in late January of 05 and by the first week of August he was at least able to walk on his own and was planning on heading back to LSU to pick up where he left off after having to drop out for the spring due to his illness.

Overall, it did take him a couple years to put that behind him and start leading a more normal life.


All I can say is thank goodness for hospitalization insurance as the treatments and drugs used to fight this thing are outrageously expensive.

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the head neurologist said if I waited a couple of days, it could had traveled to my chest and diaphragm and I would had major issues.

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Correct

It is unbelievably important to catch it early, but is very difficult to as well because there is not test that shows you have GBS


It is also very strange in some cases, as a person will show symptoms and then will show zero symptoms for a period of time

As both neurologists explained it to us, if treatment is started before it spreads to more vital area it wont be as serious

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Glad your step son is doing well.

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Thanks man. It was touch and go there for a while. Hell, when he went back to B.R. to attend LSU he could walk, but looked more like a newborn calf than a functioning adult male.

Then Katrina hit and we were all glad he was getting over it because we had a ton to take care of in N.O. after the flooding. That was a tough, and trying year.

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I was diagnosed with the chronic version of Guillain Barre (CIDP)

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i'm currently dealing with this now. hard to deal with. extreme fatigue and pain and numbness.

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If he is alive and already being treated he will be fine


It leads to death when someone stops breathing completely due to not yet being diagnosed

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I've watched it progress in someone who was being treated who wound up on a ventilator and eventually died.

Supportive care usually works, but even with appropriate care, death is not completely out of the question.

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I've watched it progress in someone who was being treated who wound up on a ventilator and eventually died.

Supportive care usually works, but even with appropriate care, death is not completely out of the question.

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Oh I'm sure it happens


Just playing the numbers game like the neurologist explained it to us