Guillain-Barré Syndrome

What is Guillain-Barré syndrome?

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare disorder that causes your body's immune system to attack your nerves. Muscle weakness, tingling, and sometimes paralysis can result.

Other terms for Guillain-Barré syndrome are acute ascending polyneuritis, acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and Landry's ascending paralysis.

How does it occur?

No one knows for sure what causes Guillain-Barré. Usually it happens after a viral infection, such as a cold or flu. It may also occur after infection with bacteria called Campylobacter. You can be infected with Campylobacter by drinking contaminated water or eating food that has not been cooked enough, especially poultry.

Sometimes Guillain-Barré happens after surgery or a shot.

Sometimes there does not seem to be a trigger. All that is known for sure is that something causes the body's immune system to stop working properly.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome usually start in the legs with tingling and weakness. You may have some numbness. The symptoms often move up the body during the next few days or weeks. The arms and upper body start to have weakness and tingling. Sometimes the weakness gets so bad that you cannot move at all. You may become almost completely paralyzed.

How is it diagnosed?

Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms and examine you. Tests you may have are:

• nerve conduction test
• spinal tap test of fluid from the spinal canal.

How is it treated?

There is no treatment that cures Guillain-Barré syndrome. However, there are treatments that sometimes make the symptoms better:

• Immunoglobulin therapy: You are given shots of the proteins that the immune system uses to attack invading organisms.
• Plasmapheresis: Blood is taken from you and processed so that the red and white blood cells are separated from the plasma, which is the liquid part of the blood. The blood cells are returned to you without the plasma. Your body then quickly makes new plasma.

You will probably need to stay in the hospital so you can be watched closely for possibly life-threatening symptoms. If the muscles that allow you to breathe are affected, you may need a machine to help you breathe until your symptoms get better. The most important thing is for you to be watched closely and for complications such as pneumonia and blood clots to be prevented while you wait to get better.

You may have physical therapy even before you start to recover to help keep your muscles flexible and strong.

How long will the effects last?

Usually people with Guillain-Barré syndrome recover, but it can take a long time. For most people the weakness gets worse for 2 or 3 weeks and then starts getting better and, after a time, goes away completely. Some people have weakness for months, and a few have it for years. Some never get all of their strength back. Sometimes the syndrome comes back many years after the first attack.

How can I take care of myself?

• Follow your healthcare provider's advice carefully.
• If you are getting physical therapy, follow the therapist's instructions so your muscles can become strong and flexible again.
• It may help to get psychological counseling. Being paralyzed and dependent on others for help with routine activities can be very hard emotionally as well as physically. It is hard to be able to hear and think but not able to move or respond. Counseling may help you adapt while you are disabled.

How can I help prevent Guillain-Barré syndrome?

Guillain-Barré is not contagious. It cannot spread from one person to another. There does not seem to be anything in particular that you can do to avoid getting it or having it again.

Where can I get more information about Guillain-Barré?

You can get more information from:

• Guillain-Barré Syndrome Foundation International
  Phone: 1-610-667-0131
  Web site: www.gbs-cidp.org
• National Institutes of Health Web site for Guillain-Barré Syndrome
  http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/gbs.htm
• Brain Resources and Information Network (BRAIN)
  PO Box 5801
  Bethesda, Maryland 20824
  Phone: 1-800-352-9424