The runner -up from Olsztyn fights with a rare disease. The doctor talks about the course
It was the end of February when 27 Natalia Lewandowska from Olsztyn Suddenly she began to feel bad.
The young runner -up suddenly fell on the street. Diagnosis: Guillain-Barré syndrome
– The daughter felt bad, she suspected she had flu. She had photophobia and her back and legs hurt terribly. It lasted three days. She wanted to go to the doctor, went out into the street and fell. We went to the hospital with her, on the first day she was still walking, the second leg refused to obey – says « Fakt » by Barbara, mother of Natalia.
Doctors diagnosed a young mother with a young mother Guillain-Barré team.
-this is a rare autoimmune disease (occurs in 1-2 people per 100,000, editor’s note), in which the body’s immune system incorrectly attacks its own peripheral nerves, and as a result of this, there is inflammation and damage to the so-called myelin casings, i.e. what surrounds nerves, and sometimes peripheral nerves. The reason for this team is not fully understood. Whereas Most often it is preceded by some infection either viral or bacterial or vaccination or surgery. These may be flu -like infections, infectious mononucleosis or bacterial infection, e.g. Campylobacter jejuni. So there can be many of these reasons and they seem quite trivial, but our body for some reason reacts in a not entirely correct way – says « Fakt » neurologist Dr. Stanisław Szlikf.
The disease attacks from below
– Natalka was lying on neurology for a few days, after which she got a collapse. It was transferred to the ICU and is intubated, in addition, she passed pneumonia, is under the respirator. Now it has cleaned plasma, you have to wait. Time is the most important thing in this disease. A slow process of recovery awaits us, there is a slight improvement, she is aware and conscious, but she can’t speak-her mother describes the 27-year-old.
As Dr. Sielcek says, the most common symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome include muscle weakness, usually symmetrical. – So it starts from below – feet, lower legs, thighs, and when it comes to the upper limbs – from the hand, through the forearms to the shoulders. This weakness progresses upwards. There may be difficulties in moving, and in severe cases of breathing and autonomous disorderssuch as arrhythmias, pressure or difficulty urinating. If the patient does not react within a few days, he may end up with a critical state – says the neurologist.
The key is to quickly make a diagnosis and implement treatment
– Always if we have any infection, even quite trivial – a runny nose, flu -like symptoms – and after this infection we begin to feel the weakness of such quite symmetrical limbs, especially the lower limbs, then then we should be interested in it. It can be even about three weeks after infection – emphasizes Dr. Szlikf.
He adds to make a diagnosis, you need to perform lumbar puncture and electromyographic examination, i.e. check the nervous conductivity. However, this is not always easy, because at the beginning of the disease there is often no clear changesso -called protein-cell fission in cerebrospinal fluid.
– So the disease progresses quickly, but we don’t always have the opportunity to diagnose it quickly. And in the case of Guillain-Barry syndrome, it is crucial to quickly implement treatment, although this does not always prevent the disease from serious. We treat the team in two ways: it can be administering immunoglobulins, which lasts for five days, or replacing plasma, i.e. plasmapheresis, repeated every other day about 3-5 times-says Dr. Sielfik.
Recovery can take many months. But the prognosis is uncertain
– Most patients gradually recover, but it can take it from several weeks to even many months. According to research, up to 80 percent Patients regain almost full fitness, but there are also those whose neurological consequences will occur for the rest of their lives. Patients are often later rehabilitated for many weeks and sometimes only thanks to this tedious rehabilitation manage to get partial or total – if someone was more lucky – remission. But It happens that a young, 30-year-old person who was running marathons is not able to get out of bed – adds the doctor.
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The 27-year-old is the runner-up of Warmia and Mazury from 2019.
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The woman suddenly fell on the street.
