G u i l l a i n – b a r r e  S y n d r o m e

I am administering Remedial Massage and Stretches to a patient of mine with this tragic condition.

I have put spaces between the letters to be clear about this condition and how to spell it.

I had never heard of it before my patient called me and asked me if I could help.  I had to look it up.  She had had massage with the physiotherapist and wanted to continue treatment on a weekly or even daily basis.

At the time I hadn’t read that it could be deadly.

The doctor at the hospital where she was first taken explained that her condition was probably due to the flu vaccine she had just had.

She woke up paralysed with an agonizing burning pain in her hands, face and feet and couldn’t move.

She was taken to hospital and from there to a Home.  After about 2 months she was allowed back to her own home and that is when I met her.

She wore firm plastic splints (braces) on her legs, and her feet couldn’t bend, she used a zimmer frame and could only walk from her arm-chair to the front door.  She was numb from above the knees down and her muscles were extremely firm and cold.  She was especially stiff in the lower back.

My patient wanted me to work on her legs where the physio had left off because they were numb and she was focussing on walking again.

I decided to focus my work on the spine where the nerves left the spine to the rest of the body and then on the legs. Which is why I looked at the lower back first.  As she could hardly move, I couldn’t easily take her through a ROM (range of movement).

She has had about 10 weekly full body massages and is now walking with her friends, her leg splints have been changed to very soft ones.  She has feeling in all of her body and her muscles have lost their hard stiffness. Her smile is more evenly balanced and is producing a smile, not a grimace.

I had not read that Guillain-barre causes death, although I am not surprised. I can only assume that it is worse for some than others.  The Guillain-barre website does not speak of death, but says it can take 2 years to get over this condition.

However I wonder now if it is not a condition and that Guillain-barre is the symptoms from a vaccine.  I was surprised that the doctor at the hospital admitted it was the vaccine that caused my patient’s condition.

It must be the NHS’ best kept secret.

Click on the link for more information: Guillain-barre Syndrome