The doctors thought that one of their patients had a sinus infection, in reality she suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome. Initially paralyzed and hospitalized, she is now out of the woods.
Trusting your instincts can save your life. An American experienced it at the beginning of October. After a visit to the emergency room, the doctors diagnosed her with a sinus infection while she suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome.
A first surprising diagnosis for his relatives
Sierra Henderson has a sore foot and a bad taste in her mouth. She decides to go to the emergency room, where two doctors diagnose her with a sinus infection. The young woman is still in pain and worried. “She went there for foot pain and came back for a sinus infection, it was a little mind-boggling for me,” said her brother when asked by RTV6. Sierra Henderson decides to return to the emergency room. Other doctors confirm the first diagnosis, but still refer him to a neurologist. “The specialist immediately knew what it was, he adds, he sent her for tests. He already knew it was Guillain-Barré syndrome.”
Generalized paralysis
The disease is an attack of the peripheral nerves, which are the nerve fibers which ensure the passage of information between the brain or the spinal cord towards the muscles or certain organs. One of the first symptoms is paralysis of the lower limbs, as experienced by Sierra Henderson. Soon after, she suffered from generalized paralysis and had to be put on a ventilator. “We thought she would have to learn to walk again, to talk, and absolutely start all over again,” says her brother. The treatment worked and her sister is doing better. She needs rehabilitation to be able to walk again, but she can talk again. For him, what happened to his sister was a trigger: “If you have any of her symptoms, make sure you go to the hospital, because for us it could have been worse. . She could have not been here today.”
According to the Orphanet encyclopedia, the disease affects between one and two people in 10,000 each year in France and 85% of patients take between six and twelve months to recover. Deaths would be rare but the risk of dying increases with age.
An unknown origin
Guillain-Barré syndrome is linked to immune defences: they become disrupted and cause an alteration of myelin. The latter surrounds the peripheral nerves and allows their functioning. The scientific community does not know the cause of the dysregulation of immune functions, but infections could be the cause. Two-thirds of people with this syndrome would have had a viral or bacterial infection before developing the first symptoms of the disease.
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