Living with Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Well, the night of September 10, 2008 I put detox pads on each foot and went to bed. The next morning when I woke up I was numb. My first thought was, “Wow! These pads are really working and I maybe this is what I have to go through to detox my body”. Two nights later I thought, “Maybe these pads are too strong”. So I did only one foot that night and the other foot the next night. That was it. I progressively got worse. I became numb from the butt down. My walk and balance is off; my breathing became labored and my throat felt like it had an obstruction. I feel that I need a new prescription for my eyesight (I thought it was age) and my fingers are tingling. When I went to the emergency room the doctors thought that I was having a mini stroke Very scary.

I was in the hospital for one and a half weeks. For the first 5 days I had several test for the brain, spine and heart and everything came up negative. That’s when they called in the neurologist who administered a Nerve Conduction Velocity test (NCV) and the puzzle was solved.

The neurologist told me that “Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) usually comes from a viral infection or a shock to the system. But there was no infection detected”. She even said “The GBS could have initiated with the detox pads; she couldn’t say for sure”.

I don’t feel that this is a coincidence and I can’t help but wonder if the ingredients in the pads are holistic, as listed on the package or the ingredients entered my body through osmosis and triggered this reaction. But I am blessed that I didn’t reach the stage of paralysis and a full recovery is in sight.