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Symptoms
The first symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome include:
- Progressive muscle weakness on both sides of the legs, arms, and face
- Prickly, tingling sensations, usually in the feet or hands
- Pain is a significant complaint (Lower back pain is the most common complaint.)
- Loss of normal reflexes
Symptoms may develop over a period of hours, days, or weeks. They will vary in severity from minimal to total paralysis including respiratory weakness. The symptoms grow progressively worse. Most people experience the greatest weakness during the second or third week.
Related complications include:
- Facial weakness
- Blood pressure instability
- Heart rate changes
- Sweating abnormalities
- Cardiac arrhythmias
- Urinary/gastrointestinal dysfunction
Most patients recover fully, but as many as 25% will have some residual symptoms. Five to ten percent have permanent, disabling deficits, and for 5% the condition is fatal.
Diagnosis
Your doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history, and perform a physical exam. Diagnosis is dependant on the physical exam and history, cerebrospinal fluid findings, and nerve conduction studies .
You may have a lumbar puncture, also called a spinal tap . For this test, a needle is inserted into your lower back to remove a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for testing. If high levels of a certain protein are detected, and there is no infection, this is an indication that you may have Guillain-Barré syndrome. Electrodiagnostic studies are usually done, which test the electrical conduction in the peripheral nerves and help differentiate Guillain-Barré from other disorders with similar symptoms.