Quote:
Originally Posted by katric511
My brother is 25 yrs old, he has been in and out of the hospital since he was 19yrs old when he decided to join the army. He was stationed in Seattle, when he got a virus called Guillain-Barre syndrome, after that went away he developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome on his right leg. He has been prescribed so many different medications to control the pain but none are helping. They have given him tranquilizers to knock him out for some surgeries and those don't help..Its to the point where the doctors are starting to worry because the pain is getting out of control and they are not sure what to do. They know that it is possible that all the meds could affect his insides..He went back to the hospital three days ago, he started throwing up everyday and he barely has an appetite. I'm not sure if its the medication that has also changed his personality. He's not depressed or anything like that but he has changed to where he is acting like a child calling "mommy" and laying with mommy and asking for toys for his birthday and for Christmas. I don't know what will happen, we are all scared and my mom has been stressed out, to where she's getting sick ulcers, kidney stones. I don't want to think about the possibility of losing another brother..
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Dear Katric -
This sounds like an unbearable nightmare for your family. I join the others, know that we're thinking of you.
First off, where does your brother live? We might be able to make some suggestions. And while I agree with Pete's comments, you should know that some university hospitals are better than others. The University of Washington (Seattle) is to be avoided
like the plaque. And just where I live in LA, the pain program is
much better at USC than UCLA, even though UCLA has significantly higher ratings overall, and is one of the best neuroscience centers in the U.S.
The other thing is that a GB/CRPS combination is not unheard of. Certain viral infections often lead to a susceptibility to CRPS (RSD) and Guillain-Barre is on the list, although Human Parvovirus B-19 apparently tops them all. (References available upon request.)
*
And for what it's worth, "mild cognitive impairment" (which I've got) is common in CRPS, see, The Natural History of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Schwartzman RJ, Erwin KL, Alexander GM,
Clin. J Pain 2009; 25:273-280
http://www.rsds.org/pdfsall/Schwartz...lexanderGM.pdf AND Neuropsychological deficits associated with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Libon DJ, Schwartzman RJ, Eppig J, et al,
J Int. Neuropsychol. Soc. 2010 May;16(3):566-73, Epub 2010 Mar 19,
http://www.rsds.org/pdfsall/Libon_Neuropsychol_2010.pdf
That said, I know of nothing specifically linking CRPS/RSD with any form of dementia, and checking the massive records of published medical articles maintained by the NIH, called PubMed, and accessible at the upper-right of every NT page, came up empty. And searches under both "Guillain-Barre dementia" and "Guillain-Barre Alzheimer's disease" were essentially unproductive as well, a few articles noting commonalities in treatment etc., but nothing linking the two as such. So I don't know what to suggest on that front.
Clearly, your brother needs expert medical care, for which the VA is not so hot, at least on CRPS related issues. (For active duty troops at Walter Reed, that's another story entirely . . . )
Mike
* The symptoms of B-19 are - at least in adults - relatively non-specific, so that a diagnosis is rarely made, except through immune assays. See, generally,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parvovirus_B19 When I first saw an article on this, I was tested for B-19 antibodies and my IgG levels (showing antibodies to a past infection) were very high, while the IgM test (antibodies to a current infection) came in at zero.