What Causes Tingling In Legs And Feet And Difficulty In Walking?

Posted on Fri, 4 Jul 2014

Question: I have been dealing with what they think is GBS for almost 18 months now. My first symptoms were tingling in my legs and feet with weakness to the point I could not walk. I was in a nursing and rehab center called Life Care here in FL for about 60 days. When i was discharged I still could not walk with out major assistance. I still have tingling in both feet and up my calves but can now walk with assistance of a walker or XXXXXXX I guess my question is will I ever get full recovery or is this just the way it is going to be, or should I go to a different Nuerologist for more options to treatments and a different perspective on what is going on with me ? Have you ever come across anything like this before ?

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
You would continue to improve.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thank you for posting your query.

GBS (Guillain Barre syndrome) is a one-time illness, where the disability peaks in four weeks and then, the symptoms improve over time. In the initial period, immunotherapy with IVIG and plasmapheresis help, however, after four weeks of symptom onset, there is no role of medications.

Physiotherapy and rehab are the mainstay of treatment and improvement continues to occur for about two years. Good improvement occurs, however, complete recovery may not occur.

If your symptoms are still worsening, then, a nerve biopsy may be needed to rule out CIDP/vasculitis.

I hope my reply has helped you.

I would be pleased to answer, if you have any follow up queries or if you require any further information.

Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD (Internal Medicine), DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist
Apollo Hospitals, XXXXXXX
For DIRECT QUERY to me: http://bit.ly/Dr-Sudhir-kumar
My blog: http://bestneurodoctor.blogspot.com/

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar