The disorder can develop over the course of hours or days, or it may take up to 3 or 4 weeks. Most people reach the stage of greatest weakness within the first two weeks after the symptoms appear, and by the third week of the illness 90 percent of all patients are at their weakest (5; pg 17-21).
What causes Guillain-Barre syndrome?.
No one quite knows why Guillain-Barre strikes some people and not others. Nor does anyone know exactly what sets the disease off. What scientists do know is that the body's immune system begins to attack the body itself, causing what is known as an autoimmune disease (4; pg. 29-33). Usually the cells of the immune system attack only foreign material and invading organisms. In Guillain-Barre syndrome, however, the immune system starts to destroy the myelin sheath that surrounds the axons of many peripheral nerves, or even the axons themselves (2; pg90-94).
In diseases were the peripheral nerves' myelin sheaths are injured, the nerves cannot transmit signals efficiently. That is why the muscles begin to lose their ability to respond to the brain's commands that must be carried through the nerve network ( 4;66). Yvonne does not know what caused the onset of the disease in her case, but after only 2 weeks, she lost all ability in her legs and in her arms (1).
How is Guillain-Barre syndrome diagnosed?.
Guillain-Barre is called a syndrome rather than a disease because it is not clear that a specific disease causing agent is involved. A syndrome is a medical condition characterized by a collection of symptoms and signs. The signs and symptoms of the syndrome can be quite varied, so doctors may, on rare occasions, find it difficult to diagnose Guillain-Barre in it's earliest stages ( 6; 99-101).
Yvonne had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with her. After excruciating tests which included tests for Aids, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Lime's disease, Polio and other diseases, she finally had a test done called an EMG or electromagnetic gram.