The Diagnosis (Sorta)

Yesterday, I went for my weird leg tests.

I described my symptoms to (what feels like) the fifteenth doctor (I'll call her Dr. Brain) I've seen since my feet started tingling about eight weeks ago.

She made me jump rope.

She made me hop on one foot (and then, the other).

She made me do squats.

She made me walk on my heels.

She made me walk on my toes.

She made me eat cookie dough. (I wish).

She electrocuted me.  (It wasn't bad).

She poked me with needles. (It wasn't fun).

I know she doesn't sound very nice, but she was very nice and the entire interview and testing process took about 1.5 hours.  I think it was longer than usual because she had to do the electrocuting test twice because her computer wasn't working properly the first time (yeah me - actually, I'm just thankful it wasn't the needle test).  

THE DIAGNOSIS:  A mild form of a rare autoimmune disease called Guillian-Barre.  

Apparently, my immune system is attacking the myelin sheath of some of my nerves causing some muscle weakness in my toes and tingling in my feet.  We don't know what causes GBS, but for most people it occurs after an infection (respiratory or stomach) and usually symptoms go away in three months to a year (please, please let me be the three month version).

The strange thing is that I was NEGATIVE on every test she gave me, including the one for GBS, so it doesn't feel like a really definitive diagnosis.  She just thinks I have a very mild (albeit annoying) case of GBS.   I'm thankful all of the really, really bad stuff (that I read about on the horrible, horrible interweb) was ruled out.

Here is a somewhat paraphrased version of my conversation with Dr. Brain after she gave me the diagnosis.

Me:  So, is it all in my head?

Dr. Brain:  No

Me:  Why, because you see something on the test?

Dr. Brain: No

Me:  Then how do you know it's not all in my head?

Dr. Brain said that the symptoms I have were very classic for Guillian-Barre and that I lost my reflexes, which is also indicative of GBS (alternatively, she said people with MS have super-active reflexes) and also kind of weird.

So, bottom line -  I just wait and hopefully in a year or less (please less), I'm back to normal.  Dr. Brain said that for 99% of people who get GBS, they never get it again.  Dr. Brain also said that so long as I'm able, I should keep running (even if it feels weird).   She said that I'm not causing any nerve or muscle damage by running.  I guess this is good news- if only it felt less strange to run.

Oh well.  I'm sure I'll continue to write about my tingly feet periodically on the blog, but for now the case is (sorta) closed.

Cub got a haircut today.  It's pretty short, but I know it'll grow out again.