Guillian Barre and surgery. H. Stanbro
The Doctors
I had GBS(guillian barre syndrone) 4 years ago and was given
the IVIG
(immune globulin) and steroid treatment. Mine was a fairly mild
case no
respiratory or heart
problems just problems with walking and it was after a week of severe
diarrhea. I am about to have back surgery and because of some insurance
problems I have
not been able to tell the surgeon about the GBS. I am scared to
death that
it might be a problem going under anesthesia. Am I being silly.
I meet
with the surgeon
tomorrow. I have been going through the physical therapy, the steroid
injections and surgery is the last resort. I just need a little
advice. I have
looked everywhere
on the web and have not seen anything that would make me think
that is
would be a problem. I am a 47 year old female with no other medical
problems, non
smoker and very healthy otherwise. Any answer would be helpful.
Answer
While there were a few articles about GBS after surgery, I couldn't
find any about GBS preceding surgery causing intra- or postop
complications. You might still want to mention it to your
surgeon just to
be on the safe side. I don't see how insurance problems could
affect your
disclosure of this information to the surgeon, but since he or
she is bound
by confidentiality, it should not be required for them to
divulge anything
you don't want known.
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