OneGuyFromBarlick

In the 1980s Mrs Tiz's hairdresser got Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Legs paralysed first, then it moves upwards and you die when it reaches your lungs and stops you breathing. All in a few hours. She was lucky and was diagnosed fast. Very frightening. It's known as a side-effect to campylobacter poisoning and was recognised earlier in Asia, Australia, NZ because campylobacter became common there before it did here in the west. In the last 25 years campylobacter has become a much more common cause of food poisoning in the UK and therefore we see more cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome. The big rise in campylobacter incidence is due to the high levels of the bacteria in chicken, so we can blame the Guillain-Barre Syndrome on infected chicken too. Note also that more than 20% of chickens sold in supermarkets have campylobacter contamination on the outside of the package too. Who needs terrorists, we have infected chickens!

Tizer wrote:then it moves upwards and you die when it reaches your lungs and stops you breathing.

Not quite as bad as that. Before it gets to that stage you are generally in critical care where they are waiting with tracheotomy and respirator should you need it. Unless you are compromised with some other illness most people recover quite well.

Ref dodgy shoulder: I got a letter from the surgery telling me that I had been referred to the hospital for physio. I now have a letter from the hospital to tell me that I have been referred and that I should expect another letter that will ask me to ring and make an appointment. I have to ring them after six weeks if nothing happens.

That fall at the beginning of December shook my old war wound in my shoulder up and it's been with me ever since but I suspect is retreating slightly now.... Sooner it goes the better.

Eye test was fine yesterday, a bit of improvement in the distorted retina in my right eye but not worth bothering with as I could read the very smallest print sample with my reading glasses. It's quite striking how I have developed subconscious techniques to alleviate the effect of the blind spot in the centre of that eye. Very reassuring!

At what age do you stop falling and start having a fall? It was the day for falls yesterday. I fell up/over the wall around the veggie garden in my excitement when I spotted some ripe tomatoes. Later on in the day I took the dog for a walk and left Den working on the pergola. When I got home he'd fallen off one ladder, grabbed the other as he fell and it fell on him. Collective injuries; grazed knees, grazed elbows and sore hips and one sore wrist.

Quieter day today hobbling around!!

Bruises and grazes tend to last longer as you get older I know that very well, my sympathies Liz, hope you're not hobbling for long.

This week is turning into a medical week one way or the other for me. I had already booked a dental appointment for Thursday so that it didn't exclude me from my blood donor session today. I have just had a call from the musculoskeletal appointment booking team. They can fit me in at our local surgery for Thursday as well. It will be out of the frying pan and into the fire on Thursday, 1.45 for my first Physio and then 15.10 at the dentist. 45 minutes with the bending guy then half an hour with my dentist lady, I am blessed.

Liz, I don't think the consequences of not looking where you are going or losing your balance ever go away. I had a fall on December 5th when I missed my footing because I wasn't looking.... Still paying for it!

Perhaps the site should be renamed "Old Crocks from Barlick"!! I've got a troublesome back caused I think by sneezing when I had that nasty bug just after Christmas. Painkillers and Deep Heat hardly touch it. Nolic

Very likely comrade, I always traced the genesis of my back problems back to when I sneezed in school assembly in 1947! It dropped me to the floor and I still have echoes of it 70 years later....

Survived both of my appointments today and now have shiny teeth and my shoulder strapped up, looks a bit like a road map.

Tom the physiotherapist measured and noted all the angles of my current mobility in the shoulder. He noticed that my shoulder blades are not symmetrical, not necessarily a problem in itself as everyone is different but if he held the problem one in the position it should be I had more mobility in the shoulder before I hit the pain barrier. I mentioned that I had dislocated this shoulder over 30 years ago and he did say that this could be a contributory factor for the slight misalignment now. He thinks I may have strained a tendon which may now be rubbing on the bone. This is normally supported and held away from the bone by muscles at either side. When the tendon is damaged your body induces pain so that you don't make it worse, the only downer is that has a knock on effect to the supporting muscles which become weaker the longer you carry the injury, so it's a downward spiral. He thinks this new weakened muscle memory may be what is further impacting my shoulder blade.

He has strapped the shoulder to hold the blade in a better position. I have noticed that this in itself does allow more movement. I have to go back onto painkillers to defeat the defence system so that I can start to retrain the muscles. He has given me a simple exercise to do as long as the strapping lasts which should start to work on the muscles. I have to go back in two weeks and he will repeat all the mobility test again to see if we are going in the right direction. If so he will add further exercises to extend the treatment.

Eye tests reveal I shall need laser treatment sometime in the next twelve months to remove scarring after the cataract ops. but he said they need to get worse then they have a better chance of removing all. In the meantime it is back to the specs.
The review at the Drs. tells me apart from my COPD I am healthy - she did not do my breathing tests due to the fact I am just finishing some antibiotics & steroids for a chest infection, I have to go back in 6 weeks.

Moh, if the laser procedure is the same as I had it's quick, five minutes, and a miracle. I went back to fighter pilot in my left eye instantaneously! They did the right one as well but all it did was to make the distortion after the detached retina clearer.... Not complaining though, I read the very smallest print at my eye test recently.....

Something I forgot to mention yesterday Moh. The consultant told me that the older you are when you have the procedure, the longer it lasts. Young people often have to go back and have it done again. Perhaps there are advantages in being older......

Back from my appointment with Tom the Physio with a measured marked improvement in mobility from the first exercise he gave me. He has now added 5 different stretching regimes to do each day and will see me again in 4 - 5 weeks. He hasn't given me a defined number of reps for each but said to do each one until my shoulder said no. I need a stick a towel and a piece of rope or cord, all of which I have in my possession so no excuses for not doing the regime. Sooner I can beat this and get the mobility back the better, (I cant lift the grandchildren onto my shoulders at the moment.)

What have you done Ian. I too am having Physio for my shoulder, I have tendinitis which pulls on my shoulder and triceps.

I don't remember doing it but I discovered after finishing my kitchen installation that I could not raise my right arm above the horizontal without serious pain. I cant reach round behind me or stretch either. I soldiered on for a bit hoping it would mend up but it didn't. Went to the doc and he diagnosed a torn tendon at the top of the shoulder, he gave me a steroid injection to relax the muscles ether side of the damage. This worked for a while but I ended up back to square one so was referred for physio.

Tom agreed on the diagnosis and reckons that as I have been carrying the injury for a while the supporting muscles have developed weakness so he is working on this. I have a slight complication in that I dislocated this shoulder (a very painful quick out and in) over 30 years ago and Tom noticed that my shoulder blades are not symmetrical, probably a result of this original injury. He strapped me up for the exercise he gave me after my first session which has given me increased mobility so the follow on exercises are now working on building the muscles back up again. I am yearning for a good two arm stretch when I wake but I can't without excruciating pain. I hope yours is better than mine.

Ian, the bad news is that you have to ignore the pain! When I smashed my shoulder up the consultant encouraged me to do without the sling as much as possible and while he laughed at Fred Smith's cure, he said that in the end it would be a good thing because I would avoid what is often a consequence of keeping the joint immobile for too long, residual arthritis. The joint 'rusting up'. He was right in my case and I suspect that the re-occurrence is down to old age. Luckily it's supportable and I can manage with almost full mobility without resorting to anti-inflammatories. In my case I am almost certain that Ibuprofen use over long periods actually exacerbated the pain. Lots to be said for letting the prostoglandins do the job that nature intended. Mind you, we are all different, what applies to me isn't necessarily helpful in your case. All that is certain is that the shoulder joint and associated nerves and muscles is a very complicated structure!

My exercise regime has some similarity to the clothes airer remedy Stanley. The stick is use to push the arm up and the rope to pull the dodgy arm up my back, we'll see how we get on, just about to set to with today's lot, we live in hope!

Same symptoms . They developed over a couple if weeks in November. Thought nothing of it except when it got worse. It's worse in bed and early morning. I couldn't raise my arm or move it sideways. I was given the same explanation. My Pilates teacher diagnosed it and sent me straight to a sports physio( she was the Physio for the GB hockey team) and has a practice in Rochdale. She said I had caught it early and my exercises started to work straight away. I got an effect after only three weeks, but I do take anti inflammatories that I sometimes take for arthritis and a back flare up. I probably did it in an exercise class. I was told it was an injury caused by a repetitive action that had inflamed the tendons in the joint. Ie tendinitis in the shoulder. Now I need to retrain the muscles to work properly.

Doc and Physio both think my tendon is torn although I would have thought that I would have felt it go. I did enough humping and shifting of heavy objects particularly towards the end of the build with heavy worktops. My tolerance to pain is quite good usually but this feels like I have torn something, if I inadvertently overstretch it feels just like it did when I dislocated it. When Tom asked for a pain score I put it at an 8 from 10. I certainly want shut of it. I can do anything with the arm below waist level.

I have five exercises.

No defined number of reps, just try until shoulder says no and try to increase as mobility returns.

1. Laid on back using good arm to lift bad above head.

2. Grip end of pole with bad arm, push other end diagonally upwards with good arm

3. Sit at table with shoulders down and reach forward as far as possible with both arms

4. Grip pole horizontally with bad arm, push pole sidewards with good arm while holding rolled up towel under bad shoulder.

5. Use a rope or chord to pull bad arm up back with good arm.

"caused by a repetitive action that had inflamed the tendons in the joint". That's what triggers mine Sue, winding the handle on the vertical miller when doing long repetitive cuts....

Similar to mine but I am lying down. I also have to lie on my front and stretch my shoulders backwards, as well as doing sort of push-ups against the wall

Another good excercise after my humerus/shoulder fractures was to put a wet soapy sponge in each hand and wash a window...bad arm mimicking good arm. Circular movements and big arcs and stretching high and reaching low. The soapy sponge offers a smooth glide without resistance so less pain.
I thought of this excercise myself because I don't have a lot of faith in physios. Any range of movement excercises help if you just think about how a particular joint or set of muscles work, but you want gentle excercises with the least resistance initially.

I forgot my initial one, a bit like Captain Mainwairing, stand straight up and try to push your shoulder blades through your chest, hold for 10 secs and repeat. It was this that gave slight improvement after my first session.