Suddenly can't move legs

Yes.......i agree, i had ADEM as a child, which resurfaced as MS after i had a general anaesthetic for my teeth as an adult. I was lucky enough to have private healthcare back then, so was immediately put on IV steroids and given an MRI. As there was no delay i got the appropriate meds and you would never know i have MS by looking at me..........the NHS took over, as they are the experts and they have done right by me, i can't praise them enough........she needs to know....not knowing will exacerbate stress, which is bad for any neurological condition.

(plus even if you do see a patient with MG, as opposed to one of the other Myasthenias, there are quite a number of different sub types depending on the antibodies they have, and each works in a slightly different way).

a) that's on the advice note my neurologist provides for dentists
b) There is more than one type of Myasthenia, not everyone has MG so abbreviating Myasthenia to MG is incorrect.

That comment was made without input of my DP, I happen to be a dentist, you're welcome to check my posting histroy if you also don't believe that either. LA with adrenaline isnt contraindicated accross the board for MG patients. Certainly aspirating prior injecting important, to avoid inadvertant delivery into a blood vessel but use of vasoconstrictors maximises anaesthesia whilst limiting dose.

I totally agree, FND is a blanket term but they fail to test all possibilities, functional b12 deficiency is a huge misdiagnosis point for MS and FND, both create white lesions on the brain. B12 society charity are amazing fighting for change and have had a hand in recent NICE guidelines updates in this area, we are still a couple of decades away from change as there is so much misinformation. At the moment they test b12, it comes back in range and they disregard. It's amazing they are unaware of the functional part?!?

What's scary is how ready drs are to diagnose it before they have eliminated all possible physical causes.

I know so many people (because of being in rate disease groups) who coped with "FND" for years before finding out there was a physical and treatable cause

But surely your "anaesthetist husband" would know that some people are told to avoid anaesthesia with adrenaline? I mean its the key advice our neurologists give us before a trip to the dentist (along with expecting to be weak for quite some time afterwards).

That may be one explanation. But what @Snippit describes is a common experience for people with Myasthenia too and we have to avoid anaesthesia with adrenaline for that reason, and given Snippit has MS it seems likely that there are overlaps between how the two conditions respond to anaesthesia

I came to say the same thing, FND.
I have two friends with it and it’s scary af

I had an FND diagnosis by a top London neurologist, I saw a private endocrinologist to see if it could potentially be a thyroid issue also. He was amazing, said my FND was most likely a functional b12 deficiency and after a few months on persistent b12 injections it absolutely was! I got my life back. They never test b12 and seem completely unaware of a functional deficiency where your bloods show as normal. I went back to the original neurologist and he said "oh yes, that's great you are better"....had I of accepted his complete negligence I'd of been in a wheelchair by now"
The b12 society website is full of help and amazing medical based evidence to support the misdiagnosis and even the NICE guidelines highlight the lack of accurate testing..have a really good read up x

Your anaesthetic will have just been accidentally injected into a blood vessel. That's all. Happens.

Sounds bizarre I know but a friend of mine had very similar symptoms, was in hospital for weeks having tests and it turned out to be a severe vitamin B12 deficiency, affecting her nerves. She had numb arms and legs and also briefly had vision problems. She’s home and slowly getting better (with vitB12 injections) but even months later she has to use a walker, still has numb fingers and pins and needles in her arms.

I all of a sudden had a violent reaction to the anaesthetic used by the dentists during a procedure. I was shaking violently and became very weak and barely able to stand. I’m now apparently unable to have anaesthetic with adrenaline in it. The whole thing was very scary. I have M.S and wondered if it had anything to do with it 🤷‍♀️

@Snippit I hope you manage to get some progress for your DD soon.

I'm currently working with 8 teenagers who are either diagnosed with FND or going through testing to confirm it and trying to get them any meaningful support is like getting blood out of a stone.

If it is FND then a neurologist is required to diagnose this, my daughter has just had this diagnosis.

She has had a lot of medical interventions over the years and a really bad experience with a gynaecologist, an absolute arsehole. All this has left her with CPTSD, diagnosed by a psychiatrist. Her body and mind have had enough, it was described to us as like a software problem, nothing shows up on scans or blood tests. The mind is mighty powerful.

To top it all the hospital that diagnosed her, just 12 miles away, can’t treat her as we are in the wrong postcode. I’ve raised this with our local M.P and he is on it, fingers crossed 🤞

I mean we can all claim to be anything on Mumsnet.

But it's a shame if anesthetists don't have a curiosity about longer term impacts of anaesthetics on the neurological system, because they definitely impact most myasthenics I know for far longer than a couple of days.

My DP is an anesthetist and has been enjoying this thread, vicariously.

Jesus Christ.

The NHS is even more unbelievably shit than I thought if this is true.

Your friend would not leave a Spanish hospital in that state, and they would definitely give an MRI.

And she would have a follow up out patient appointment.

And the people here claiming it's "anxiety" ......I don't know what to say.

My legs stopped working for a few hours when I had peritonitis many years ago. Burst appendix.

@Destiny123 this situation doesn't sound like Myasthenia before you accuse me of armchair diagnosing but you may want to swot up a bit on it because I am very weak for a good week after even dental anaesthetic and most Myasthenics find the same. I imagine anaesthetists often aren't even made aware of these longer to take effect after affects though.

(Although I am sure you are always on high alert for a potential myasthenic crisis during surgery - and of course because doctors kept insisting my symptoms were psychological I went over 20 years not realising how at risk I was from Myasthenia, so denial of reality is not just gaslighting it's potentially dangerous)

I work with teenager with FND and it’s certainly possible for it present as temporary paralysis that can last a few hours. Your description of her falling asleep and twitching etc also sounds like a functional seizure.

Definitely best to look at physical causes first as it’s happened off the back of surgery but if it continues to happen it’s something to consider.

GP will likely want to do ECG, EEG and MRI.

Also your mention your friend has dealt with mental health issues before without a physical outcome but it could just be that the stress around her surgery has tipped the balance. FND is often the result of unconscious/unprocessed emotions that your friend may not even be aware of.

Fit what anaesthetic reaction? Worrying these are chair diagnoses. The anaesthetic will be out of her system and 10y of anaesthetising I can't think of any reaction this can be??

There are a huge number of things it could be, and it is speculation as well to assume linked to the op. It could even be a slipped disc completely unrelated but causing nerve compression. Potentially a TIA which may, or may not, be linked. I know in this day and age we all look for answers online, but I think mumsnet is possibly a bad idea as you will get lots of advise from non medics, people, like me really! Who are medical but with that info rather a guess in the dark! I wish her better.

Someone once said don't stress before you know the outcome, otherwise you put yourself through the pain at least once more than you needed too, maybe twice.

Good advise 😘

I certainly can attest to this, alongside the misogyny and arrogance of male doctors who refused to agree my drug injury from am antipsychotic was an actual neurological involuntary movement disorder. I was given the cop-out diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder too, which is pretty much their way of saying 'we don't really know/won't admit to these drugs causing harm/want to get rid of you and give you a diagnosis so here is one".

And of course, people can have physical symptoms when they have suffered trauma etc, so I'm not saying this doesn't happen. But I'm not sure if in your friend's case that the cause is psychosomatic this time, especially as it happened after being administered medication.