Suddenly can't move legs

[Whitfloor]

My friend had a general anaesthetic two days ago (her first) to correct a minor problem. She seemed fine. She's in her late thirties.

Two hours ago she felt very sick and became unable to stand. She became unresponsive. No raised temperature. An ambulance was called.

Waiting on a CT scan. She can't move her legs.

She was frightened about the possibility of having a reaction to the anaesthetic. Could this be a delayed reaction?

Reduced sensation in all four limbs. SATS fine throughout. Now perfectly clear mentally but passed out for a while in the ambulance.

What could be happening?

You’d be doing quite well to hyperventilate hard enough to maintain that whilst asleep! Carpopedal spasm due to hyperventilation isn’t due to ‘diverting blood’, it’s due to the effect that exhaling more carbon dioxide than usual has on calcium levels and a) it would be unusual to be able to fall asleep, as OP describes, whilst that anxious, b) breathing tends to normalise once sleeping it is anxiety related and another effects of hypocapnoea would improve.

I thought exactly the same when I read the OP. This happened to someone I know, just out of the blue could not move their legs or stand up. FND was their diagnosis. Apparently it is more common in people who have had trauma and abuse as a youngster. But as PPs have said your friend will be monitored and hopefully medical experts will find out the cause.

People on this thread, desperate for it to be something sinister. It’s macabre.

The doctors have said it’s psychological, believe them

Yes this was my thought too. I hope your friend gets some answers soon. How horrid for them to imply it’s psychological

Having had GBS it comes on gradually as said by a previous poster.
It started immediately after a vaccination and crept up both arms and legs for a few days before I couldn't walk. I think that's pretty typical.
How worrying for you and your friend.

Yes but women get hurt and suffer decades long consequences from this constant leap to say everything is psychological

I take it they've checked her electrolytes?

What surgery was it broadly? I.e. where?

Sorry I see you answered that. I hope your friend recovers. X

Symptoms of psychological disorders are very real. They are no less real than if they were symptoms from an underlying medical condition.

equally, the patient needs treatment for both the symptoms and the root cause.

Women are also much more likely to experience severe anxiety

Exactly. My psychological symptoms can be downright terrifying.

I don't see why deciding its psychological is a bad thing.

Because before anyone can say it's psychological' / FND they have to be able to rule out all organic causes (which takes time).

Guillain barre would affect the chest and she wouldn’t be able to breath. It wouldn’t just affect the lungs, unless she’s on a ventilator it’s unlikely

GBS does not usually start in the chest and not everyone who has GBS ends up needing ventilator support.

No but if it was so severe that she can’t move her legs or arms at all then it is likely it would affect the chest. She would also be very closely monitored in HDU/ICU in case it was GBS as the medical team would be very concerned about respiratory involvement. I assume if she isn’t in one of these areas then they have discounted GBS

Of course this is all assumptions and speculation just as the suggestions that it could be GBS are. It’s probably best to let the medical team treating the patient do the diagnosing.

They haven't come out and said it. They've just implied that there are a limited number of things it could be as if it's not any of those, well...

I just feel it's so close to the anaesthetic that something to do with that is more likely than a psychological reason as that is so rare and she has navigated poor mental health without that manifesting before. I'm fully aware that to say it's psychosomatic is not an insult, it can happen to anyone and it's very real. But my family member had very similar symptoms and it was not psychosomatic and they were too slow.

id be thinking Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) or GBS

Christ some people are being awful to the OP.
People use Mumsnet for all kinds of crap. Have a heart and at least be nice. Jeez

or a Nerve Compression

Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Leak?

Which nerve?

If a patient has had a TIA, it won't necessarily show up on a CT scan.

Strokes won't always show up on a CT scan done within a few hours of the symptoms, either.

I have a family member who has had two strokes. On both occasions the area of damage left by the stroke did not show up on either of the CT scans carried out within a couple of hours of arriving at the rapid assessment stroke ward. However, three or four weeks later damage done by both strokes could be clearly seen on an MRI scan.

One of the reasons a CT scan is carried out quickly following presentation with symptoms that are suggestive of a TIA or stroke is to ascertain whether the patient has had a brain bleed due to the rupture of a blood vessel rather than an ischemic stroke due to a blood clot, as in some cases a brain bleed can be repaired by surgery.

Because they say everything is when you're a woman. Then you don't get help whilst your condition worsens/ runs your life.

Vestibulocochlear Nerve, Glossopharyngeal Nerve ?? Don't think any of the others would be the cause.