Tracy's story

It all started on Wednesday, October 17th when Tracy woke up. She had numbness in her right foot and toes. Thinking it was odd that it felt this way, she blew it off and figured it would go away. Later in the afternoon, she started having the same sensation and numbness in her left foot. By that evening, she was frustrated because she couldn’t get comfortable on the couch and kept switching positions while trying to watch TV. Giving up on watching her show, she went to bed and had a restless night with the same discomfort.

When she woke up on Thursday, she felt worse. Her entire back was in a lot of pain and now she had
numbness in her mouth, food tasted funny, and her hands were also numb. She had never had back
pain like this before and decided to locate a chiropractor to see if she could find relief. She visited
a chiropractor who adjusted her to realign her spine and pelvic bone. She talked to him about the
numbness in her hands, feet and mouth and he performed a neurological exam. He ruled out the
possibility of the problem being neurological and thought that he had located the problem.

Thursday night was another sleepness night and Tracy was in tears because of the pain. She considered going to the hospital because of the discomfort. She couldn’t eat, sleep or get comfortable no matter what she did. On Friday, it only got worse so her husband and a friend took her to the emergency room. The doctor on duty saw that her problem was neurological and called the neurologist. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see him until the next morning, so it was another night without sleep or comfort.

Saturday morning she saw Dr. Soto at the San Javier Marina hospital. He performed more tests and
ordered an MRI especially since her face was showing signs of paralysis and numbness now. With the
help of Pam Thompson-Webb, she was able to receive the MRI later that day rather than waiting until
Monday. When the test results returned – everything looked normal.

The doctor started thinking that it was Guillain Barre Syndrome, which is a disease that attacks the peripheral nervous system and is very rare, but dangerously serious if not treated. It begins with an infection from something as simple as a cold, (which Tracy had two weeks prior) followed by ascending paralysis starting in the hands and feet which travels towards the trunk of the body. It can cause life-threatening complications, in particular if the respiratory muscles are affected or if there is autonomic nervous system involvement.

Luckily, Dr. Soto was familiar with the signs of the disease and started conducting more tests including an electrolysis exam to examine the nerve reactions in her body. The results of this test confirmed that him and his colleague Dr. Peña's diagnosis was correct.

There are only two treatments available to cure this disease if caught early enough - intravenous
immunoglobulins or plasmapheresis. For the first treatment, Tracy decided to try the immunoglobulins
medicine since it was immediately available in the hospital, however, she was told that she needed 36
treatments, which would be very costly. So, on Sunday, she met with Dr. Raul Morales, who turned
out to be Tracy’s savior. Dr. Morales is one of the leading doctor’s in the research and development of
plasmapheresis treatments. His methods are world renowned and have the best results compared to
other treatments available. During this process, the blood is cleaned with a UV light from the antibodies
that are causing the deterioration of the peripheral nerves and replaced with clean antibodies when the blood is returned to her body. After one treatment, Tracy regained some feeling in her right foot and face. The doctors were amazed at the almost immediate results.

Tracy truly felt so grateful that she was able to find Dr. Morales in her home town of Puerto Vallarta. He has had patients fly from all over the world to Puerto Vallarta to receive his treatments and here he was in the right place at the right time to help her. Dr. Morales told Tracy that they had started treating her disease at just the right time since her central nervous system was continuing to deteriorate and travel up her body. It becomes very serious if it starts attacking the upper chest area where the heart and lungs are located.

At this time Tracy is scheduled to receive 8 treatments from Dr. Morales, her next being on Thursday, Oct 25th. Her entire body is very weak and she cannot stand up, walk or move without assistance. After the treatments are finished, she will continue to be monitored to ensure the disease is cured. If more treatments are required, she will receive them. She will also require physical therapy for weeks or possibly months to regain strength in her face, hands, feet, legs and other affected areas of her body.

Guillain Barre Syndrome is very rare affecting 1 or 2 people per 100,000 annually. Tracy was extremely lucky to find the right doctors that helped diagnose her quickly and start treatment.

We are all hoping for a full recovery as she has the care she needs right here in her hometown of Puerto Vallarta.