Need some advice on certain attributes....

Thanks for the advice Bodi

Cheers joakim. Over the last few years I've been buying Nike runners, and I haven't ever had any pain or shin splits, but I want to buy a pair of Asics. All I ever hear from people is how bloody comfortable they are. http://www.asics.com.au Not sure if they're available in your part of the world (if you aren't in Aus).

Hey Joker,

Man I feel bad for your friend, I was extremely lucky to be affected from my waist down only. I'll give you a timeline of events:

August 15th

Came down with cold like symptons (Sore throat, feverish, body aches). It was my sisters 18th that night, which we were having at our place, and I was going to be the barman. I ended up drinking that night, although I didn't get completely smashed.

August 16th

Minimal hangover, mind was a bit hazy. Fever & body aches had disappeared, residual sore throat/blocked nose/cough.

August 16th-21st

Had the whole week off, even though it was just a mild cold.

August 22nd

All symptons of the cold had gone, & I woke up that morning feeling back to normal. Then at around 12pm I started to get some numbness and pins & needles in my legs. I had been sitting at the computer for an hour or so, I thought my legs had just gone to sleep. I went to the gym to train my upperbody at about 2pm. I was ok at the start, then the tingling started to get worse, and my balance was starting to be a bit off when I would walk. I called my mum to see if our local doctor was open, to check out what was wrong. She was closed, so my mum told me to come home & we would go somewhere else.

I was just ok to drive home, although it was becoming difficult to control my foot on the accelerator (my leg was getting a bit shakey). I only live about 5 minutes from the gym, so it was manageable. When I arrived home though, I had to hold onto my car to walk around to the stairs, then hold onto the rails to get up the damn stairs. This was about 2:45-3:00. My dad came home about 10 minutes later, so I went with both my parents to an after hours clinic. By this time it was extremely difficult to walk. We arrive at the clinic, and I can't walk at all. My dad had to pick me up from behind & carry me into the reception area my legs were so weak.

So we wait for an hour or so until the doctor sees us. He does a few reflex tests etc then writes a referral for me to go to the emergency department at a hospital right away. We arrive there, wait for half an hour then I get admitted into a bed. They do more reflex tests, blood tests etc. Now my legs are numb as ever, the tingling is pretty bad, and anytime my legs are moved, I get this burning pain.

Hours pass, I see a couple of doctors, they do a lumbar puncture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbar_puncture). I was fairly lean at the time, so luckily my doc got it on the first shot. It wasn't too uncomfortable, just mild back pain & a headache afterwards. They give the diagnosis (and of course we've never heard of it before) but I was extremely relieved to say the least. At first I thought it was Multiple Sclerosis, which my aunty has.

By 12am that night they had me on an IV with immunoglobulin, to try and boost my immune system back up. To sum it up, the syndrome is an auto immune disease. When you're sick, your immune system kills all the bad bacteria in your body at present until you have recovered. With the Guillain-Barré, your immune system mistakes the protective coating around your nerves (myelin) as a foreign agent. So it attacks the coating around your nerves, thus disrupting any signals from the brain to your legs (or whichever area the body has been affected by). Luckily the myelin does regenerate, albeit at a rate of roughly 1mm per day. It is rare, it only affects 1 or 2 out o 100,000 people.

There are severe instances though where the axon (nerve fibre) is damaged. If this does not regenerate itself, permanent loss of function & numbness will occur. Again this is only in severe cases, where peoples entire bodies have been affected. Most need to be on a respirator because they can't breathe on their own. Time spent in hospital will vary from 2 months to 6 months+. Recovery takes even longer, sometimes years. I got off very lightly, which I am extremely grateful for. I was in hospital & rehab for just over a month all up.

August 22nd-29th

The IV had to be run for 5 days, which stabalised my immune system. For the first few days I didn't notice any improvements, but from then on it did (albeit EXTREMELY slowly). I was able to barely walk with a frame after a week. I still had no feeling from my waist down. I also required a catheter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catheter), & was constipated for that whole week.

August 29th - September 20th

After about a week in hospital they sent me off to a rehabilitation facilty, where I was for 3 weeks. Undertaking physiotherapy, hydrotherapy etc. At the start I had to get around in a wheelchair, and just taking 5-6 steps made my legs fatigued and wobbly. After about 2-2.5 weeks I was able to walk around the ward by myself. Also important to note, if my upperbody wasn't strong, my rehabilitation and stay in hospital would have been twice as long.

So I've been back at home for just over a week, I'm starting to jog a little bit. My physiotherapist says I should be able to run normally in the next month, which will be when I start boxing.

There's very little that I'm afraid of in this world (sharks are probably the only thing), but I was scared shitless the day that it happened. Going from walking, to not walking in the space of 4 hours is a jolt to the system. I was sort of cruising through life with no direction or motivation, and this was the kick in the ass that I needed to get on track.

Anyway Joker, send my wishes to your friend, and tell him it will get better. The major issue with this syndrome is that it takes so damn long to recover if you get a severe case of it.

 

Yes it is rare that people don't fully recover (I think the statistic is 95% of cases make a full recovery). Death is also rare, it's more in instances where they fail to receieve medical care in time.

Cheers Tommy, see you around

Hey Dan,

Yeah Mitcham is about 30-45mins away from me. I've got a mate that trains at Fighters Factory, and it is convenient for me (maybe a 10 minute drive max). I will be 100% serious and dedicated towards my training. Coming from a bodybuilding/strength background, I already have the discipline for hard training sessions & proper nutrition. I guess i'll see you there in a month or so dude :good


And thanks for everyone else's advice in regards to chin/neck strength (Perky300, Bodi, ) I didn't wanna clog up the thread quoting everyone.

 

I've been a member at Genesis for the last few years, 2 of my mates changed to Fitness First this year. I was going to join, but they wanted about $800 for 12 months. I was getting 15 months for $640 at Genesis, so I just decided to stick it out with them. Yes it's an awesome looking gym, but I'm there to train, whereas my mates were more concerned about the ***** that is over there.

I haven't been around for the last month so I'm not sure, but I think Genesis have or are in the process of opening a new gym on Middleborough road in Box Hill. It's supposed to be massive, and on par with Fitness First Doncaster. It's only 5 minutes down the road from me, and I just have to drive straight down Middleborough road, so I was going to continue training there.

 

Cheers dude, I guess i'll see you at FF in the next couple of months