Kaci Shiers woke up with back pain one morning in September and after several hospital visits she discovered the underlying condition was something much more sinister
A woman who woke up one morning with what she believed was simply regular back pain has issued an alert to others after experiencing a “life-changing” few weeks. Kaci Shiers took to TikTok from her hospital bed where she opened up on her subsequent diagnosis.
“I woke up on September 23 with back pain and I honestly just thought it was a pinched nerve,” she began in a video. “But over the next few days I got more ill, more in pain and I started to get weakness in my legs to the point where I actually fell down the stairs.” That prompted Kaci to get herself reviewed in hospital, though she claims medics “didn’t listen to her at all”. However, following a 999 call on September, she has remained on the ward ever since.
Kaci continued: “I also lost the ability to move half of my face, which was really scary. In the first week of being in hospital I declined massively in health and lost the ability to move and walk completely.”
After spending a lot of the week unconscious, it prompted Kaci to ask the doctors if she was dying. “I had a lot of tests – multiple MRIs, CT scans, a lumbar puncture and then my bladder stopped working after exactly a week in hospital,” she added.
That led to her being diagnosed with GBS [Guillain-Barré syndrome] – a rare autoimmune disorder that sees sufferers’ immune system attack their nervous system around the spine, causing paralysis and weakness.
That wasn’t the end of her ordeal, however. “My body was attacking itself,” Kaci said. “They also found swelling on my brain and spine that isn’t linked to GBS and I’m still under investigation for that.”
She went on to note: “A week before coming to hospital I was a normal 24-year old girl, but then I wasn’t able to wash myself, feed myself or brush my hair and teeth.”
Kaci closed by expressing her gratitude for her loved ones and everything they have done for her since she became unwell. “It’s been a really scary experience, but they have made it just that little bit less scary… I’ve not felt alone in this,” she explained.
For now, Kaci has to allow time for her GBS treatment to “take its course” as she bids to make some form of recovery. “I can now sit up and lift my head,” she said. “And I have been able to stand with a little bit of help, which I couldn’t do two days ago.
“It’s like baby steps and this isn’t going to be a quick recovery in the slightest. It is going to be – and always will be – the hardest thing to go through in my life.” She reiterated: “I was a normal 24-year old and now I have to learn to walk again.”
The NHS says of GBS: “You may be in hospital for several months while you have treatment and recover from Guillain-Barré syndrome. Most people will be able to walk within 6 months and will recover within a year.”
It adds: “You might feel tingling, numbness or pins and needles in your feet and hands first. This is usually followed by muscle weakness and difficulty moving your joints.
Other symptoms can include:
- sharp, shooting pain (nerve pain), often in your legs or back
- problems breathing
- problems with your face, such as drooping face muscles or trouble swallowing or speaking
- problems with your eyes, such as double vision
“Some people’s symptoms become so severe that they are not able to move their legs, arms and face (paralysis).”
Some people continue to have longer-term problems such as:
- tingling in the hands and feet
- sharp, shooting pain (nerve pain)
- feeling exhausted (fatigue)
- muscle pain and muscle weakness
- being unable to walk without help
- anxiety and depression