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There is no specific treatment for AFM, but a doctor who specializes in treating brain and spinal cord illnesses (neurologist) may recommend certain interventions on a case-by-case basis. For example, neurologists may recommend physical or occupational therapy to help with arm or leg weakness caused by AFM.
What are the treatment options for AFM?
Diagnosis. AFM is diagnosed by examining a patient’s nervous system in combination with reviewing pictures of the spinal cord. A doctor can examine a patient’s nervous system and the places on the body where he or she has weakness, poor muscle tone, and decreased reflexes. A doctor can also do an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)...
What is the diagnostic procedure for AFM?
Poliovirus and West Nile virus may sometimes lead to AFM. You can protect yourself and your children from poliovirus by getting vaccinated. Polio vaccine contains inactivated (not live) virus, and protects against poliovirus.
How to prevent AFM in children?
It affects the nervous system, specifically the area of the spinal cord called gray matter, which causes the muscles and reflexes in the body to become weak. Increases in AFM cases have occurred in 2014, 2016, and 2018 in the U.S.
How does AFM affect the body?
What is the treatment for AFM?
There is no specific treatment for AFM, but a clinician who specializes in diseases like AFM may recommend certain interventions on a case-by-case basis. For example, clinicians may recommend physical or occupational therapy to help with arm or leg weakness caused by AFM.
Can AFM be cured?
There's no cure for either polio or AFM, but some things can help with symptoms. Children with either polio or AFM may need: Pain relievers like ibuprofen to ease pain and bring down fever.
Can you recover from AFM?
Recovery varies among individuals with AFM. Most do not recover fully, but patients do regain strength and motor function over time to varying degrees. The most affected muscle may be the least likely to recover. Again, physical and occupational therapy are also believed to be critical for recovery in AFM.
How quickly does AFM progress?
Acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, starts out as a respiratory condition and may quickly progress to physical disability within hours.
Is AFM permanent?
AFM can lead to permanent disability. Patients who tested positive for EV-D68 typically had more severe AFM illness, requiring hospitalized intensive care and ventilation. Most cases occur between August and November.
Can acute flaccid paralysis be cured?
There are no specific treatments for acute flaccid myelitis. Physical and occupational therapy to restore movement is seen as being very important. Some doctors might recommend treatments, like steroids, antivirals or immunoglobulin, which have been used to treat transverse myelitis and other neurological conditions.
What are the odds of getting transverse myelitis?
TM has a conservatively estimated incidence of between 1 and 8 new cases per million per year, or approximately 1400 new cases each year. Although this disease affects people of all ages, with a range of six months to 88 years, there are bimodal peaks between the ages of 10 to 19 years and 30 to 39 years.
How does someone get AFM?
AFM is thought to be caused by infections with different types of viruses. The infections most commonly mentioned with AFM include polio or West Nile virus and related infections. Most patients with AFM have a respiratory illness or fever before their limbs are affected.
Is acute flaccid myelitis reversible?
Most people recover. It's not clear why some people with an enterovirus infection develop acute flaccid myelitis. In the United States many viruses, including enteroviruses, circulate between August and November. This is when acute flaccid myelitis outbreaks tend to occur.
Is AFM Guillain Barre?
AFM is a unique type of flaccid paralysis in children, distinct from Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and transverse myelitis (TM). GBS is an ascending paralysis, associated with sensory symptoms, characteristic CSF findings, and favorable prognosis.
Diagnosis
It is important that the tests to help with diagnosis (MRI and laboratory testing of the CSF, respiratory fluid, blood and stool) are done as soon as possible after a patient develops symptoms.
Treatment
There is no specific treatment for AFM, but a clinician who specializes in diseases like AFM may recommend certain interventions on a case-by-case basis. For example, clinicians may recommend physical or occupational therapy to help with arm or leg weakness caused by AFM.
Overview
Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is a rare but serious condition that affects the spinal cord. It can cause sudden weakness in the arms or legs, loss of muscle tone, and loss of reflexes. The condition mainly affects young children.
Causes
Acute flaccid myelitis might be caused by an infection with a type of virus known as an enterovirus. Respiratory illnesses and fever from enteroviruses are common — especially in children. Most people recover. It's not clear why some people with an enterovirus infection develop acute flaccid myelitis.
Complications
Muscle weakness caused by acute flaccid myelitis can continue for months to years.
Prevention
There's no specific way to prevent acute flaccid myelitis. However, preventing a viral infection can help reduce the risk of developing acute flaccid myelitis.
What is acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)?
Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is a sudden onset of paralysis in the spinal cord. Acute means quick or fast onset. Flaccid is a decrease or lack of muscle movement where the affected body part becomes floppy or without muscle tone and with diminished reflexes. Myelitis is an inflammatory change in myelin which is the covering that supports nerves.
Causes of AFM
AFM is thought to be caused by viral infections, environmental toxins and/or genetic disorders.
Symptoms of AFM
Symptoms of AFM are the result of the effects on the lower motor neurons in the spinal cord.
Diagnosing acute flaccid myelitis
The diagnosis of AFM can be complicated as the symptoms mimic those of other diseases such as Guillain Barré and Transverse Myelitis. There is not a definitive test but rather the history and clinical picture is used for diagnosis once other diseases have been ruled out.
Treatment of acute flaccid myelitis
There is no formal treatment protocol for AFM. Instead, treatment is based on individual symptoms of each case.
Breathing
AFM can affect breathing if any part of the respiratory system is affected. It is necessary to provide breathing assistance as needed.
Rehabilitation for acute flaccid myelitis
Recovery from AFM is a process. There is no curative treatment found to date. Recovery is based on treating symptoms. A physician that specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation (called a physiatrist), a neurologist, a pediatrician or a combination of specialists will coordinate medical needs.
Merging Science and Practice
The functional medicine model evolved from the insights and perspectives of a small group of influential thought leaders who realized the importance of an individualized approach to disease causes based on the evolving research in nutritional science, genomics, and epigenetics.
IFM's Clinical Tools
In addition to being the founders of the functional medicine model, The Institute for Functional Medicine developed a set of tools that are used exclusively in its education programs.
The Functional Medicine Matrix
The functional medicine Matrix assists the clinician in organizing and prioritizing each patient’s health issues as elicited by a thorough personal, family, social, and medical history.
Timeline
All clinicians take patient history, but what makes the functional medicine Timeline different is that it has the effect of giving the patient insight into previous life events to motivate them to change and participate in treatment.
How Much to Get?
The answer depends on things including your age, your eating habits and medical conditions, and what medications you take.
Food Sources of Vitamin B12
You can get vitamin B12 in animal foods, which have it naturally, or from items that have been fortified with it.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Most people in the U.S. get enough of this nutrient. If you're not sure, you can ask your doctor if you should get a blood test to check your vitamin B12 level.
Pregnant or New Mom?
Are you a pregnant woman on a vegan or vegetarian diet, and plan to only breastfeed your baby? You should talk to your doctor before you have your baby, so that you have a plan in place for how you'll get enough vitamin B12 to keep your baby healthy.
Symptoms of Vitamin B12 Deficiency
If you have vitamin B12 deficiency, you could become anemic. A mild deficiency may cause no symptoms. But if untreated, it may lead to symptoms such as:
Treatment
If you have pernicious anemia or have trouble absorbing vitamin B12, you'll need shots of this vitamin at first. You may need to keep getting these shots, take high doses of a supplement by mouth, or get it nasally after that.
Prevention
Most people can prevent vitamin B12 deficiency by eating enough meat, poultry, seafood, dairy products, and eggs.
