Numbness. Pain. Inability to walk. These are all targets of Dr. Guy Burrows’ adulthood-long attempts to eliminate peripheral neuropathy from the twenty million people in the United States who suffer from it.
Dr Burrows’ chief nemesis is chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a neurological disorder that – according to the National Institute of Health – involves progressive weakness and reduced senses in the arms and legs. Symptoms of CIDP can include tingling or no feeling in fingers and toes, numbness with or without pain, poor balance, difficulty walking, weakness of arms and legs, loss of reflexes, and fatigue.
“The average time to diagnose CIDP is nine years under seven doctors,” says Dr Burrows. “Neuropathy is not rare, but it’s rarely diagnosed. I receive referrals from every hospital around – from neurologists, rheumatologists, and endocrinologists alike – once they realize that a neuromuscular issue is involved.”
The Burrows Center currently treats approximately two hundred patients suffering from varying degrees of neuropathy. While some cases have mild symptoms that are easily alleviated through a series of infusion sessions and other treatments, others pose a severe challenge for Burrows and his staff, a challenge that they willingly take on.
“One of the worst cases that came to us was a 40-year-old woman who was weak to the point of having no abilities, was wheelchair bound and had to breathe through a tracheostomy tube and eat through a PEG [Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy] tube. Today, she is walking and talking. I love what I do because I get people out of wheelchairs, and now they’re living full lives.”
Burrows is a board-certified neurologist with fellowship training in peripheral nerve disorders and neuromuscular diseases and is the head neuromuscular specialist at the eponymous Burrows Muscle and Nerve Center in Shenandoah between Conroe and The Woodlands.
After receiving his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC, he interned in family practice in Missouri and completed his residency in neurology and fellowship in neurophysiology/peripheral nerve disorders at Wilford Hall Medical Center.
This US Air Force medical treatment facility at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio presaged his subsequent experience as a general medical officer and flight surgeon at Fairford Air Force Base in the United Kingdom, as a flight surgeon at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, and as wing surgeon general and chief flight surgeon in Oman during Operation Desert Storm.
During his early medical career, Burrows trained under Harvard University’s head of neuropsychology – as the specialty was known in 1995 in its early days of discovery.
“Being a neuromuscular specialist is incredibly rare because that specialty is still emerging,” he said. “In Houston, for example, there are only six or seven of us. We’re subspecialists in an already tight specialty. The things that I treat, many doctors don’t understand; that’s how specialized what I do is.”
Patients coming to the center for the first time undergo a comprehensive testing process – from full reports on histories and symptoms to blood labs that check for nearly fifty conditions and diseases – in a muted, relaxed environment guided by courteous, professional staff that shares Burrows’ passion for improving the lives of those in pain.
“I find out specifically what is wrong with my patients, and I treat them accordingly. My treatments make pain go away. Too many of them come to me, having been told that there’s nothing that can be done to help them. But we can.”
The Burrows Muscle and Nerve Center invites anyone suffering from a burning sensation throughout the extremities, body weakness, or a sense of falling or numbness to come in for a consultation at 9191 Pinecroft Drive, suite 200.
“You’re never too old or ‘too far gone’ to be treated,” he said. “If there’s something I can do to improve your quality of life, I’m here.”
“I get people out of wheelchairs, and now they’re living full lives.”
