Reply To: New- CIPD and Central Nerves/ Cranial

gressier, I had AFib because of CIDP and had breathing problems also. My heart would skip beats and flutter; I couldn’t take a deep breath or blow my nose. I had to go on blood thinners for the AFib and have daily-medicated breathing exercises for over a year.

My autonomous systems were in perfect shape before CIDP struck (I was a semi-professional Tennis player and quite athletic). About a year and 80+ PE treatments latter, I was off blood thinners and the AFib abated. This was not the result of IVIg because I had stopped those treatments long before the AFib started up. Most people who have heriditary AFib (not from CIDP) don’t recover without on-going blood thinning meds. I had PE while taking blood thinners and when I stopped taking thinners after a year or so, my AFib was no more. My healing could have been due to many things, I think it was the PE.

Some nerve damage can be repaired. Myelin can grow back at the rate of 1 millimeter a day, which is only 0.0032808 ft, this is agonizingly slow but there has been little that can be done to speed up the process, except for the very expensive and experimental stem cell transplant treatment (HSCT). Axonal damage is another thing and you can read about it here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2846285
https://forum.gbs-cidp.org/topic/determining-axonal-damage-using-emg-results

Jim