D5W, IVIg…Infusion rates

Erin,
[QUOTE]the reason for the 15 hrs is I have to do my D5W quite slow or I get really sick, high fever and GI havoc. The 45 gms of octigam takes abt 6 hrs. The D5W takes abt 9 now, used to be 12.[/QUOTE] Nobody wants to get sick from the necessary infusions we get – Life is rough enough as it is. Octigam makes a 10% concentration IVIg which means you would only need 450 ML to be infused for the 45 grams of IVIg. Per their literature, you can start the infusion at approximately 100 ML the first 30 minutes and keep increasing – all the way up to over 500 ML/hr, but you would never want to exceed 250 ML/hr. However, looking at a reasonable infusion rate, and starting at 60 ML/hr for the first 30 min, then increasing to 120 ML for the next 30 min, then going to 250 ML/hr for the balance, this would cut your 45 grams of IVIg time down to 3:27 minutes.

On your D5W, you can just do the best you can without making yourself sick. You are probably taking it at a 125 ML/hr. Like I said, you can just do what you can do, but increasing to just 150 ML/hr would decrease your time by about another 1.5 hours. In total that would be nearly a 5 hour reduction in time.

Erin, I’m just like you, looking for the best out of each day, and hoping for the most out of the life I have left in me. If I see a way to maybe help someone, I’ll give it my best shot.

Warmest regards.

Jethro