I may as well continue while I’m on a roll…

Hi everbody! I can’t sleep and while I’m on a roll I may as well get more helpful information out there.:)

What is CIDP? [COLOR=”Blue”]Chronic[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Red”]inflammatory[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Blue”]demyelinating[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Red”]polyradiculoneuropathy.[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Blue”]Chronic refers to the gradual course of illness;[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Red”]inflammatory means there is strong evidence that it is inflammation that causes the nerve damage;[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Blue”]demyelinating means there is evidence the damage is primarily to the insulating myelin sheaths around the nerve fibers;[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Red”]and polyradiculoneuropathy: poly means many, radiculo means nerve root, neuro means nerve and opathy means disease;[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Blue”]so, polyradiculoneuropathy means a disease of many peripheral nerves and their roots, which are the points of origin of the peripheral nerves from the spinal cord.[/COLOR]

There are four basic types of CIDP: a) Subacute – where symptoms continue to progress and worsen for at least four weeks, but not more than eight weeks before leveling off or improving. b) Chronic progressive – where symptoms continue to progress and worsen for a period exceeding eight weeks. c) Chronic relapsing – where there is more than one episode in which symptoms progress and worsen for a period greater than four weeks. d) Recurrent GBS – where each bout has a progressive phase of less than four to six weeks.

However, we are lucky to get a correct diagnosis of just CIDP…figuring out the type will probably be determined by research you put into the disease yourself…and that’s just the plain old truth in most cases.

This is what I told my neurologist. I look at my diseases as a long trip and we are sharing a planned map of how to get there. You are in the driver’s seat, but I am up-front in the passengers seat. Unlike many of your patients, I’m not thrown in the trunk with the luggage. We will both discuss the planned map, and if I have an idea of a slight detour, or treatment or new/different medication, than we will discuss my alternate route. And, of course, if you should have any opinions of detours or different treatments, we certainly want to discuss those. But I want to make sure we are both using the same map on the journey. My neurology said “excellent plan!”.

And many patients do not set up-front and discuss their disease – instead they ride in the trunk with the luggage…but when something goes wrong, they just don’t understand and are taken by complete surprise!! Every patient should know and be involved in the map their doctor is taking…GET INVOLVED, UNDERSTAND YOUR ILLNESS!

Warmest regards.

Jethro