Mag

[QUOTE=norb]Lori, did they actually tell you had antiMAG. If they did there had to be an antibody to be anti (against) something like MAG. Do I make sense?[/QUOTE]

Lori
Further to what Norb was saying, you can find more information from the Washington University web site [url]http://www.neuro.wustl.edu/neuromuscular[/url] and more specifically on anti-MAG at [url]http://www.neuro.wustl.edu/over/labdis.html#mag[/url]. They list the various antibodies vs MAG.

In my case, for example, they tested IgM vs MAG and found the levels to be way above normal. The interpretation was “The binding of IgM in this serum to MAG has been confirmed by Western blot. High titers of serum IgM anti-MAG antibodies are often associated with demyelinating sensory>motor neuropathies”. Which is what I have with this IgM MGUS.

I wish I knew more about the treatments, but I was a bit surprised that they would prescribe 4 treatments of Rituxan and then switch to IVIG. Recent posts suggest that it takes up to 18 months to realize improvements from Rituxan. (I found it personally to be much faster). And if it is IgM MGUS you have, there seems to be a consensus that IVIG doesn’t work that well. But for CIDP, IVIG is frequently given, and Rituxan seems like a second alternative after taking IVIG. As usual, I may be in over my head on this (I’m not a doctor), and I hope that someone will correct me if I am wrong.
Andrew