PP vs IVIG…

I am so happy that the PP treatments worked so well for you. When I was first dx with GBS in April of 2002, back when only my hands & feet were numb, but still functional, & I could still walk (just had a little weakness in my knees), I was given five PP treatments in 8 days. The entire time I was on the treatments, I continued to deteriorate. I was then released from the hospital & sent home to keep getting weaker, only to wake up a few weeks later unable to walk, raise my arms, & had lost the use of my hands.

I was then taken by ambulance to Mayo in Rochester, MN where I would be inpatient for 3 months. I was then given daily IVIG for 5 days & then twice a week. With the exception of the little bit I gained back from solumedrol (steroid infusions), I would remain this way for almost 2 1/2 years. I was told it was because I had the progressive form of CIDP, not the relapsing/remitting. I think one thing that I have learned after almost 6 years on this forum, is that both treatments basically do the same thing; try to stop the bad antibodies from attacking the nerves.

Obviously you have the relapsing/remitting form of CIDP, thus the quick recovery. For those with the progressive form, it seems that neither treatment works that well. Personally, after having 17 PP & over 40 IVIG infusions the first 8 months I was ill, I would pick the IVIG any day. It is so much less invasive & thus easier to tolerate. It was finally cytoxan infusions (chemo) that arrested my CIDP. I am not back to normal, never will be, but I am so much better than I was for far too long. I can take walking with AFOs & sometimes a cane any day to where I had been. I have been the same since the summer of 2004 & have not had any treatments since Sept of 2003…
Pam