CIDP grip strength

Exponentially? You mean negative exponentially. The fastest recovery typically comes early, as remyelination occurs. Axonal healing takes much longer and may not be 100%. The degree of recovery in any particular case depends on the nerve damage, which will differ between individual cases. My hands recovered from a completely useless state to nearly normal strength in about six months. All you can do is regular exercize and hope for improvement. I used hand putty and elastic bands to exercize my hands and arms, but the key is the underlying nerve damage and healing.

I have axonal damage in my legs. Although I have made an excellent recovery, two years after the onset of CIDP, I still have wobbly knees and constant pain in my feet. It is impossible to put a timeline on someone else’s recovery. In my own case, I don’t feel that my feet will ever be normal. But recovery is very slow, so it’s possible there will be more improvement. I have just tried to adapt to my limitations, and to help my recovery along with exercize wherever it seems to be useful.

Hi Larry

What is the method of strength testing they are using?

Larry, I summarized my case in another thread. It is a little over two years since the onset of my symptoms, and I have been walking without a cane for about six months now. My walking range is up to about a mile (although I don’t like to walj that far), or until my feet hurt so much I want to get off them. I first started walking with a cane in early February, 2011. At that time, my range was about two blocks and it was difficult. It was just good enough to take the bus to therapy.

At the depth of my weakness in October and November of 2010, my legs and feet were at zero for several weeks and the rest of my skeletal muscles below the neck were near zero for a few weeks. I couldn’t roll to the side unassisted.

My upper body strength returned fairly rapidly. Sometime in late November, 2010, I was able to get to a sitting position unassisted, starting from the 45° elevation of hospital bed. By the end of November, I could just barely get to my feet in the parallel bars, with therapists blocking my knees to prevent buckling. By mid December I could get up in the parallel bars and walk without assistance. Then I started walking with a walker, spotted by a therapist with a wheelchair behind me.

I went home in early January, 2011, in a wheelchair, but able to use a walker, and able to do transfers without being attended. This allowed me to function at home alone. I did about a month of home therapy in January, then was able to go out with a cane and ride the bus. Then I did outpatient therapy twice a week through the end of June, 2011. I continued to walk with a cane (outside only) until sometime in the spring of 2012, when I gave it up altogether.

My walking is not normal, but it’s close enough that it does not limit me in any important way. I’ll take it.