GBS and Hepatitis

I had read that one of the side effects of ivig is hepatitis. Also when dealing with autoimmune diseases it is not uncommon that one autoimmune disease puts you at risk for other autoimmune diseases (such as autoimmune hepatitis). This is the only connections I know. Maybe others have heard of more. Dr. Shawn

DR Shawn I never heard of autoimmune hepatitist. Maybe that is why my Neurologist told me not to get the hepatitist vaccines. She originaly said yes to me yesterday then left a message on my answering machine saying not to get it.

Sue

hi ali! sorry i missed you on sunday. thanks for the phone numbers. i have autoimmune hepatitis from my gbs. it’s not uncommon for an autoimmune disease to attack the liver. i was one of the lucky ones, i guess. i am on very high doses of cell cept. this is an anti rejection medicine they give transplant patients, so thier immune system will stop trying to reject the organ. it has some nasty side effects, such as skin cancer, lymphoma, upper digestive issues, etc. and due to one of them, i’m now scheduled for april 17th to have my gallblader removed and another liver biopsy. i am treated at a liver transplant center at einstein medical center in center city philly. i know i’m in good hands. my liver enzymes have been improving greatly, so maybe we can back down the dose a bit soon. i’m sure jerimy will be posting shortly. he’s my auto-hep. buddy. 😀
hope this gave you some info. about it.

xoxoxoxoxo
deb

Ali, I also have autoimmune hepatitis. The Autoimmune is Hepatitis just means that the body is attacking the liver as if it were an invader via an immune reaction. I have at least 6 different Autoimmune diseases: hemalytic anemia (attacks red blood cells), vitiligo (attacks pigment), hepatitis (attacks liver), rheumatoid arthritis (attacks joints), lupus (attacks multiple organs), CIDP (attacks myelin/nerves). It’s not surprising that you had another autoimmune disease at the time of your GBS. From what I have read it is common for us to be affected by more then one. My Autoimmune issues seem to have been passed along to me via my Mom. I was born with Vitiligo and didn’t get another Autoimmune disease until I was 18. Since then I seem to be in the Autoimmune Disease of the month club.

Sorry to bore you all with all that information. The Multiple Autoimmune Disease Genetics Consortium has more information for anyone interested [COLOR=Blue]madgc.org/
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Jerimy

PS-That is my laymans description, Dr. Shawn please let me know if I have any of it incorrect.

Sue,

I would not get any vaccinations without first getting your Neuro’s ok just to be safe anyway.

Jerimy

[quote=suewatters1]DR Shawn I never heard of autoimmune hepatitist. Maybe that is why my Neurologist told me not to get the hepatitist vaccines. She originaly said yes to me yesterday then left a message on my answering machine saying not to get it.

Sue[/quote]

Thans Jerimy. Yes that is what I asked her yesterday so now I know not to get it. I am learning something new everyday.

Sue

Hey, Jerimy.

So, the difference between autoimmune hepatitis and one of the viral hepatitis varieties is that one is the body turning on itself and and other is caused by a virus? (I know that’s kind of simplistic…)

katie jo

The way I understand it is that Autoimmune Hepatitis is that our autoantibodies or T cells attack ourselves (Autoimmune) causing an inflamation of the liver (Hepatitis). The other forms of Hepatitis are caused by viruses that attack the liver and cause inflamation.

Hope that helps.

Jerimy

Does this mean that we cannot travel abroad to those countries that require immunizations? Ever? How long do you think we neeed to wait ….if at all? I certainly am not intending to go in the near future as I am using a walker..but I had hoped to do so in a few years.

I don’t really suggest any vacines (especially without asking your specialsit), the only thing that has been in common with the couple of neurologist my boyfriend has had was not to get vacines….. actually I read somewhere that one of the ways a person can get CIDP is from vacinations! The neurologist that we deal with now has a very large patient base with CIDP/GBS and she recomends strongly against any vacinations. Besides basically a vacinations is a very small dosage of what ever your getting vacinated for and if you have CIDP or GBS your immune system is already down and unless you HAVE to have it your better off not testing the fates.

As for the autoimmune hepatitis, hmmm…. learn something new every day – till now I didn’t know about it.