next juice?

Well, the most recent set of test results (skeletal x-ray and MRI) are in, and everything does seem to point to MMN. Is this a good thing? Hard to tell. They're ruled out plenty of bad things, and it looks far more like MMN than CIDP. I don't know if one is better or worse than the other, so that doesn't mean a lot.

It's been over a week since I finished the Prednisone, and I have noticed a couple of interesting things. Since finishing, my hands seem to feel a bit better - a bit more freedom of movement. That seems to indicate that the Prednisone had a detrimental effect. However, along with that, the headaches have returned. They are far less intense than a couple of months ago when I had the IVIg treatment, but they are still there. Not severe enough for me for me to be taking something every day, but enough that (a) I notice, and (b) there is no answer as to why they are still there. Perhaps they are less severe because the IVIg is wearing off over time?

So now I play the waiting game. Waiting for my hands to weaken sufficiently that I will embark on the next IVIg juicing. Next time, they will premedicate me with Prednisone, which they think might help with the headaches. No-one really knows; it's a case of trial and error. More and more I feel like I'm the patient on an episode of House. The only differences are that over there in TV-land, he works it out in about 35 minutes, it's all over in 42 minutes, and the total elapsed time is a few days. My episode will being played out over years, and in that context, we've only just begun. In fact, all these medical shows are starting to annoy me. I squirm when they do tests on the patients, especially the ones with needles, and I'm starting to understand far more of the medical terms than the typical viewer.

Perhaps the only good news is that it's been some ten weeks since my first IVIg treatment, and my hands are far better than they were before the treatment. To me, that implies a longer than average cycle between treatments. You might notice that I'm not running back for more in a hurry. It's a fine-tuned balance between a rock and a hard place.