Brooke’s friends often reminded her how lucky she was. A 17-year-old high school youth had made his body to run. His high school coach told him it wasn’t a question of if it was a question of college scholarship but how much was considered. Neither did anyone realize that within a few months, the condition would be known as CIDP.
Aspect of CIDP
According to WebMD, CIDP is an abbreviation for a rare neurological condition with a long name: chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. The disease is also known as chronic relapsing polyneuropathy but is usually referred to simply as CIDP.
CIDP patients suffer from inflammation of the nerve roots and peripheral nerves. The myelin sheath, the fatty covering of the nerves, has been damaged in some way.
CIDP is so closely related to Guillain-Barre syndrome that doctors consider it a chronic condition, according to National. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) reports. Experts associate its occurrence with some type of deficiency in the immune system, which causes it to consider myelin as a foreign body and then attack it and destroy it, according to the GBS/CIDP International Foundation.
CIDP signs and symptoms
This disorder can strike people of any age and sex, but it seems to be more prevalent in young adults often in men than in women. The patient suffers from slowly increasing weakness in the legs. The arms are less affected. CIDP should be considered a condition that persists for at least two months.
Many patients first report tingling or numbness that begins in the fingers and toes. Finally, they complain of joint weakness in the arms and legs, and lose deep tendon reflexes. Some experience abnormal sensations. General fatigue.
Brooke began to have difficulty when she ran around the school track. He was easily bored and felt that he was not in control of any of his movements. When the doctor examined her, he immediately noticed that she had lost the knee reflex in one leg. From that time, the teenager and her parents were understandably terrified that she would end up in a wheelchair.
Diagnosis and treatment
Most patients, not knowing what the symptoms might be, initially visit a pediatrician, family doctor, or internist. They are usually referred to a neurologist for a physical-exam and a test known as a nerve conduction velocity- electromyography study. This system will show problems with the conduction of electrical signals associated with CIDP.
If the results of this test are abnormal, doctors sometimes perform a spinal cord ultrasound to analyze cerebrospinal fluid. In CIDP patients, it usually shows elevated protein levels compared to normal cells. However, some patients with one of the CIDP variants only show symptoms associated with nerve conduction studies. Laboratory blood and urine tests are also standard samples.
Fortunately, although her condition quickly deteriorated, there were several treatment options for Brooke. The most common use is corticosteroids such as Valium. Doctors may choose to try the steroid alone or with certain immunosuppressant drugs. However, the side effects side effects can be serious.
Some CIDP patients respond very well to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy in which they receive blood proteins blood cells are returned to the patient without the plasma that was in the blood.
The prognosis of patients with CIDP varies greatly. While others recover spontaneously, others suffer from many crises and feel that they have somehow been accepted among them. But it is definitely considered a treatable disorder.
It is not uncommon for patients with CIDP to require different types of treatment during the course of the illness, as each condition begins to decrease. The earlier the treatment, the less likely it is to suffer loss of spinal cord axons and the more likely it is to preserve mobility.
Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/brain/chronic-inflammatory-demyelinating-polyneuropathy
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cidp/cidp.htm
http://www.gbs-cidp.org/aboutcidp.htm
