| |
Printer Friendly Page
For detailed info on diagnosis, prevention
& treatment of autoimmune diseases see the , "Flame within
contents".
Diagnosis of all the autoimmune diseases is simple. All the diseases present with the chief complaint of
fatigue, tiredness, weakness which often comes in cycles (remits and
relapses) or (waxes and wanes). Remember that if your disease comes
in attacks which are days, weeks, months apart then you have
autoimmune disease. All the autoimmune diseases are
associated with a elevated SED rate or ESR. (Sed Rate is
a simple blood test which measures inflammation). C-reactive protein
(CRP) is a more sophisticated blood test which also is used to
measure inflammation, CRP will also be elevated in autoimmune
diseases. However my personnel experience sed rate is a better test
as compared to CRP for mass screening and disease follow up.
Some Fibromyalgia patients will present with pain only on the
left side of the body and in a similar way early Parkinson will only
affect the left side of the body. All the diseases are immune
mediated and if you follow the disease pattern you can diagnose and
treat the disease on the first visit without any tests or
procedures.
The human body is the most sensitive machine and I can just see and
diagnose most diseases. To me it looks like the diagnosis is written
on the face of the patient. I sense the disease, you can too if you
try. Dont depend on diagnostic tests. Most diseases will not show up
on the tests. Lets take the case of Fibromyalgia, the only test I
have seen come back positive in this diseases is IgG sub class
deficiency. But in reality the diagnosis can be seen as a anxious
look on the patients face who is begging for a diagnosis. Feel with
your fingers and feel the pain, if the patient has a headache then
feel the sclap and if the scalp is tender then two things should
come to mind either it is a vasculitis like Temporal arteritis or it
is a case of Myofacial pain/ fibromyalgia.
CIDPUSA has published its extensive research in the
autoimmune diseases E-BOOK which contains treatment of
Alzheimer's,
CIDP, neuropathies, Pemphigus, acne, alopecia , every type of
arthritis, psychiatric disorders and many more by simple antibiotics. Save your money and
purchase this book online today 24 hour delivery to your email.
Check this offer on our home page. Hundreds of
satisfied patients worldwide. Remember this is true research by
university doctors and not the research that you see in the news
supported by Big Pharma.
In CIDP, patients usually present with a history of weakness,
numbness, pain and difficulty in walking. Some patients may have
a sudden onset of back pain or neck pain radiating down the
extremities. This pain is usually diagnosed as radicular pain
(radiating pain or going down). The symptoms of CIDP are usually
progressive and may come and go. The patients have difficulty
climbing stairs and use their hands to pull themselves upstairs.
On examination the patients may have weakness in hips and
shoulders, loss of deep
tendon reflexes (rarely increased or normal).
There may be atrophy (shrinkage) of muscles, fasciculations
(twitching) and loss of
sensation in the feet and hands.
Some patients present with ALS (Lugaric Disease) like clinical picture. Who have
MMF (Multi-Focal Motor neuropathy. As these patients have no sensory
loss, but just weakness.
The patients may present with a single cranial nerve or peripheral
nerve dysfunction. For example, double vision, loss of hearing,
ringing in the ear, face dropping on one side, hoarseness, facial
pain. They can have weak hand grip, numbness in the hands or feet.
Pain in the neck or back .
They may present with abdominal pains, fainting spells while standing up.
Burning pain in extremities.
Laboratory findings
The major laboratory tests for CIDP are electrophysiologic studies,
CSF examination, and nerve biopsy.
Electrophysiological Tests consist of two parts.
- EMG or Electro-Myo-Graphy is a test where a electrical needle is placed in a
muscle to record its electrical activity. It is used to differentiate other causes of muscle
weakness, such as myopathy (inflammation of muscle), axonal neuropathies
(Dysfunction in the center of the nerve) and disorders of
neuromuscular transmission (dysfunction at the place where a
nerve connects to a muscle) seen in Myasthenia.
NCV
is a Nerve-conduction-Velocity is the second part of
the Electrophysiological Test. In NCV a nerve is shocked by a
electrical current and the time this current takes to
reach a second point is
measured. If the speed
of this measured electrical conduction is slow, then the nerve conduction studies show
demyelination or CIDP. If the speed is slightly slow then a
axonal neuropathy is considered which may be due to vitamin
deficiency.
Some of the NCV findings include:
(a) a slowing in
the nerve conduction velocities ; (meaning that the Myelin
around a nerve is damaged or rarely the axon is affected)
(b) the presence of conduction
block or abnormal temporal dispersion in at least one motor
nerve (meaning no or little electrical current is transmitted
in the nerve). Is seen in Mutli Focal Motor Neuropathy.
(c) prolonged distal latencies in at least two nerves;(means that it takes a long time for the current to get past the
ends of the shocked nerve) This portion is a good way to measure
for carpal tunnel syndrome. At CIDPUSA we believe CTS is due to
the inflammation of a nerve and does not need surgery.
(d) absent F waves or prolonged minimum F wave latencies in at
least two motor nerves. Means that a F wave is not seen in these
patients. This F wave is a stimulation of the nerve in the
opposite direction, towards the spin and the distance from the
spine back to the nerve is measured. F wave will be absent in
Diabetic Amyotrophy or swelling of the spinal discs causing
inflammation on the nerve.
(In some case EMG/NCV can be normal). EMG does not tell what
is the cause of your disease, it can only locate the site of the
damage.
- CSF Examination: Cerebro Spinal Fuid is the fluid that
bathes your brain and spinal cord. Cytoalbuminologic dissociation (means elevated CSF
protein >45 in the absence of a high cell count <10) is
characteristic of CIDP & GBS. CSF pleocytosis is rare except in
HIV-associated CIDP. An elevated IgG index and IgG synthesis rate
is consistent with the immune-related nature of CIDP.
Imran Khan MBBS Nanotech Neurology Lahore
Not all the patients will have lab abnormalities. In many the EMG/NCV
findings will not show that they have CIDP yet they will still have
the disease.
Is EMG/NCV Insensitive in the Diagnosis of CIDP?
The clinical profile of chronic inflammatory demyelinating
polyneuropathy (CIDP) is variable. Nerve conduction
studies are essential for the diagnosis of CIDP; however,
current electrophysiologic criteria for CIDP may not be
sensitive. These authors analyzed results of nerve
conduction studies and nerve biopsies in 8 patients with
CIDP who did not fulfill standard electrophysiologic criteria
(of 44 patients with CIDP confirmed by nerve histology). Two
standard electrophysiologic criteria were used: one proposed
by an ad hoc committee of the AAN (Neurology 1991;
41:617) and another by the Inflammatory Neuropathy Cause
and Treatment Group (Ann Neurol 2001; 50:195).
The main electrophysiologic abnormalities were those of simple
axonopathy in 7 patients; the other patient had almost normal
electrophysiologic results. In contrast, examination of nerve
biopsies in all 8 patients revealed substantial loss of
myelinated fibers; in addition, frequent histologic
findings were naked axons, thinly myelinated fibers, and
various degrees of onion bulbs. These histology findings
were identical to those of the 36 other CIDP patients.
The authors conclude that many patients with
unrecognized CIDP are erroneously classified by electrodiagnosis as
having chronic axonal neuropathy and that nerve biopsy should
be considered to further investigate a chronic idiopathic
neuropathy.
Click to view different size nerve fibers.
| : Neurology. 2002 Dec 24;59(12 Suppl 6):S2-6. |
|
Diagnosis of CIDP. Latov N.
Peripheral Neuropathy Center, Weill Medical College of Cornell
University, New York, NY 10022, USA.
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is an
autoimmune disease that targets the myelin sheaths of peripheral
nerves. In clinical practice the diagnosis is often difficult to
make because of the clinical heterogeneity of the disease, its
multifocality and predilection for proximal nerve segments, and the
limitations of our electrophysiologic and pathologic techniques. Although there are rather stringent research criteria for selecting
patients to clinical trials, there are no generally agreed-on
clinical diagnostic criteria for CIDP, and application of the
research criteria to routine clinical practice would miss the
diagnosis in a majority of patients. Because of this uncertainty,
the prevalence of CIDP is greatly underestimated, and patients are
often left untreated despite progression of their disease. However,
given what is known about the clinical presentation and
pathophysiology of CIDP, patients with neuropathy of otherwise
unknown etiology are more likely to have CIDP than idiopathic axonal
neuropathy, and warrant a trial of therapy if they have nerve
conduction velocities below the lower limits of normal, prolongation
of F-waves beyond the normal range, or presence of conduction block
or temporal dispersion. A favorable response to therapy, consisting
of stabilization or improvement of the neuropathy, would confirm the
diagnosis
|
|
The human cervical plexus
or nerves coming out of the neck into the
arms. |
|
|
Dont wait
in a NHS clinic we do a 24 hr evaluation over the internet for medical problems
Mobile
phone Use Increases Tumour Risk
New Psoriasis
Rx
LasiK Dangers
No cold meds to kids,
says FDA
Calcium supplements cause stroke in women
Vitamin D
extends life Breast Size
& disease
|