IVIG side effects

[Rowens1214]

I just spoke with my sons dr last week concerning IVIG for my son. She told me she would be glad to administer the meds but wanted to make sure that I understand that there could be very bad side effects. I know there can be rash, headach, vomiting but am not aware of "bad" effects she is talking about. can anyone point me to a site explaining possible side effects. my son is 15 and is scared to go thru with it now after the conversation with the Dr. HIs OCD and rage is terrible and I told him it cant be as bad as what we are going thru and have been dealing with the past 6-7 years!!! Thanks

[JAG10]

Do you think doc meant side effects or risks?

 

The risks are that bcs it is a human blood product, there could be some disease out there that currently is not identified and therefore the product is not currently being tested for at this point in time.

 

It is a risk, but make no mistake about it...going through childhood, adolescence or adulthood with untreatable mental illness has numerous, more likely risks.

[melanie]

  JAG10 said:

Do you think doc meant side effects or risks?

 

The risks are that bcs it is a human blood product, there could be some disease out there that currently is not identified and therefore the product is not currently being tested for at this point in time.

 

It is a risk, but make no mistake about it...going through childhood, adolescence or adulthood with untreatable mental illness has numerous, more likely risks.

 

I know there are side effects .Danny has had 7 IVs and the side effects have been very minimum.But the risks of a blood product are that of a blood product.

 

Melanie

[Rowens1214]

  melanie said:

  JAG10 said:

Do you think doc meant side effects or risks?

 

The risks are that bcs it is a human blood product, there could be some disease out there that currently is not identified and therefore the product is not currently being tested for at this point in time.

 

It is a risk, but make no mistake about it...going through childhood, adolescence or adulthood with untreatable mental illness has numerous, more likely risks.

 

I know there are side effects .Danny has had 7 IVs and the side effects have been very minimum.But the risks of a blood product are that of a blood product.

 

Melanie

 

 

oh my 7!! my son is freaking over just having one. I have not told him that we may need to to this a few times. If i had the IVIG i would have done it myself last night. we were up until 2 am again. my son has such a hard time at night. he was anxious, having bad thoughts ....... the benefits must out weigh the risks. What is it like to sleep at night without a child in your bed. oh how it breaks my heart when he is anxious but how i could use a good nights sleep.

[melanie]

My son is 16 so hes had issues for quite some time.Also we do things a little differently then other on this forum.We do a 1g per kilo instead of 1.5-2.0. It depends on your DR .

 

Melanie

[mama2alex]

Maybe you can circle back with your doctor and ask what her what the "bad" side effects are and what they do to prevent them. Everything is relative. Maybe she thinks headache and vomiting are really bad, but from your perspective may be completely worth it if your son can heal.

 

If you do the IVIG, make sure you keep him WELL hydrated before, during and after. My son did fine the first day as I had him drinking a ton of water, but had a reaction the second day because we couldn't get the IV in until 11pm and then he fell asleep. I didn't think to wake him up and make him drink during the night and he woke up with fever, vomiting and bad headache 7 hours later. They gave him IV fluids and he improved quickly. Also, they can give your son Benadryl beforehand (although this wasn't an option for us because of a prior problem with Benadryl) and this can greatly reduce the risk of any allergic type of reaction. My son had headaches for a few days, but they resolved fairly quickly.

 

One more idea, if he's afraid of the needle, is to use Emla cream to numb his arms beforehand.

 

By the way, I can't believe your doctor said this in front of your son! You might want to have a private conversation with her about his anxiety and being more sensitive to his fears and feelings about his health.

[EAMom]

We found (both times) the IVIG side effects (both time we did high dose 2gm/kg) to be pretty mild. Kind of like having the flu for a couple of days...headache, tired, low grade fever. The headache wasn't a huge deal since it was easily controlled with Advil/tylenol. We also used Benedryl.

 

Certainly, the "side effects" were well worth the gain IVIG provided us. Like Mom2Alex said, everything is relative.

 

No procedure (tonsilectomy, psych. drugs, antibiotics) is guarenteed to be completely side effect free. Certainly compared to going through the risks/recovery time of something like tonsilectomy, IVIG is really not a big deal.