IVIG Day

WHAT IS IVIG?

Intravenous immune globulin ("IVIG") is a product made up of antibodies that can be given intravenously (through a vein).

Antibodies are proteins that your body makes to help you fight infections. Each antibody made by your body is slightly different, because it fits like a lock and key to every foreign substance (such as a piece of a virus or bacterium) that gets into your body. Over the course of your life your body makes thousands of different antibodies as you are exposed to different infectious organisms that your body considers to be "foreign."

IVIG is prepared from the blood donated by thousands of people, to make a super-concentrated and very diverse collection of antibodies against many possible infectious organisms your body might encounter.

WHY DO I NEED IVIG?

IVIG is used primarily in two situations.

One reason you might need IVIG is if your body does not make enough antibodies. This is called "humoral immunodeficiency." The IVIG simply provides extra antibodies that your body cannot make on its own. The antibodies usually last for several weeks to months and help your body fight off a large variety of infections. If you are getting IVIG for this reason, you will need to get it on a regular schedule.

A second reason you might need IVIG is if your immune system has started attacking your own body by producing antibodies directed against your own cells. Conditions in which this happens include:

●Destruction of your own blood platelets (known as immune thrombocytopenia [ITP])

●Destruction of your own red blood cells (known as autoimmune hemolytic anemia [AIHA])

●Attack on your nervous system, such as nerves that control your breathing (in Guillain-Barré syndrome) or nerves that control sensation (for example, in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy [CIDP])  SOURCE:  UpToDate Patient Education


I receive monthly infusions of IVIG because my Oncologist fears that my low immunity and anemia from over a decade of cancer treatments that have included:  surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, puts me in a HIGH RISK CATEGORY of contracting other life threatening illnesses.

Today, is the day that I get my monthly infusion.  I will arrive at UT Medical Center around 7:00 am and finish around 10:30 am and like always will be receiving premeds to keep from my getting sick.  The nurses will access my port on the right side of my upper body.

Of the two and a half hour treatment, I will probably sleep for about 90 minutes due to the premeds...  it's weird at first as I feel lightheaded and weak and my legs feel restless...  then, my eyes get heavy and the next thing I know I am waking up and there's about 30 minutes left.