Originally Posted by en bloc

It ALL comes down to what the root cause of the PN is. if the PN is inflammatory based, then steroids can be helpful. If it is autoimmune in nature, then IVIG can be helpful. Both carry risks.

Steroids can (and usually will) cause permanent damage to various things, including bone density, skin (causes paper thin skin), blood sugar (steroid induced diabetes), weight gain, glaucoma, moon face (and other fat pad swelling), and potassium loss...and that is NOT the end of the list. Patients (like myself) can end up with Cushing's syndrome and in some cases the body completely stops producing it's own cortisol.

IVIG carries risk of stroke (but it's not a huge risk). There are many side-effects like headache (very common and can be very bad), chills, tachycardia, etc. The biggest problem with IVIG is the cost. Not sure where you got $3 for an infusion...it is far more than that. My current infusion (once a month) is in excess of $30,000!! And that is not even the actual dose for neuropathy (it would be double).

But again, it all depends on the cause and what you're treating to know whether it would be helpful. If SFN is documented by skin biopsy, the IVIG is know to help increase fiber density, especially in autoimmune cases.

Hope this is helpful.