Tyson, I sure hope you will bring this up BEFORE you have plasmapheresis. If you are overhydrated from the Prednisone, you could be having either hyponatremia (too little sodium) or too much depending upon your intake. Also, your potassium could be off as well.

Any time you have an imbalance in fluids, your electrolytes can be off. Electrolytes adversely effect several body systems, most importantly the heart, muscles and brain/CNS. It's nothing to mess with.

So when you have plasmapheresis, and you have an influx of fluids too quickly, you can get hyponatremia and other electrolyte imbalances. A good doctor will check for this after having it if you are having symptoms (i.e., muscle spasms).

When was the last time anyone did a chemistry panel on you? Looked at your kidney and liver function too (which is usually in a chem panel but not always)?

And when you get a lot of fluid, the kidneys have to work overtime. Accutane can be hard on the kidneys too.

And when you add "thick blood" to the mix, which might be happening to you due to the Accutane increasing cholesterol markers (possibly fibrinogen and c-reactive protein too), then you have a potential disaster on your hands. Think of a balloon (like arteries) that gets too full of water. It also affects blood pressure. Pressure in arteries is complicated - I'm not even going to go there with you.

Just get your docs informed and thinking about all this before they do more harm than good to you. Keep the pheresis slow. And press that nurse call button if you experience ANY symptoms.

Okay, enough of my lecture. I hope it all goes well.

And please don't take potassium. The symptoms of too much and not enough are basically the same. Until you have it checked, you can't tell for sure if this is an electrolyte imbalance, your MG or something else.

Annie

Nicky - Were you trying to be funny? I sure hope you aren't taking Pred with "a grain of salt."