If you think you're laughing, you should have seen my face when he first asked me. I had to hold my mouth closed.

But honestly, if you think about it for a moment, I mean, he wouldn't go into a steam room because he was afraid his anti-bodies would sweated out.

Don't we continuously make new antibodies? But if Alan has an anti-body problem, and he's not making GOOD antibodies, then it might not be such a strange question after all!!!!

SOMEONE JUST TELL THIS GUY HE CAN GO INTO A STEAM ROOM, and all the little nanobots going though his body aren't going to be jumping on the floor.

lol

mel

I cannot tolerate the steam room with my PN! It is amazing that Alan can!

Can Alan go into the steamroom while he is undergoing IVIG???

Tomorrow Dr. Goldfarb is supposed to call up Alan and schedule his first home infusion. So before this happens he wants to go the gym and do his stuff.

So can he use the steamroom? Or do all the little antibodies end up on the steam room floor after all????

Mel

--but to my knowledge, the amount of antibody that could be sweated out under steam room conditions is negligible.

Antibodies are specific protein chains--one of the reasons autoantibodies are sometimes referred to as "rogue proteins". They are rather large chain molecules and would not easily pass from serum/plasma through to the cutaneous levels--unless they had already, for some reason, been broken down into component amino acids, in which case they would have already lost their effectiveness as immune agents, anyway.

Think of it this way--if it were possible to sweat out large quantities of antibodies under hot/humid conditions, those people with autoimmune conditions would be flocking to steam rooms and the tropics to reduce their antibody titers, but there's never been any evidence I know of that increased temperatures/humidities reduce autoimmune symptoms. In fact, it IS well known that for many conditions of nerve, heat/humidity actually makes symptoms worse--heat is the enemy of nerve conduction (it tends to increase the electrochemical resistance of the nerve cell membrane and makes it harder for the ionic exchanges to occur). Well-insulated (myelinated) nerves can overcome this, but those with myelin damage . . .cooling vests are very popular among multiple sclerosis patients.

So, if he can otherwise tolerate the steam room, I don't see any reason Alan's visits there would make his IVIg less effective.

Thanks Glenn:

Now when I go and tell him what you guys on the boards said, I can feel comfortable enough to say: 'Go forth and sweat".

I didn't know that heat is the enemy of people with PN.

I will tell him to be careful. I honestly don't know how much time he has already spent in the saunas and steam room. Basically, I know he lifts weights, (he can't go on treadmills because of his foot ulcers).

I'll tell him that it might make his PN worse. We wouldn't want that to happen, now do we????

Thanks much!!!!

Melody

I cant spend any time under an electric blanket without a tremendous increase in pain. I have'nt tried a sauna or dry room since I have PN.

Now isn't that odd, I just read a post somewhere on these boards, where a guy who has PN has an electric blanket (because his feet are always cold), and some time before he retires for the night, he turns the blanket on (low, bu it's on!!!). Then he is able to sleep.

I gather that PN affects people in total variables.

Still learning all about PN. Probably will until someone finds a cure.

melody