Autoimmune PN and the common cold - What do you take?
 

Ever since I developed autoimmune driven PN I've noticed that colds are way worse for me than for other members of my family. With a 1 year old child colds are a constant.

I get bronchitis just about every cold, and I never know what to take. Will taking products like high doses of Vitamin C, Zinc tablets, and raw garlic have a negative effect on my PN?

I'm weary about kicking my immune system into high gear and risking a flare up, but at the same time, living with bronchitis really sucks.

For those in similar situations, what do you take for your cold and flus?

if you already have allergies, or ashtma, or reactive airway diseases. bronchitis is very likely to occur after cold or flu(i never experience flu, that i could think of). bronchitis seems to occur more often, if your cold or flu particular seems pretty severe. runny nose, with thick secretions, sneezing alot, coughing, and of course a fever. note that these can be the same symptoms for the flu as well.(its hard to tell the difference between the 2).
if you take those supplments what do you experience?

if you are on any antidepressant medications you have to
avoid cough products with DM in them (dextromethorphan)

There is a risk of serotonin syndrome using DM with
antidepressants.

It seems that if I mega dose on "cold" products like emergen-C my PN in my feet flares up.

I'm at the stage of my disease where in between flare ups I can almost forget I have PN, so I really notice it when it happens.

What I don't know is if this is medically supported, or if it's just my body fighting the cold that causes a flare up and taking immune boosting medicines isn't making it any worse.

research supported on supplements, and immune system is limited or lacking. since supplements are not regulated, they sometimes arnt tested for efficacy.
i looked at the emergen-c, definition, it seems to contain quite alot of b12,b6, and vit c. POSSIBLY the megadose of the b6 could be causing the flareup

Rancar how long till u got to the point where you just get flares?

It took me about 14 months to get to the point where I just get flares.

I still have nerve issues, especially if I let my feet get too cold or I compress the nerves in my legs, but day-to-day it's largely unnoticeable unless I'm having a flare up.

However, those 14 months were pure hell for me. It's hard to remember just how bad the nerve pain and nerve regrowth is unless you go back and look at your symptom journal. I'm one of the lucky ones that had some form of nerve regrowth. I even got vibratory sensation back in most of my toes. :)

Each flare-up and re-healing does progress the disease and eventually I'll end up with symptoms that are much worse, potentially even paralysis if I'm unfortunate. But I'm happy with the current state of things and there is no point in stressing out about something we can't control. Besides, that could take 15-20 years and medical science is making incredible strides in this area.

Make sure if you are getting infectious virus infections, that your Vit D is in a good range.

This is only one example of a paper from 2011 explaining the effects of Vit D on the immune system.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406/

Google "vitamin D immune system effects" for more.

rancar... are you off neurontin or whatever you took? what does did you get up to at your peak? did you ever re-biopsy to see if you got any fibers back? ever get IVig? i dont get the whole flare thing. in the little literature there is they seem to imply that Small fiber GBS should be monophasic. guess they didnt follow people long enough. hopefully the idea that each flare makes you worse off isnt true. Did you just have foot pain or full body? my thing progressed like yours... pins/needles and vibration then sunburn pain and hot toes. cold feels hot. also get weird wet sensations. im only 4 months in. i have weeks where it seems like its getting better then weeks where it gets worse. i hope it gets better down the line. have a feeling if i want ivig i may have to dig into my own pocket.

The pain peaked at about six months and from there it slowly got better in waves, with increasing days between serious symptoms. I did not go on any special drugs other than high dose CBD which is an incredible analgesic and nerve pain reducer (go WA state :) ).

Mine is an auto-immune disease. They haven't diagnosed the exact one yet, but it isn't a case of acute GBS like yours may be. If yours really is acute take heart in the fact that it won't get any worse and you have a great shot of getting through this with just some bad memories. :)