If you have been prescribed a specialty medication, one of your first questions may be: How much is this going to cost me? Unfortunately, the answer is rarely as simple as looking at the retail price of the medication. The amount a patient actually owes can depend on: Insurance plan Deductible Copay Coinsurance Out-of-pocket maximum...

IVIG is used across several neurological and neuromuscular disorders, but it is not a general treatment for weakness, numbness, neuropathy, or fatigue. Before a neurologist refers a patient for intravenous immunoglobulin, several questions usually need to be answered: What is the diagnosis? Is IVIG supported for that condition? How severe are the symptoms? Is the...

One of the first questions patients ask after a neurologist recommends IVIG for myasthenia gravis is: How often will I need treatment? The answer depends on why IVIG is being used. Some patients receive IVIG as a short-term treatment during significant worsening of myasthenia gravis symptoms. Others may receive IVIG repeatedly as maintenance therapy when...

For some neurological conditions, IVIG is not a one-time treatment. Patients with chronic immune-mediated neuropathies such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) or multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) may receive immunoglobulin therapy repeatedly over months or years. That can create a very different patient experience from receiving a short course of treatment. Questions begin to shift...

If your neurologist has recommended intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG, for myasthenia gravis, you may have questions about what treatment will actually be like. How long will the infusion take? Will you need to go to a hospital? What happens before the first dose? Will you feel different immediately afterward? And what should you watch for...

Muscle weakness can have many causes. Sometimes the problem begins in the nerves that carry signals to the muscles. Other times the problem is within the muscle tissue itself. That distinction helps explain the difference between two broad medical terms patients may encounter: peripheral neuropathy and myopathy. Both can make activities such as walking, climbing...

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and multifocal motor neuropathy are both uncommon immune-mediated disorders affecting peripheral nerves. They can also share an important symptom: progressive muscle weakness. That similarity can make the conditions seem closely related. But CIDP and multifocal motor neuropathy, or MMN, are distinct neurological disorders. The pattern of weakness, presence or absence of...

Treatment for myasthenia gravis has changed significantly in recent years. Patients once had a relatively limited set of options built primarily around medications such as pyridostigmine, corticosteroids, traditional immunosuppressants, intravenous immunoglobulin, plasma exchange, and thymectomy. Today, neurologists can also choose from newer therapies that target specific parts of the immune system. That creates more treatment...

Multifocal motor neuropathy, commonly called MMN, is a rare neurological disorder that primarily affects the motor nerves controlling voluntary muscle movement. For many people, the first signs can be subtle. A hand may become weaker. Objects may suddenly be easier to drop. Turning a key or opening a container may become harder. Some people develop...