CIDP and dizziness

[bluii58]

I've been diagnosed with CIDP about 12 yes ago. I'm active although each year brings a new set of issues. The latest seems to be dizziness. At first I related it to the medication I had been taking for yrs., could this be another extension of this ever expanding disease?
Also, can CIDP be a slower form of ALS and could MS medications possibly help?

I know, many questions packed into so few sentences...
Thank you and God bless if any one even answers!

Sandy

[sllowe]

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[twopack]

Hi Sandy.  I wanted to offer you something here even though I don't have anything close to real answers for your questions.

CIDP or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy seems like MS when you consider that both are inflammatory diseases and  involve an autoimmune demyelinating process.  They are quite different when you consider that MS involves the CNS (central nervous system) but CIDP involves peripheral nerves.

ALS is also a disease of the CNS rather than peripheral nerves.  It can look like CIDP but is a very different disease.  CIDP is more like Guillain Barre Syndrome than any of the other diseases you mention.

Dizziness can come from many sources so it would be impossible for any of us here to know the origin of that symptom.  IF it is connected to your CIDP it could be via the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic).  Although the cranial nerves originate in the CNS they extend into peripherial body systems and exert great influence there.  I believe autonomic dysfunction occurs with CIDP.

I know that steroid treatment, IVIG and plasmaphoresis can help with CIDP control.  I hope one of these has helped you.  I doubt the disease modifying treatments used for MS would be helpful though.  They are believed to work by changing or inhibiting the processes involved with inflammation as different cells work and cross the blood brain barrier.  I am no where near qualified to have an opinion on this let alone share one here.

Thanks for coming to ask your question in the MS forum.  You probably share several symptoms in common with members here even though the spot of origin varies.  

It's good to hear you are still upright!  Please feel free to share and ask other questions here but you might also want to try the general NEUROLOGY forum to locate other people who share your diagnosis.

Mary