20 Little-Known Steps to Outsmart Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy

5. Physiotherapy

As we know, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy is an illness known to cause progressive muscle weakness. This malfunction can make it difficult for a patient to perform everyday tasks like walking. Once the illness is under control, the atrophy or muscle wasting that occurs in the individual can be reversed as long as there is no permanent damage to the nerves. Even individuals who do have permanent nerve damage due to CIDP may choose to undergo physiotherapy to help maximize their movement potential and improve their quality of life. Physiotherapy is the utilization of movement and exercises to help re-strengthen muscles, improve mobility, increase range of motion, and rehabilitate impaired muscles. Physiotherapy is merely a part of a patient's treatment regimen, as it does not provide any curative qualities to the autoimmune disorder itself. Physiotherapy can help alleviate symptoms and prevent some complications of CIDP, but it does not stop the patient's immune system from attacking the protective myelin around the nerves.

6. Immunotherapy

If corticosteroids are not an option for a chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy patient, immunotherapy may be added to help mediate their symptoms. Immunotherapy is a treatment typically used to slow down the actions of an individual's immune system. This mechanism is difficult to achieve because it involves leaving some parts of the patient's immune system active and functioning, while selectively deactivating the parts of the immune system causing the CIDP symptoms. Other methods in immunotherapy used to treat autoimmune disorders like CIDP are not specific to the particular parts of the immune system that cause the specific disorder. This non-specificity results in adverse side effects some patients may not be able to handle. Immunotherapy is the manipulation of the individual's immune system responses to treat the imbalance without causing significant adverse side effects.