plasmacell dialysis

[Butterfly0034]

Hello all. i am beginning dialysis treatments thursday....has anyone been through this for RRMS?

I believe it is called Plasmapheresis. Do a search of the forum, I believe there are multiple references to it.

[JerryD]

If it is plasmapheresis, I have spoken to a doctor about this treatment several times. He says that it is sometimes used to treat RA and MG among other diseases. I would not be surprised to hear of that treatment being used off-label to treat MS. I know that some medical practices treat MS using other off-label treatments. My neurologist practice will not do that for me. I wish you luck.

[MSer102]

If it is plasmapheresis, I have spoken to a doctor about this treatment several times. ... My neurologist practice will not do that for me.

Jerry and everybody, for a better understanding of what plasmapheresis and the other off label treatments are used for in MS I think it's important to bring up WHY your neurology practice won't use them for you.

It isn't because they're trying to be mean or to discriminate against you because you have PPMS. It's because those treatments don't work for PPMS.

Plasmapheresis is used for inflammatory diseases to remove inflammatory components from the blood. And some medicines are used off label in MS to suppress the immune system to suppress inflammatory damage.

PPMS is not primarily an inflammatory disease so all of those treatments won't help PPMS. What they treat isn't what's wrong in PPMS. That's why your neuro "won't" use those treatments for you. They're the wrong medicine for you - they don't work for PPMS.

Right now there are no conventional treatments for PPMS. What works for RRMS and even some cases of SPMS just don't work for PPMS. That's not anybody's fault. I know this has been a difficult concept for you to accept.