- Hydrate starting a day or 2 in advance, during the treatment, and for a few days afterwards. Drink as much as you can every day aiming at your weight in oz of non-caffeinated fluids like Gatorade and SmartWater.
- Avoid caffeine the day of treatment because it can dehydrate you and increase side-effects. (Some people don't have a problem with that)
- Make sure that you start out with slow speeds. What I found worked for me was to start at 25cc/hr, then to 50, 75, and maxing out at 100 with transitions no faster than every 15-30 minutes. Nurses will try to make you go faster, but don't let them until you have some treatments under your belt and see how you do during the days and weeks after...it can make you feel crappy for that long! If you go slow, it can give you energy and make you feel good!
- Report side-effects to the nurse(s) immediately as they are usually authorized to give you something to stop side-effects. Also, they will let the doctor know what happened, and the doctor will give you premeds to help prevent the side effects.
- Plan to rest for about 2 days afterwards to give yourself time to recover
SubQ:
- Steps 1,2, and 3 as listed for IVIG above
- Set everything that you will need out in advance
- Use a Lidocaine cream to numb the infusion sites and leave on for at least 30 minutes...cover with a bandaid to avoid messes
- Take a Benadryl (if necessary) 30 minutes before beginning infusion
- Keep a hand-sanitizing gel with alcohol content higher than 60% nearby in case you contaminate your hands before finishing
- When removing the needles, pull them straight out. If you try to pull them out at an angle you can scratch yourself with the points.
- Apply a heating pad during and after the infusion to alleviate pain. Use cold packs if there is itching or burning.
- If you use the EMLA cream and want to experiment with a new site, put the EMLA on an extra place or 2 in case the site ends up being too painful or you get blood in the line and you have to move the needle...that way you won't have to put it in a place that hasn't been numbed. (Note: many healthcare professionals say that you should never move a needle, some say it's ok as long as you swab the needle with alcohol before reinserting it. Do so at your own risk.)
- I've been having a problem with my infusion going too fast, and the pharmacy ships slower tubes to me, so I have a wide range of rate tubing (the only way to control the speed with my pump is by the size of the tubes...smaller tubes=slower infusion). Last week I used the 60ml/hr size tubing, and while it was better, it was still too fast, so today I got an inspiration for my infusion--I put 2 rate tubings in series to make the infusion even slower than last week! For those of you not familiar with the "in series" thing, it simply means that I attached 1 tube to the pump as usual, and then at the other end (where the needles would normally go) I used another rate tube, then attached my needles to the other end of that. The longer tubing makes the infusion slower than it would otherwise have been, resulting in fewer site reactions.
- If you do your infusion in your legs, divide the needles over both legs, that way one leg doesn't have to accommodate all the medication, resulting in less swelling than if it all goes in the same leg.
- If you do your infusion on your arms or legs and the needles pop out enough to leak (and hurt) during your treatment, try wrapping an ace bandage around the needles at the very start of the infusion, and keep it on for the whole treatment. The pressure from the bandage is enough to hold the needles in place better, decreasing the likelihood of leaking. I find it also makes the infusion less painful. Just be sure to make the bandage snug, but don't cut off circulation.
