Infusion therapy, also known as intravenous therapy, is one way to treat or manage neurological conditions or disorders of the nervous system.
Todd Levine, MD, a neurologist at HonorHealth Neurology in partnership with Phoenix Neurological Associates, explained that infusion therapy involves administering a medication directly into the bloodstream to change or alter the immune system.
Why infusion therapy?
Dr. Levine says infusion therapy can be an effective treatment if you’re managing a neurological disease because it can be simpler than taking a daily pill or shot and can result in fewer side effects and greater longer-term relief.
“By getting an infusion every six months, maybe you feel bad the one day you receive the infusion, but the rest of the time you feel normal,” said Dr. Levine. “The general consensus is infusion treatments have less negative impact on your quality of life and are more effective than the older therapies.”
What can you expect as a patient?
If you can benefit from infusion therapy, you’ll receive it routinely, perhaps monthly or a few times a year, at an infusion center. HonorHealth Neurology has an infusion center next door for patients’ convenience and comfort. A nurse places your IV and monitors you throughout the treatment, ranging from two to six hours.
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What conditions can infusion therapy treat, and does it work?
Neurologists at HonorHealth use infusion therapy to treat patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, dermatomyositis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, migraines and/or chronic headaches, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, neuropathy and polymyositis.
Results vary depending on the disease, but Dr. Levine sees dramatic improvements in many of his patients.
For example, within the last year, his office saw a woman with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a disease that presents with gradually progressive weakness over weeks and months. She had reached the point where she couldn’t walk, was in a wheelchair and couldn’t take care of her children. Dr. Levine said she received infusion therapy and within three months was walking independently again.
“Not everything gets better with infusion therapy, but if you have right type of neuropathological disease, it’s pretty miraculous how it works,” said Dr. Levine.
Learn more about infusion therapy and how it may help provide relief to you or someone you love on HonorHealth’s website.
