Treatment, Care & Mobility
Treatment Periods
This is a very interesting comparison of how frequent people are being treated. The vast majority of GBS sufferers are either having daily treatment or none, yet for CIDP it is either daily or monthly (which is what you would expect, given the differences between the diseases?). I am presuming that daily are pills (e.g. Steroids) and monthly is Plasma/IVIG.
The Details: 41% of people with GBS have no treatments, yet around 6% with CIDP do. 39% of GBS have daily treatments and 22% of CIDP. At the other end of the scale; around 19% of those with CIDP have treatments every 2 or 3 weeks, with 34% having treatments every month (or 4 weeks), whereas only 10% of GBS have monthly treatments. The average treatment period for those with GBS is every 4.8 days, yet with CIDP it is 18.6 days.
This is a very interesting comparison of how frequent people are being treated. The vast majority of GBS sufferers are either having daily treatment or none, yet for CIDP it is either daily or monthly (which is what you would expect, given the differences between the diseases?). I am presuming that daily are pills (e.g. Steroids) and monthly is Plasma/IVIG.
The Details: 41% of people with GBS have no treatments, yet around 6% with CIDP do. 39% of GBS have daily treatments and 22% of CIDP. At the other end of the scale; around 19% of those with CIDP have treatments every 2 or 3 weeks, with 34% having treatments every month (or 4 weeks), whereas only 10% of GBS have monthly treatments. The average treatment period for those with GBS is every 4.8 days, yet with CIDP it is 18.6 days.
The main differences between males and females were less females had no treatments (15% to 21%) and daily treatments (25% to 30%), however for all the other treatment categories it was higher, with the biggest difference being every three weeks (9% to 3%).
One perfectly valid point to make is about how many people who filled in the survey are "over" their illness, especially those who have/had GBS? As I didn't ask this question I don't know - as this must skew any figures to a certain degree.
One perfectly valid point to make is about how many people who filled in the survey are "over" their illness, especially those who have/had GBS? As I didn't ask this question I don't know - as this must skew any figures to a certain degree.
Mobility
There are some interesting results between the groups:
- Very few are completely bed bound only 1% for each group (which is good, yet surprising).
- 25% of those with GBS and now run and only 15% with CIDP (personally if I had to "run for my life" I'd be dead! - it is not an option)
- 67% of those with GBS can run or walk compared with 56% of CIDP
- 29% of those with CIDP use a cane/stick or assisted walk and only 20% of those with GBS (this must be linked to the previous point from a simple numbers percentage)
External Care
What really surprises me is that 80% of people said they needed no external care. Now this may be my fault for the way the question was phrased: "Do you need external care - others to look after you?". I meant this to include any one else, e.g. family as well and due to such a high "No" response, I wonder if some answered in this way. Still it is an excellent and significant number who do not need any assistance from others.
At the other end of the scale only 9% need help for everything, which is also encouraging. Looking across all the categories the numbers are remarkably consistent (and because 80% don't need help, very low).
I added a couple of heading from the Other answers, driving and chores, as they seemed to be worthwhile. I do understand that some people may have overlapped answers/categories and those be covered elsewhere, but that is the problem with any survey/questions (whether verbal, written, web or any other), how do you phrase a question to ensure that all respondents understand exactly what is meant and answer in exactly the same way/terms/scale as everyone else.......
You Can't!
What really surprises me is that 80% of people said they needed no external care. Now this may be my fault for the way the question was phrased: "Do you need external care - others to look after you?". I meant this to include any one else, e.g. family as well and due to such a high "No" response, I wonder if some answered in this way. Still it is an excellent and significant number who do not need any assistance from others.
At the other end of the scale only 9% need help for everything, which is also encouraging. Looking across all the categories the numbers are remarkably consistent (and because 80% don't need help, very low).
I added a couple of heading from the Other answers, driving and chores, as they seemed to be worthwhile. I do understand that some people may have overlapped answers/categories and those be covered elsewhere, but that is the problem with any survey/questions (whether verbal, written, web or any other), how do you phrase a question to ensure that all respondents understand exactly what is meant and answer in exactly the same way/terms/scale as everyone else.......
You Can't!