Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is often used to treat pregnant women who are at risk of fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT). This therapy works by neutralizing the mother’s harmful antibodies to limit the damage done to the child’s platelet cells.
Your doctor will only decide to administer IVIG to you if it is medically warranted. As its name suggests, this treatment is administered intravenously. It is a slow process that typically takes hours to finish.
After this procedure, some patients may experience side effects that could include flu-like symptoms.
Common side effects of IVIG
Flu-like symptoms are commonly experienced within the first day or two following IVIG administration. The symptoms may make patients feel as if they have the flu: fever, body aches, fatigue, headache, sore throat and nausea.
There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Because IVIG interacts with your immune system, your body may respond in a way reminiscent of how it responds to outside infections, such as the flu. The symptoms that you experience are thus indicative that your immune system has been engaged, which is the point of IVIG administration.
Read more about FNAIT testing and diagnosis
There is, of course, the limited possibility that you may have coincidentally acquired the flu around the time of your IVIG appointment, so contact your doctor if symptoms worsen or if you want some reassurance. This is especially true if you have developed a persistently high fever or shortness of breath.
How to treat flu-like symptoms after IVIG
Because these flu-like symptoms tend to be harmless and self-resolve within days, the best thing you can do is to get some rest, ensure that you stay hydrated, and take it easy until your symptoms resolve. If you feel unable to work, speak to your employer about the recent medical procedure that you just had. Within a few days, all these symptoms should disappear.
If your flu-like symptoms are especially severe, doctors can take that into account if you need another IVIG infusion. For example, they may choose to slow down your infusion rate and see if that helps with your symptoms. Some doctors may choose to split your IVIG infusion across several days to see if your body responds better.
Remember that even if symptoms are severe, because IVIG is a specific treatment for a specific condition, it’s unlikely you will need to undergo this treatment long-term. IVIG alone or in combination with other therapies play a crucial role in preserving the health of your child.
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