Re: Need to know more in IVIG

[Guest guest]

You first have to have a phone consult with Dr. Gupta. It costs $500 but it goes to an endowment fund for research, not to him. For us, his office visit was covered by my insurance. My son had high numbers. From what I understand IVIG is only covered for deficiency in 2 more areas and is not covered for high numbers. I could be wrong though.

IVIG for my son who weighed 48 lbs at the time of his first IVIG at Dr. Gupta's was $2700. We do them at home now and we are charged $2280 for those. It all depends on how much your child weighs and what dosage is prescribed. I think the going rate for the IG itself is between $100 and $150 a gram. My son gets 15 grams, then there are nursing fees, fee for the pump, saline and supplies and if its done at a center some places charge a fee for use of the space at the center.

Kerrie

My DAN Doctor said me today to go to Dr. Gupta for IVIG for my 3.5 years PDD NOS son. IGG and IGA level of my son is 1208 and 256, which is way beyond the normal level. Normally kids on spectrum are having low IGG, IGM and IGA, but in our case it's reverse. I am just wondering, is there anyone who have sucess on IVIG for high IGG and IGA ? How much Dr. Gupta charges for the visits ? will it be covered in insurance ? I have CIGNA with open access. How much the IVIG treatment will cost ? I appreciate any advise or feedback on this.

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[Guest guest]

I don't know if IVIG would help with IgE, I just did a quick search and it looks like they say IVIG inhibits production of IgE. That was quick glancing at search results.

I do know that Dr. Gupta is huge in the world of immunology. He has done and continues to do extensive research in the field. He is also very autism and DAN friendly. If you ever decided to consult an immunologist and consider IVIG I would highly recommend him. Someone did just recently post on one of the lists about a guy in Boston. Not sure how DAN/autism friendly he is. I'll see if I can find it but I'm not sure if I read that on this computer or mine (mine got zapped by lightening Sunday) and the settings on this computer delete all read email for some reason.

Kerrie

i have a question on this one, I have a PANDAS kid and we had a really yucky immune panel before LDN, but now we have the Ige levels of a 6 month old....is this something IGIV adn dr Gupta would help??

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[Guest guest]

The office is on the UCI campus and they took our insurance. The IVIG was not covered because my son doesn't have one of the diagnoses that it's covered for, not because it was high. We are doing a 6 month trial of IVIG to see how he responds. If he does well we were told to expect to do it for 2 years, so 24 IVIGs.

Kerrie

Thanks for the response. If I get you correctly, you said that his office visit is covered in insurance and not the IVIG cost, as it was high, rgt ? One has to four IVIG ? or more ? it's too much money though.........

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[Guest guest]

Our DAN in NJ specifically sent us to Dr. Gupta because he said that Dr. Gupta gave us best odds of getting coverage. Dr. Gupta does tons of blood work looking for any way to be able to write a letter of medical necessity for IVIG. In our case there was no immune related reason to do IVIG and PANDAS is not a covered diagnosis. I know people who have had to submit copies of test results and if a Dr falsely writes a letter of necessity,then the tests are requested and can't back it up, that's insurance fraud. Dr. Gupta is well respected in the world of immunology and from what I've been told he's one of the best in the country if not the world. I'm sure he more than knows the ways to get it covered. I doubt he'd be willing to risk his license and reputation just so we don't have to pay for IVIG. It's not easy to get covered. I've talked to parents on a board with kids who actually have PID or SCID who have had to fight for payment or for continued treatments.

Basically you either have to have primary immune deficiency, combined immune deficiency, pediatric HIV Cases, certain forms of leukemia, CIDP, be an organ transplant recipient and a few other rare disorders.

Kerrie

IVIG is covered by health insurance for specific reasons...which onesI'm not exactly sure. I do not know about Dr. Gupta, but if he is animmunologist I would imagine he knows the ways to get health insuranceto pay for it. I expect our health insurance to cover it if/when webegin but have not had it guaranteed.I would suggest finding the docs who know how to get it paid for.

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[Guest guest]

i have a question on this one, I have a PANDAS kid and we had a really yucky immune panel before LDN, but now we have the Ige levels of a 6 month old....is this something IGIV adn dr Gupta would help??

Recovering from Autism is a marathonNOT a sprint, but FULLY possible!Read more about it on my BLOGs athttp://www.myspace.com/christelkinghttp://foggyrock.com/MyPage/recoveringwishes

Re: Need to know more in IVIG

You first have to have a phone consult with Dr. Gupta. It costs $500 but it goes to an endowment fund for research, not to him. For us, his office visit was covered by my insurance. My son had high numbers. From what I understand IVIG is only covered for deficiency in 2 more areas and is not covered for high numbers. I could be wrong though.

IVIG for my son who weighed 48 lbs at the time of his first IVIG at Dr. Gupta's was $2700. We do them at home now and we are charged $2280 for those. It all depends on how much your child weighs and what dosage is prescribed. I think the going rate for the IG itself is between $100 and $150 a gram. My son gets 15 grams, then there are nursing fees, fee for the pump, saline and supplies and if its done at a center some places charge a fee for use of the space at the center.

Kerrie

In a message dated 7/31/2008 6:34:52 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, pramod.samal writes:

My DAN Doctor said me today to go to Dr. Gupta for IVIG for my 3.5 years PDD NOS son. IGG and IGA level of my son is 1208 and 256, which is way beyond the normal level. Normally kids on spectrum are having low IGG, IGM and IGA, but in our case it's reverse. I am just wondering, is there anyone who have sucess on IVIG for high IGG and IGA ? How much Dr. Gupta charges for the visits ? will it be covered in insurance ? I have CIGNA with open access. How much the IVIG treatment will cost ? I appreciate any advise or feedback on this.

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[Guest guest]

we have an immunologist DAN and we had talked about IVIG with PANDAS with Dr Buie at one point and we just got our Total IGE back just to see how things are going and I will have to talk about it further with our DAN I was just courious

Recovering from Autism is a marathonNOT a sprint, but FULLY possible!Read more about it on my BLOGs athttp://www.myspace.com/christelkinghttp://foggyrock.com/MyPage/recoveringwishes

Re: Need to know more in IVIG

I don't know if IVIG would help with IgE, I just did a quick search and it looks like they say IVIG inhibits production of IgE. That was quick glancing at search results.

I do know that Dr. Gupta is huge in the world of immunology. He has done and continues to do extensive research in the field. He is also very autism and DAN friendly. If you ever decided to consult an immunologist and consider IVIG I would highly recommend him. Someone did just recently post on one of the lists about a guy in Boston. Not sure how DAN/autism friendly he is. I'll see if I can find it but I'm not sure if I read that on this computer or mine (mine got zapped by lightening Sunday) and the settings on this computer delete all read email for some reason.

Kerrie

In a message dated 7/31/2008 6:45:38 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, christel76together (DOT) net writes:

i have a question on this one, I have a PANDAS kid and we had a really yucky immune panel before LDN, but now we have the Ige levels of a 6 month old....is this something IGIV adn dr Gupta would help??

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[Guest guest]

looks like it talks about T cells alot and a few of the others that were off BEFORE LDN that are better now, and focuses on IGG and subclasses. we didn't retest that but may now i that i see one facet of the immune system is off again

Recovering from Autism is a marathonNOT a sprint, but FULLY possible!Read more about it on my BLOGs athttp://www.myspace.com/christelkinghttp://foggyrock.com/MyPage/recoveringwishes

Re: Need to know more in IVIG

I don't know if IVIG would help with IgE, I just did a quick search and it looks like they say IVIG inhibits production of IgE. That was quick glancing at search results.

I do know that Dr. Gupta is huge in the world of immunology. He has done and continues to do extensive research in the field. He is also very autism and DAN friendly. If you ever decided to consult an immunologist and consider IVIG I would highly recommend him. Someone did just recently post on one of the lists about a guy in Boston. Not sure how DAN/autism friendly he is. I'll see if I can find it but I'm not sure if I read that on this computer or mine (mine got zapped by lightening Sunday) and the settings on this computer delete all read email for some reason.

Kerrie

In a message dated 7/31/2008 6:45:38 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, christel76together (DOT) net writes:

i have a question on this one, I have a PANDAS kid and we had a really yucky immune panel before LDN, but now we have the Ige levels of a 6 month old....is this something IGIV adn dr Gupta would help??

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No virus found in this incoming message.

Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.10/1584 - Release Date: 7/31/2008 12:00 PM

[Guest guest]

Hi Kerrie,

Thanks for the response. If I get you correctly, you said that his

office visit is covered in insurance and not the IVIG cost, as it was

high, rgt ? One has to four IVIG ? or more ? it's too much money

though.........

>

>

> You first have to have a phone consult with Dr. Gupta. It costs

$500 but it

> goes to an endowment fund for research, not to him. For us, his

office visit

> was covered by my insurance. My son had high numbers. From what I

> understand IVIG is only covered for deficiency in 2 more areas and

is not covered for

> high numbers. I could be wrong though.

>

> IVIG for my son who weighed 48 lbs at the time of his first IVIG at

Dr.

> Gupta's was $2700. We do them at home now and we are charged $2280

for those. It

> all depends on how much your child weighs and what dosage is

prescribed. I

> think the going rate for the IG itself is between $100 and $150 a

gram. My son

> gets 15 grams, then there are nursing fees, fee for the pump,

saline and

> supplies and if its done at a center some places charge a fee for

use of the

> space at the center.

>

> Kerrie

>

> In a message dated 7/31/2008 6:34:52 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,

> pramod.samal@... writes:

>

>

> My DAN Doctor said me today to go to Dr. Gupta for IVIG for my 3.5

> years PDD NOS son. IGG and IGA level of my son is 1208 and 256,

which

> is way beyond the normal level. Normally kids on spectrum are

having

> low IGG, IGM and IGA, but in our case it's reverse. I am just

> wondering, is there anyone who have sucess on IVIG for high IGG

and

> IGA ? How much Dr. Gupta charges for the visits ? will it be

covered in

> insurance ? I have CIGNA with open access. How much the IVIG

treatment

> will cost ? I appreciate any advise or feedback on this.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up

for

> FanHouse Fantasy Football today.

> (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020)

>

[Guest guest]

IVIG is covered by health insurance for specific reasons...which ones

I'm not exactly sure. I do not know about Dr. Gupta, but if he is an

immunologist I would imagine he knows the ways to get health insurance

to pay for it. I expect our health insurance to cover it if/when we

begin but have not had it guaranteed.

I would suggest finding the docs who know how to get it paid for.

HTH,

Debi

[Guest guest]

If I could erase the year my son spent with Dr. Gupta, I would skip Dr.

Gupta and go to Dr. Isaac Melamed in Centennial, Colorado. We had a

totally unimpressive experience with Dr. Gupta. We did not know that we

had a choice in the matter.

And, it turns out that Dr. Melamed did a much more comprehensive

evaluation of my son. His nurse is wonderful. You can do the

blood tests from your home state. And, Dr. Melamed has published a

paper in Clinical Immunology in 2006 about IVIG and autism.

Dr. Melamed takes Aetna (and probably others) for the consults in his

office. If there is medical necessity, they submit to insurance. Dr.

Melamed's treatment is comprehensive and involves allergy medications

for food allergies, supplements and other meds.

How bad did it get. . . my son has a t-cell disorder that is NOT HIV

related . . and gets similar infectious bugs like those HIV kids like

cryptosporidium. It took a doctor as fine, intelligent and wonderful

as Dr. Melamed to catch it.

We are ecstatically happy with Dr. Melamed. If your kid flatlines on

IVIG, your child is still having infections while on IVIG, or you are

also unimpressed with your current IVIG doctor/manager, you would be

best served to call Dr. Melamed.

H

>

> Hi All,

>

> My DAN Doctor said me today to go to Dr. Gupta for IVIG for my 3.5

> years PDD NOS son. IGG and IGA level of my son is 1208 and 256, which

> is way beyond the normal level. Normally kids on spectrum are having

> low IGG, IGM and IGA, but in our case it's reverse. I am just

> wondering, is there anyone who have sucess on IVIG for high IGG and

> IGA ? How much Dr. Gupta charges for the visits ? will it be covered

in

> insurance ? I have CIGNA with open access. How much the IVIG

treatment

> will cost ? I appreciate any advise or feedback on this.

>

> Thanks and have a great day !!!!!

>

[Guest guest]

> >

> > Hi All,

> >

> > My DAN Doctor said me today to go to Dr. Gupta for IVIG for my

3.5

> > years PDD NOS son. IGG and IGA level of my son is 1208 and 256,

which

> > is way beyond the normal level. Normally kids on spectrum are

having

> > low IGG, IGM and IGA, but in our case it's reverse. I am just

> > wondering, is there anyone who have sucess on IVIG for high IGG

and

> > IGA ? How much Dr. Gupta charges for the visits ? will it be

covered

> in

> > insurance ? I have CIGNA with open access. How much the IVIG

> treatment

> > will cost ? I appreciate any advise or feedback on this.

> >

> > Thanks and have a great day !!!!!

> >

>