Rituximab

I am going to start Rituximab on Friday...I am nervious, what should I expect. How do you feel afterwards and during? I will be going in one day a week for 4 weeks.

Brenda:

Most people don't have any problems with Rituxan. A few might have a drop in blood pressure or difficulty breathing, but the nurses are very on top of things and monitor patients closely. If anything happens, they will slow down the drip and maybe give more Benedryl.

I slept through my treatments because of the pre-meds. I didn't have any reactions during any of them, and was fine for work the following day. Most people find them uneventful.

Sandi,
I don't understand how you say you had no reaction to Rituxan, when in other posts you said you got serum sickness and you feel it triggered your Lupus, which is far more serious than ITP? Aren''t those reactions that people should know about? I would be very upset to find this out after the fact. I realize many do not get this but what if you're one of the few who do?

April

April:

I bring that up occasionally, but do not feel the need to mention it every single time because I don't want to scare anyone. I seem to be the only person that has happened to (obvious predisposition). A few others have had serum sickness, but have not had the residual problems that I have and recovered just fine.

I said that I didn't have any reactions during the infusion and I didn't. That is when most rections occur, if they are going to happen at all. Serum sickness was a pretty delayed reaction (3 weeks after first infusion). I also said that 'most' people do just fine, and most do. There are the rare few that have odd reactions but the majority get through with no problems.

If I had been pre-warned about serum sickness, I probably would have gone through with it anyway, figuring that I wouldn't have a reaction like that. It's listed as a side effect on the drug's site, along with 1,000 other possiblities. The other ones are pretty rare too.

I had no problems with the ritux. I treated as a good time out with my feet up for a few hours that it was being transfused. At this time of year we take all the "feet up" time we can:)

My first treatment took about 12 hrs. I was told that the first treatment had to be introduced slowly to see how my body responds to it. The other three took from 6-8 hrs. Now on the first treatment of my second round I had a reaction. At first I thought I was just imagineing it and the feelings would subside but they did not go away. Heart rate increased, tightness in chest, dizzy, shortness of breath. Infussion was stopped and meds to counteract the reaction were given. About an hour later infussion was started at a slower rate, with no further reactions. I also slept through most of the infussions due to the pre-meds. You will be fine. Just relax and enjoy the pampering. I enjoyed the Cafeteria room service!!!
Let us know how it goes.

Thank you everyone !!! I will look forward to putting my feet up tomorrow and relaxing during this busy season. Will let you know how it goes.

Good luck! I took a book but never got past the page I was on.