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My first Rituxan infusion

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 12:33 am
by AndreaEv
After waiting 6 months for approval, being on no meds during the wait, I am excited to start the Rituxan. However, I am anxious/nervous about the infusion. Will I be able to return to work the next day? Did anyone develop adverse side effects? I started on copaxone and did well for over a year. Then one night after an injection i quickly developed anyphylaxis (?) and had to go to the local er. not something i would like to experience again. I was moved to Tysabri and loved it! unfortunately I developed antibodies after about 18 months. now on to rituxan... any advice for a Rituxan novice?

Re: My first Rituxan infusion

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 7:01 am
by Anonymoose
Hi Andrea,
I think the worst response has been flu-like symptoms for a week after infusion. One person here did report ms symptom increase she attributed to rituxan. Some people have done it with no ill effect. I hope we fall into that group!

From what I have read on treatment of ptld with rituxan, it seems to usually be quite well tolerated. It seems the same for most in the ms-rituxan trial results I have read. I think we've got a good chance of being okay. :)

Best of luck with your first infusion! Please do share how it goes for you. I hope it works!

Re: My first Rituxan infusion

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:30 pm
by AndreaEv
Thanks for the response! I know I will be intrusted hands...just get a little nervous when I think about it. Perhaps it is the idea that it is a "cancer" drug.

Re: My first Rituxan infusion

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 2:06 am
by webby42
i just started rituxan today.

as a bit of history of my "adventure" with ms:

i have rrms, diagnosed may of this year, 2013. i have most of the common symptoms, :

Fatigue
Numbness
Walking (Gait), Balance, & Coordination Problems
Bladder Dysfunction
Bowel Dysfunction
Vision Problems
Sexual Dysfunction
Pain
Cognitive Dysfunction
Emotional Changes
Spasticity

and most of my symptoms have not totally gone into remission, but i have had minor temporary improvements with some.

i was on avonex since my dx and had minor flu symptoms for the first 3 weeks then tha side effects all went away. unfortunately the avonex wasnt doing as well as expected, i had new lesions though there was some improvement in older lesions so my dr changed it to the rituxan.

i am positive for the JC virus antibody so i will need frequent blood tests and MRIs to keep an eye on it.

something i find funny is a lot of the MS medication side affects are also MS symptoms so i dont know how you can really tell if the meds are the problem, though, new side affect symptoms would be suspect.

the only reaction i had during the infusion was slight rash on my arms and back. the nurse slowed the flow for about 30 minutes then increased it slowly, 50 cc's per half hour and i didnt have any further problems.
i was given tylenol and benedryl (oral) and a pregnazone infusion prior to infusion, then another antihystemin, (i dont recall the name of that one), after the rash started.

infusion completed about 9 hours ago and i got a severe headache about an hour ago and advil took care of that.

I am hoping the rituxan works as i wasted quite a long time on the avonex and infusions every 6 months or so is much better than weekly injections.

i hope everyone is doing well with their tratments!

thank you for you time

Re: My first Rituxan infusion

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:52 pm
by Anonymoose
Thanks for sharing webby. :) I hope it does good things for you. Keep us posted!

Re: My first Rituxan infusion

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:14 pm
by LR1234
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Re: My first Rituxan infusion

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 7:51 pm
by xpsychiatricmd
Hello to all,
I wish I had good news. Went for my first infusion but was told that my insurance, ( AETNA ) would not authorize Rituxan as it is not approved as a treatment for MS by the FDA. So I need to wait or choose another treatment. As a patient with SPMS, I have few choices or none at all.