Rituximab Round Three

[Sangye]

I started my third round of rtx yesterday. (1st was Oct '09, 2nd was Mar '10). It went exactly the same as the others-- got extremely pale and weak within an hour, could barely stand the rest of the day due to extreme weakness.

I'm happy to say I still tolerated the rtx just fine, though. We pre-treat with benadryl and 100mg solumedrol (equiv 156mg oral pred) to prevent allergic reaction.

I don't feel bad today other than being very shaky. My rtx notes from prior treatments say I always felt much better the day after, but 2 days after the infusion things get awful for 4-6 weeks. At 6 weeks I had improved energy and decreased pain. I also saw that many of the Wegs symptoms (eg pain) worsened during those 6 weeks before getting better. I totally forgot all of that, other than I felt better after 6 wks. This is why it's important to keep notes!

Also, I had minimal sweats and swelling from the big hit of solumedrol because I took my usual 20mg lasix (diuretic) morning and night and an additional 10mg when I got home from the infusion. Really makes a difference.

I've been having such bad joint pain lately. The 100mg solumedrol didn't even touch it yesterday!

This round we're only doing 2 infusions, 14 days apart. In the past I've done weekly infusions for 4 wks.