Rituxan?

[757cutie]

Hello everyone, It's been so long since I've been on here after finding out I had Devic's I've kind of been M.I.A. but I do have a question. I know some of you may take rituxan. I had a doctors visit today and we are trying to determine if I should continue or take a break...I personally don't want to because I have taken a year off before and had 2 relapses so I'm kind of scared to take a break if that's what they end up deciding..So my question is if you are on rituxan how long have you been on it and have you had any bad side effects...
Oh and f.y.i. I started on it in 2011,had a break the year of 2012, and started back in 2013 and haven't had a break since or had any flares/relapses...Thanks Guys

[agnesbridget]

Rituxan

Hello everyone, It's been so long since I've been on here after finding out I had Devic's I've kind of been M.I.A. but I do have a question. I know some of you may take rituxan. I had a doctors visit today and we are trying to determine if I should continue or take a break...I personally don't want to because I have taken a year off before and had 2 relapses so I'm kind of scared to take a break if that's what they end up deciding..So my question is if you are on rituxan how long have you been on it and have you had any bad side effects...
Oh and f.y.i. I started on it in 2011,had a break the year of 2012, and started back in 2013 and haven't had a break since or had any flares/relapses...Thanks Guys

I have had 2 Rituxan infusions. My first was Nov. 2014 and my second was Feb. 2015. I am scheduled to have my 3rd infusion next week. I fortunately did not experience any side effects. My doctor said I will hopefully notice some improvement with my symptoms in 6-22 months after my first infusion.
How was your experience? Did the Rituxan help you?

[Grace53a]

I'm an NMO patient (formerly called Devic's Disease) and have been on Rituxan for eight years. I will be on it for the remainder of my life or until I fail on it, whichever comes first. Because I have relapsed at 0% and 0 absolute CD19 (Rituxan is Anti CD20+ and reinfusion is dictated by the CD19 percentage and absolute count) I am infused every three months regardless of count. While most patients are infused every six months, there are patients who are early repopulaters (very rapid cell recovery rate) who are infused more frequently. In the past I have gone from the desired values of 0% and 0 absolute CD19, to 22% and 364 absolute in roughly five and a half weeks.

I have many friends within the NMO community who have been on Rituxan for long periods of time with very good results. During my first two years I used Imuran (azathioprine) but still experienced three bad episodes of paralysis and three or four episodes of ON. I switched to Rituxan in 2007 and during that time have only had two mild relapses (both ON) which were quickly resolved with several days of IV SoluMedrol. Rituxan has been an excellent drug for me.