Beag:
It's a very hard call to make. I don't know what to tell you.
The problem is that maybe, just maybe, Prednisone will keep your counts up for quite some time. You don't know what might happen. I had three treatment free years once because of Prednisone. I thought my counts would drop for sure because that's what they did in the past, but they didn't. If I'd had Rituxan too at that time on the assumption that they might drop, I would have had it for nothing and probably would have given Rituxan the credit for the remission.
There are doctors who believe in Rituxan maintenance doses and I can't for the life of me understand why. They give a treatment every three months to keep counts up, but why? On the chance the counts will drop? What if they would have stayed up without it and that person gets four treatments a year for three years? That totals twelve unnecessary Rituxan treatments.
I think people just get freaked out at the thought of low counts, but if that happens, you treat to get them back up. Whether you treat to get them up or treat to keep them from dropping, you're still treating. These drugs cause damage over time. I'm a living example of that. I've had more problems from treatments than I ever did from bruises or petechiae. Brain bleeds happen, yes. But they are rare and most people do not experience them. There are just as many people having strokes (clotting) because of counts that get too high or go up too fast. About 40% of people with ITP also have blood clotting disorders that they aren't aware of, and low counts can be the body's defense against that (whole other discussion).
You have the right to stop Rituxan, but I don't know if that is the best decision at this point either. But no, it is not common to use Rituxan with a count as high as yours.
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