Prednisone & Rituxan

I just wanted to comment on how helpful it is reading about how others have dealt with thier ITP treatments. I am a 60 year old male and have been on the rolly coster ride since February 2010 when in the ER they told me the CBC came back and my platelets were below 10K. Since then my hemotologist was treating with prednisone starting with 50mg which helped bring them above 50K. Eventually my platlets raised high enough that I was taking 2 to 5 mg and was keeping very good numbers. In May of this year I went in for a routine CBC and they called me at home to tell me that they fell into the low 20k range and I was to increase my dosage of prednizone to 10mg every day. To make a long story short they never went over 20K again. In September I made a request to see another Hemotologist in Pittsburgh, their advice was to have a Spleenectomy, that was option #1. Option # 2 was the Rituxan treatments, I obviouly went for the Rituxan treatments and will have my 4th treatment this Monday. As for now other than the 50mg prendizone they have me on the numbers have been in the 40K range. So I will patiently wait for the Rituxan to work and hope and pray that I can get off of the prednizone before I completly annoy everyone I work with and my wife, I do not handle this drug well at all.

Once again I want to THANK everyone on this site that have shared their treatments of success and failures, it so nice being able to relate to some of the common problems we all are facing from this condition.

Doug

Good luck, Doug. I hope Rituxan works for you!

Good Luck Doug!!!

Hope all is well, Doug. Any updates?

Hello everyone!

I have just came from the Doctor now two weeks post of my last Rituxan treatment, and after about five months since my last platelet crash in May, I finally received some good news, my platelets have risen to 93K. My doctor said I can now reduce the prednisone dosage by 10mg every 10 days until my next lab. If my count continues to stay up, then he said the Rituxan is working. I know from reading about everyone's treatments here at the PDSA discussion group I remain cautiously optimistic but continue to remain positive as long as possible!

As always , thanks for everyone's support!

Doug

Doug glad to hear that your platelets are doing well with the rituxan treatments. It has been over 4 years since I had rituxan and my platelets are still up.

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I so nice to hear from someone that has had good results from the Rituxan treatments.

I' ll continue the updates.

Doug

Hi Doug,
I had a 4 1/2 year remission the first time I had Rituxan. A year ago I had another round and have been in remission since. My platelets are in the 300 range now but it took at least 8 weeks after the Rituxan to come up and they did go up and down for a while too.

good luck!

Dru

Hi Doug, and Dru,

Dru I have been wondering about you! Glad to see you are doing well!

Dru and I have been mirroring each other. We both had Rituxan in Oct of 2006. We both had a 4.5 year remission. We both did Rituxan again a year ago, and we both are in remission for the second time, for one year and counting...

Yep, my next hemo appointment is in April.

Hope you have good success, Doug!

Glad to hear that the Rituxan is working for you. My daughter was on Prednisone for her ITP and all I can say is that the side effects made PMS look like a walk in the park.. :dry:

Dru,

Again , thanks for the encouragement and sharing your results. I've had so many different opinions from Doctors and recommedations to have my spleen removed it gets confusing. Also being on Prednisone doesn't help the brain make the correct decisons, it is a nasty drug, my wife's doctor called another form of poison.

Hope everything continues to be well with you too!

Doug

Thanks for writing, you are so right about the Prednisone, I told Dru that my wife's doctor told her it was just another form of poison induced into our body, he along with other doctors would rather I had my spleen out instead of the drug treatments.

Thanks,

Doug

I do agree about the Prednisone Doug , but I have to admit that I am completly against spleen removal. It has been brought up as a course of treatment for my daughter , but to me the long term success rate just isnt high enough to do something so drastic to her body. I will continue to check here for updates from you and wish you the best.

Sandra

There are so many new articles about the problems that splenectomy can cause. Before making that decision, please do your research and be informed.

Sandra,

I agree with your opinion about the removal of the spleen, especially as young as your daughter is. I just don't understand why the doctors are recommeding this procedure without data showing it is the best treatment for ITP. I've not read anything that supports splenectomy is the best treatment for ITP. On this site alone I've read of more success ( remissions at any length) stories using Rituxan than anthing else.

Again, thanks for sharing!

Doug

Studies show that rituxan works for something less than 50% of people while splenectomy works for about 65%. So there is some reason for doctors to support its use. There's an awful lot that they don't consider but the basic stats are the reason why they recommend it.

I refused both splenectomy and rituxan.

Sandi,

Thanks Sandi, I totally agree! I'm still confident that the Rituxan will have did its job by my next Hemo vist on the 26th of this month I'll continue to research my options, great advice!

You know that all of the people that are living with ITP and going though the various treatments seem to have more knowledge of how these treatments affect each individual and its been very helpful.

Doug

There are alot of people who have successful splenectomies for ITP. They don't tend to hang around the website. I had a splenectomy in June 2000 for a different blood disorder, hemolytic anemia. I have been in remission from the hemolytic anemia since the splenectomy and I definitely made the right decision in that case. But, I developed ITP in 2005. I have not had any problems from the splenectomy so far. I get sick about the same amount as other people who work in my school (children age 3-8 so there are tons of germs around), I always get a flu vaccine and got 3 other vaccines before the splenectomy. I am careful about my health in general, probably more careful than most people.