Rituxan time for effect

Hi, I am a 35 y/o female diagnosed with ITP in August. I started prednisone 80 mg in September, responded well initially and then had a refractory response once I was weaned down to 40 mg. I started Rituxan treatments on Monday. Prior to then, I had been experiencing crippling fatigue since the onset of my symptoms in the middle of the summer. But the past two days, I feel like I have my old energy levels back. Is it possible that the Rituxan could be helping already or is that just wishful thinking?

TIA!

Melissa

Thats strange because Rituximab treatment (or probably the steriods that came with it) wiped my son out for the whole four weeks to the extent that he was falling asleep in school. I hope that your sudden burst of energy means good things for you though!

Melissa:

I don't know. How is your count? Rituxan isn't known to work quickly, usually takes 4 to 12 weeks. I felt great during Rituxan....the Solumedrol worked wonders to give me energy and no inflammation, so maybe it's that. My counts didn't go up until week 4.

My counts were in the 50s on Monday when I had the infusion. I'm on 60 mg of Prednisone. So far the Prednisone really hasn't had much affect on me as far as energy is concerned. I've been on it since early September. Usually when my counts are below 100 I get fatigued and can't keep up my normal pace at work. I thought I had read that Rituxan takes a while to work, so I was surprised when I felt pretty good on Tuesday and Wednesday. Guess I'll see where things are on Monday when I go in for my second round. Thanks!

Feeling great is a good sign that things are improving, at least that's how it is for me. I also doubt it's the Rituxan so fast - but maybe you've only got a short little episode of ITP and you are getting better on your own. I think lots of people have that and never catch the platelet drops. Maybe you had a virus and it took a while to get over it.
Erica