Delayed reaction to Rituxan

D.Mann wrote: Coming back down to earth a little. Had a CBC on the 15th. The count was at 74, still good I guess but was sure hoping that the 190 (Feb 1) was not all IVIG. I guess it was at least mostly IVIG. Next count in 2 weeks, hopefully I can keep it above 50.
Rituxin last 4 weeks of December counts in the teens and twenties.
January 18-20 hospitalized count of 3 with active bleeding (antibiotic and flu induced). 2 doses of IVIG
Feb 1 count 190
Feb 15 count 74

March 1 count....128!!!!!

Doc thinks Rituxan is working now. Cutting the prednisone from 10 to 5.

YAY! Whatever it is, it's a step in the right direction!

Glad to hear your news! The best advice I received from this group was to taper slowly from Prednisone. Once I tapered down to 10, my doc suggested 2.5 weekly increments. I decided to do 1.25. No ill effects. I felt some very mild joint pain when I went from 20 to 15.

Oh my 128. That's up 54 from 2 weeks ago. Almost doubled the count! Headed straight for remission dude. LOL, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to remission.

Congrats D.Mann

Congratulations on the great count! It looks like Rituxan is doing good things for you. I hope you can continue in the right direction as you taper off of the prednisone. Keep us posted!

Good for you! Just wanted to add to what Barb said about slow prednisone taper. Going from 10mg to 5mg is a fairly big jump- but a lot depends on how long you've been on pred. The longer you've been on it, the longer it takes to get the adrenals back up to speed. I was on it for over a year so the taper had to be very slow. I didn't know if I could get my adrenals back to fully functioning but thankfully they came back.

The effects of tapering too fast (adrenal insufficiency) for me have been: body aches, joint pain, fluish feeling, shakey weakness, tired- sleepy, tired- muscle fatigue, and depression.

The solution is to slow down the taper and to get lots of sleep. good luck for a long remission!