New To The Group

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I'm not taking Xolair as of yet, however, my allergist is pushing me

to try it. I've been researching and found this group. I've read

many of your comments and appreciate the information available here.

I had allergies as a child and have had, over my 61 years of life,

three different series of antigens. I only finished one of them and

it was the first I had as a child. In 1994 I was officially diagnosed

with asthma and they recommended I discontinue the antigens believing

that they would make matters worse.

I was recently retested for allergies since we have moved from WY to

OK (yes I know it's almost the allergy capitol of the world and yes I

can't believe we moved here either!!). Anyway, I reacted to most of

the things except mold. Nothing new there.

The truth is, however, that I haven't had many overt allergy symptoms

here in OK. I rarely sneeze, or have watery eyes or any of the

typical symptoms. The times I am most sick are from about NOV to

MARCH and it was the same in WY. I get sick with asthma after I've

been exposed to some bug or virus. Usually I go on a course of oral

Prednisone and sometimes antibiotics, however I can't take most of

them because of allergy to them or intolerance. Then I'll be back on

my maintenance drugs (Symbicort, Singulair, Allegra, Flonase)and prior

to this past year I didn't take many of these except Symbicort.

This past year, however, things didn't go that way and I've been on

oral prednisone a LOT. I'd get over one infection only to have

another one. Also last May I had complete sinus surgery and four

weeks after that they found pseudomonas in my sinuses and it was still

there in August when it was last cultured. They tried Quinolones and

Zithromax. They tried inhaled antobiotics. For the asthma I was on a

nebulizer for the first time (Xopenex). They change inhalers from

Serevent/Pulmicort to Symbicort. Nothing was working very well.

Finally this spring my pulmonoligist started me on Zyflo CR and that

was a wonder drug. Only problem is that it can cause liver enzymes to

rise and mine did from 19-47 in 24 days. So I came off of that. Now,

I am staring Xolair in the face.......

Other problems: BP out of control - taking Cozaar;

Weight on the rise and seemingly out of control especially in the past

three months when they doubled my inhaler dosage;

Hypothyroid - Synthroid for this (been on it since late 20's)

GERD - Prevacid

Osteoporosis - Not taking any drug for this yet...they tired and I

refused for now.

In reading some of your messages, I find that many of you are much

sicker than I am.....or at least you have been. I question if my

physicians have completely looked at all of the possibilities besides

this drug. Have any of you had 2nd generation macrolide antibiotics

or 2nd generation Quinolones or Doxycycline therapy that is given over

an extended period of time? Have any of you had antibody deficiency?

Have you had adrenal dysfunction and treatment for that? These are

all areas I think should be explored before I put this drug in my

body. I am very leery of Xolair and this is why:

This drug is a recombinant DNA-derived humanized IgG1k monoclonal

antibody. Monoclonal antibodies are typically made by fusing the

spleen cells from a mouse that has been immunized with the desired

antigen with myeloma cells. However, recent advances have allowed the

use of rabbit B-cells. Hybridoma are cells that have been engineered

to produce a desired antibody in large amounts. To produce monoclonal

antibodies, B-cells are removed from the spleen of an animal that has

been challenged with the relevant antigen. These B-cells are then

fused with myeloma tumor cells that can grow indefinitely in culture

(myeloma is a B-cell cancer). This fusion is performed by making the

cell membranes more permeable. The fused hybrid cells (called

hybridomas), being cancer cells, will multiply rapidly and

indefinitely and will produce large amounts of the desired antibodies.

Being in the medical field all of my life, I've seen a change in how

drugs are tested and approved. They have been accelerating that

process and all you have to do is look at all of the drugs recently

recalled to realize that. I have become exceedingly leery of BIG

PHARMA. In regard to Xolair, it isn't completely known what IgE does

and by eliminating it or reducing it, I could be putting myself at

risk down the road. Besides that, there is a lack of sufficient

information on the long-term effectiveness and side effects for it.

Sooooooooo, I'm open to your comments or anything that will help me

walk through this process. I know Prednisone is slowly taking my life

away and I need to eliminate it...or at least reduce it as much as

possible. I also realize that I am heading down a hole here if

something isn't done. I'd also be open to hear if any of you have

tried homeopathic treatments and if there are any that truly work.

Feeling helpless and in OK,

RIV