Guest guest Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 My husband had a reaction that caused him to shake uncontrollably it almost looked like he was having a seizure but it wasn't. I think they referred to it as planking? He has to have it infused slowly to avoid that happening again. It happened on his first treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 My husband also had shaking from his first infusion, but not as extreme. It only lasted a few minutes after they slowed the rate. They called it rigor, pronounced with a long i. He gets light-headed and tired from the benadryl they give him before the infusion, usually sleeping through a lot of it, and is a little woozy afterwards. Judy C. Beth wrote: > My husband had a reaction that caused him to shake > uncontrollably it almost looked like he was having a seizure > but it wasn't. I think they referred to it as planking? He > has to have it infused slowly to avoid that happening again. > It happened on his first treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 Good website to examine possible reactions: http://www.chemocare.com/managing/allergic_reactions_and_chemotherapy.asp I believe it is called Plancking after Max Planck and somewhat different than rigor. You can find videos of both with web search. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 Hi Mel There are many conditions related to having a suppressed immune system. Most are related to what rituxan does rather than rituxan itself. However all reactions must be watched very closely by your doctor. Shingles is common as are new or reactivated viral infections included cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, parvovirus, varicella zoster virus, West Nile virus, and hepatitis B and C Also in general night sweats, rash, pruritus, urticaria The FDA lists them all here.. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2010/103705s5311lbl.pdf More info for the patient.. http://www.drugs.com/rituxan.html ~chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 I believe infusion reactions to Rituxan are euphemistically called 'Shake and Bake'... ~chris Mel wrote: > Has anyone had or have knowledge of dermatological > or other adverse reactions to Rituxan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 My husband, , experienced remarkable chills, sudden increase in BP & temperature, and bright red rash from the top of his bald head to the upper part of his chest. Most frightening was his difficulty breathing, a feeling that his throat closing, resulting in a decrease in his O2 level. All this occurred within the first 40 minutes of the infusion, still at 50ml/hr. Mel, please remember that this severe a reaction is not usual by any means. Still, Rituxan should be respected. Warm wishes, Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 I too had a reaction to Rituxan. When I was given Rituxan in 2003/04 I did not have reaction. However, in 2007/08, my second round of treatment, I had very bad allergic like itching. Sometimes to the point of wanting to go outside into the snow and lie in it hoping it would relieve the itching. They pretreated with Benadryl, steroids and something like a Tagamet drug, cannot recall name. They had to give me Benadryl every 2 hours, to help with the itch. Sometimes I could go that long and sometimes I was already itching by that time. They also slowed the drip to very slow and long time to deliver. My oncologist wanted me to keep doing the Rituxan anyway, as long as I could stand the discomfort. Happy to say that it worked and still in remission. I did FCR the second time. First time, FR. Hope this helps. Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 It's my understanding that Rituxan, being mouse-based rather than human-based, brings on an allergic infusion reaction, at least initially, quite commonly. I had an initial reaction, too, including the closing throat, but the nurses were on point. They had warned me on the very first day of treatment about the possibility, so I let them know immediately when it started and was given medication, infusion was slowed, and I had no more problems on any following infusions. Karni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Tom never had the " shake and bake " with Rituximab but he did develop an allergy that consisted of a dry cough that started upon infusion and lasted for the following week. After that, Rituximab quit working on him. Every infusion his cough would last longer and cause more problems. Really interesting because it always started within 30 minutes of the start of infusion. He also always had benedryll infused. JLOU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 28, 2011 Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 I had severe chills until during the first injection. Once they added a steroid to the IV they went away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 28, 2011 Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 I have failed both RF concurrent and HD-R (High Dose Rituxan monotherapy) due to life threatening reactions. My HD-R therapy in March of this year put me in a wheelchair for only a day but sent me into a reaction that was characterized by hypotension (very low blood pressure) rapid platelet drop severe pain in my feet and jaw. The bad reactions to both treatment protocols that included renal failure due to ATN (Acute Tubular Necrosis) are not completely understood by my doctors, making me an outlier in the very heterogeneous world of CLL. My Immunologist has told me " Wayne you don't want to be this interesting " , My NY oncologist has said " You are a mystery " My Nephrologist is " Puzzled " and Dr. Byrd continues to ponder but has offered a possible nod toward sub-clinical vasculitis and Complement dysregulation to explain the kidney issue and R-reaction. In my ongoing search for cause, with the hope of leading to an optimal TX for my CLL that won't further the damage to my kidneys, I came across a discussion on " Renal Fellows Network " (a teaching blog for kidney docs) that is a great source of credible information that may help the unfortunate few of us that have a difficult kidney problems as a result of the CLL and or connected to the drugs in our treatment. In a discussion of systemic vasculitis the blogger states " Another potential complication arises from the fact that rituximab is an IgG1kappa chimeric antibody as it appears to bind to the IgM paraprotein in some cases leading to the deposition of more immune complexes and worsening of the vasculitis. This complication is seen particularly in those treated with high dose rituximab (1g) and suggests that lower dose therapy (375mg/m2) may be more appropriate. " For those wanting more depth on a variety of kidney issues and the full text of the Vasculitis blog - click on the following link: http://renalfellow.blogspot.com/search/label/vasculitis From a renal TX perspective, Rituximab is used to treat many conditions such as ANCA-associated vasculitis, transplant glomerulopathy, lupus nephritis and membranous nephropathy. The rock and a hard place arises for us CLLers when it is suspected that Rituximab TX can be implicated in Complement dysregulation which could cause renal problems. It should be noted here that I had a slowly progressing kidney impairment from CLL prior to any TX but the treatments amplified the existing impairment to near fatal proportions. Uric acid was slightly elevated after cycle 2 of RF but was brought down by increased Allopurinol so as to eliminate TLS (Tumor Lysis Syndrome) as the usual culprit in kidney failure during CLL TX. A side consideration: Patients may be hyper-reactive to the mouse protein component of Rituximab that can trigger a more serious reaction than the common Shake-n-Bake with is usually transient and controllable through meds and by slowing the drip. The logic might be - Why not then, use Ofatumumab since it is a fully humanized mAb (monoclonal antibody) and does not contain any mouse protein? I explored this option on the suggestion of my NY Onc. but when I ran it by Dr. Byrd he explained that the reaction to mouse protein, if found, would not rule out a similar hyper- reaction from Ofatumumab due to the similarity of the use of Complement as a cell killing mechanism by both mAbs (Rituximab & Ofatumumab). Complement is a complex of 25 molecular protein and protein fragments that comprise an arm of our innate immune system. The Complement proteins can be damaging to our normal healthy tissue and must be regulated by inhibitor proteins. There is evidence that when Complement becomes dysregulated either by cancer or treatment, auto immune disease or reactions, such as what I experienced, will be the result. Two helpful links to gain more insight on the role of Complement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complement_system http://tinyurl.com/4xycjr4 WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 A while back, I came across a medical paper that said to infuse complement before rituxan, as complement is depleted from rituxan. Can't remember the source, but may be from the onc in Virginia who has papers on very low-dose fcr. Could be worth exploring. Sorry to read about your complications, hope you improve soon. Ellen Wayne Wells wrote: /message/15861 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 I had a severe reaction to rituxan. Within 2 mins of getting a very small amount, my heart stopped. I found out that I was allergic to something for the first time in my life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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