Rituxan side effects

[Guest guest]

Hello Kris and any others I may have missed out in keeping

track of all your very kind replies! (sorry).

Some of you were interested in my professional experience of

rituximab as a doc, now retired in the Haematology Oncology field.

As I said before it has been a generally very positive one for

treating some lymphomas in addition to the standard chemo. The side

effect profile I have seen reflects very much your postings, with

usually mild to moderate and often fairly immmediate

hypersensitivity reactions. Piriton (antihistamine and Hydrocortisone

are given iv prior to reduce this and the initial infusions proceed

very slowly as a precaution so it is like receiving a test dose in

the early stages . The reaction is commonest in the first or

sometimes second infusion. Then it probably represents a meeting of

the drug and its targetted B cells in the tissues! This can be

particularly a problem in large lymphomas of lung for example. In

those cases the ritximab is usually not given with the first chemo

cycle because the triggered response would be overwhelming.

Of course this is a completely different setting from use in

arthritis, and I do want to emphasise this.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Yes, I'd say it is, altho I only rarely hear the pounding "in my ear", so to speak & that's when I'm sitting. But the slightly elevated resting heeart rate is definitely the same. I also have mitral valve prolapse, so my irreg beats could be from that getting aggavated somehow from the Rituxan. Hope it passes quickly for you, but since R hangs around in our bodies for so long, we may just have to get used to it.

Thanks so much for writing,

Marcia

Rituxan side effects

Has anyone had any unusual side effects after Rituxan monotherapy? I completed my 4 weeks of Rituxan for AIHA about 5 weeks ago. Between treatments 1 & 2, I started experiencing a faster heart rate with asymptomatic irreg beats; it's not super fast, but my resting heart rate went from a normal of 66-68 to 76-80. Also, I've been having alot of flushing, what women of a certain age would recognize as "warm flushes", as opposed to hot flashes. I'm still having these two, but one thing that resolved was the runny nose, that lasted about three weeks. Another mild, and questionable, side effect is that I occasionally have the urge to take a very deep beath, as if I'm not getting enough oxygen, not related to the irreg heartbeat. All these symptoms are listed as "uncommon" in my drug book. I'm curious if anyone else has had these, or am I just turning into a hypochondriac. It's the faster heart rate, irreg beats & this urge to take a very deep breath that bother me and I don't think it's just from anxiety, but the deep breathing usually does occurs when I'm alone or being aware of it.

Thanks alot,

Marcia in CA

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[Guest guest]

Hi Marcia,

I have not had rituxan yet, but recently finished 6 months of prednisone and Leukeran (chlorambucil). The only one of the symptoms you mention that I’ve noticed is the deep breath. I’ve always taken it as a reminder to take things a little slower and relax a little more. It usually happens when I’ve already started a breath — I can’t exhale until I inhale more. Right now my diaphragm is not being pressed by nodes or spleen, so I don’t think it is that.

Marcia in IN

on 7/7/08 10:28 AM, Marcia Barclay at aptosmax@... wrote:

I'm curious if anyone else has had these, or am I just turning into a hypochondriac. It's the faster heart rate, irreg beats & this urge to take a very deep breath that bother me and I don't think it's just from anxiety, but the deep breathing usually does occurs when I'm alone or being aware of it.

Thanks alot,

Marcia in CA