Re: should I be disappointed..?

[Guest guest]

Hi,

We have a small number of group members who've needed 6 months to a

year to see signficant improvement following starting Xolair, but

most needed 2-4 months. I had significant improvement after 3

months. I've still had some episodes since then, but they haven't

been as bad as they were before.

Good luck and hang in there,

Addy

[Guest guest]

hi! for me, it took six months before i saw ANY relief with the xolair. i got

maximum relief at about nine months (i've been on xolair for 14 months ) .

however, i have not been able to decrease any of my daily meds, but i am more

controlled on them. prior to xolair, i'd be on prednisone bursts almost every

month. my last burst was around thankgiving!!!

don't give up on xolair yet. give it time to build in your system!

good luck

heather

snackcrackers8193 <jramsdell9964@...> wrote:

I guess I am just a bit disappointed that the Xolair was not

a " quick fix " . It has been a year of this breathing / asthma /

allergy issue and each time I try something new I have such high

hopes for relief. You would think I would learn by now. I see a

fabulous allergist, but he told me that of the 13 people in his

office that are on Xolair, they have had a 100% success rate. Twelve

of the people felt relief after the second injection and the last

person felt relief after the third injection. Therefore, I got my

hopes up that after injection #2 I was going to be " healed " ! I

received my second set of shots 11 days ago and I basically feel the

same. The first shots gave me immediate relief for several days

before they wore off and the second shots really did not give m,e

that same relief. When the Xolair did start working for those of

you, was it a gradual relief or were you suddenly completely better?

Are you a bit better each time you get your shots or is relief not

really noticeable.....Thanks for all your help....

[Guest guest]

Hi there!

I wish that I could offer more words of encouragement to you, but I haven't

started my Xolair shots yet, and I can't speak from personal experience on

that drug in particular.

I can however, understand your longing for a " quick fix " . I've been

dependent on prednisone for over six years. I'm praying that Xolair offers

me more relief than I've felt in those six years, but your post did make me

think, and I can offer you a " thought " that will hopefully give you some

consolation.

Even steroids, which are supposed to be a " quick fix " for major asthma flare

ups can and will take time to work. I've had such awful flare ups in the

past where I went into the emergency room and ended up staying in the

hospital up to 24 days, waiting for the steroids to make me strong enough to

even go home. Once home, I had to wait even longer on oral steroids to

regain my strength and resume normal activities. Medications work

differently, for different people, and they work according to the severity

of your symptoms as well.

The best I can do is offer an ear for your frustrations and remind you that

it is still " early " so to speak. BELIEVE ME I understand your

discouragement, and I'm sure that I'll face the same if Xolair doesn't work

for me as fast as I'd like.

I get through every day by trying to hang on to the idea that Xolair is the

one thing I haven't tried yet, and that even though it might not work

immediately, that it's better than the options I had 6 years ago, 1 year ago

or even today. I know that I have to give it time to work, and that if it

isn't the miracle cure I've been longing for, then it still must be better

than not trying at all.

Take one day at a time hun and know that you've got friends that are going

through the same thing you are. Keep voicing your feelings and know that

sooner or later, things will get better!

Take care!

-------Original Message-------

From: snackcrackers8193

Date: 03/14/05 18:08:49

Subject: [ ] should I be disappointed..?

I guess I am just a bit disappointed that the Xolair was not

a " quick fix " . It has been a year of this breathing / asthma /

allergy issue and each time I try something new I have such high

hopes for relief. You would think I would learn by now. I see a

fabulous allergist, but he told me that of the 13 people in his

office that are on Xolair, they have had a 100% success rate. Twelve

of the people felt relief after the second injection and the last

person felt relief after the third injection. Therefore, I got my

hopes up that after injection #2 I was going to be " healed " ! I

received my second set of shots 11 days ago and I basically feel the

same. The first shots gave me immediate relief for several days

before they wore off and the second shots really did not give m,e

that same relief. When the Xolair did start working for those of

you, was it a gradual relief or were you suddenly completely better?

Are you a bit better each time you get your shots or is relief not

really noticeable.....Thanks for all your help....

[Guest guest]

Hi,

For me the relief was gradual. I felt a difference like you after

the first shot that went away before the next one. My Doctor was

also weaning me off prednisone starting from the second shot, so

some of my symptoms were from that, I'm sure. So don't be

disappointedif you don't notice a difference right away. I started

my shots in October 2004(I get them every 2 weeks) and all of a

sudden last month I really noticed that I could do alot more and was

not bothered so bad by things that had caused a flare-up in the

past. All of a sudden I could walk more thatn 5 minutes on the

treadmill at .o6MPH, now I can do 25 minutes at 2MPH and I can work

in the yard without my allergies kicking in. I think the

improvement kind of sneaks up on you and then one day you are doing

something you couldn't and you notice it. It may be different for

some people, but this is how it was for me. Just remember it can

take up to a year, so don't give up. It is worth the wait.

And I am also totally off pred for 3 weeks now. Yah!!!!!!!!!

I am curious to see how I react when the pollen counts get higher.

Did that bother any of you who wre on Xoliar last pollen season?

--

In , " snackcrackers8193 "

<jramsdell9964@s...> wrote:

>

>

> I guess I am just a bit disappointed that the Xolair was not

> a " quick fix " . It has been a year of this breathing / asthma /

> allergy issue and each time I try something new I have such high

> hopes for relief. You would think I would learn by now. I see a

> fabulous allergist, but he told me that of the 13 people in his

> office that are on Xolair, they have had a 100% success rate.

Twelve

> of the people felt relief after the second injection and the last

> person felt relief after the third injection. Therefore, I got my

> hopes up that after injection #2 I was going to be " healed " ! I

> received my second set of shots 11 days ago and I basically feel

the

> same. The first shots gave me immediate relief for several days

> before they wore off and the second shots really did not give m,e

> that same relief. When the Xolair did start working for those of

> you, was it a gradual relief or were you suddenly completely

better?

> Are you a bit better each time you get your shots or is relief not

> really noticeable.....Thanks for all your help....

[Guest guest]

I don't know if it would be worse to have suffered for asthma most

of my life or if it would be worse to suddenly be hit with it as an

adult. Many of the things I am doing now that I have been on Xolair

I am literally doing for the first time as an adult (I've been

asthmatic more than 25 years), so my point of reference of

improvement and expected results is probably much different than

yours. Just being able to go out of the house without an inhaler in

my pocket is a miracle from my point of view.

Unfortunately, Xolair is not 100% effective 100% of the time. Nor

is it an immmediate fix. For myself, I saw improvement almost

immediately, but it has actually been slow going for the most part.

I see steady improvement and can definitely do more now than I was

doing a year ago.

I hope that the Xolair will work for you. Give it some time.

Greg

>

>

> I guess I am just a bit disappointed that the Xolair was not

> a " quick fix " . It has been a year of this breathing / asthma /

> allergy issue and each time I try something new I have such high

> hopes for relief. You would think I would learn by now. I see a

> fabulous allergist, but he told me that of the 13 people in his

> office that are on Xolair, they have had a 100% success rate.

Twelve

> of the people felt relief after the second injection and the last

> person felt relief after the third injection. Therefore, I got my

> hopes up that after injection #2 I was going to be " healed " ! I

> received my second set of shots 11 days ago and I basically feel

the

> same. The first shots gave me immediate relief for several days

> before they wore off and the second shots really did not give m,e

> that same relief. When the Xolair did start working for those of

> you, was it a gradual relief or were you suddenly completely

better?

> Are you a bit better each time you get your shots or is relief not

> really noticeable.....Thanks for all your help....