Guest guest Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 I am a head nurse in a specialty pharmacy who counsels Xolair patients. We probably supply 1400-1500 peoples' Xolair. If I don't talk to everone, the rest of our nursing staff does, and they send all 'odd' questions to me. I would have gotten any off label question. We have dozens of very young children on Xolair. 2 people with severe eczema, one with chronic fatigue syndrome, a few children with food allergies, and quite a few people with super high IgE and very low IgE. I track all people who have been prescribed Xolair off label. So far we have hundreds of people off their by mouth steroids, oxygen, inhalers, nebulizers and allergy medications. Some times it takes quite a while to see big results. Most reporting results have had their meds lowered by the M.D. or are completely off a few & looking forward to reduction of more. I don't add alot on the postings, but when I definitely know the answers, I chime in. Pat __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Cool! I am glad to hear that. I am one of 7 people in my city (Canada only got approval in Nov 2004) to use it so far and the only patient at my specialty pharmacy (I got them the contract actually!!!). So send all xolair success stories my way! I have had 8 doses so far and I think its making a difference (less baseline pred needed, and I rebound faster from minor flares) but sometimes I have those lovely doubting moments that throw me into a panic. Maybe you know the answer to my question then: Does pred affect IgE levels? I was told yes by some docs and no by others. If it does, then how are you supposed to dose it? My pulmo feels that pred slams IgE levels way lower than they would be normally (esp 2.5+ years of daily use) and dosed me accordingly. Thanks for the info! ps As for side effects not one except for all the pulmos in the office looking at me like I should be growing a third eye and saying " so do you think it's working??? " and the massive smile on my face that I am actually on this med!!! (I have been patiently waiting since before this even got FDA in the US!) __________________________________________________________ Find your next car at http://autos..ca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Yes, Prednisone adversely lowers IgE, some school of thought say it can go either way (high or low), but really has not been my experience. So dosing a prednisone dependent patient can be tricky. If hey don't feel Xolair is working after 3 months and the MD wants to stop Xolair, I ask them to consider the Prednisone & IgE. Most increase Xolair dose & wait 6 more months. Some are still hard headed and think a Nurse can't teach a octor anything & do a dis-service to their patient by stopping the Xolair prematurely. Keep up the good work! Pat __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 HI pat, i recently joined this group, im going for my first xolair shot tomorrow. however i am still nervous. (side effects) after reading the last few posts from the few people having side effects im really scared. my first question is all the reading that i have been doing, considering that my pulmo office i will be the first to recieve the injection, that the xolair page in the internet says that no more than 150mg should be injected into one site alone. if my dose is 300mg that should be 2 sites? i feel bad telling my md that she has to make it 2 sites but im am being safe. and the second question is that since i have been ordered for the 300mg i have lost over 20 lbs. whish should bring my dose to 225mg per the xolair page. make sense? thanks tina > Yes, Prednisone adversely lowers IgE, some school of thought say it can go either way (high or low), but really has not been my experience. So dosing a prednisone dependent patient can be tricky. If hey don't feel Xolair is working after 3 months and the MD wants to stop Xolair, I ask them to consider the Prednisone & IgE. Most increase Xolair dose & wait 6 more months. Some are still hard headed and think a Nurse can't teach a octor anything & do a dis-service to their patient by stopping the Xolair prematurely. > > Keep up the good work! > > Pat > > __________________________________________________ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 I lost about 20 lbs after I started Xolair - thanks to no more pred! - and we maintained my Xolair dose at 375mg because of my high IgE. I have had no side effects either before or after from Xolair. I did have a huge fatigue factor due to my adrenal glands having to spend some time getting used to not having pred do their job for them. That went away over time. Addy > > Yes, Prednisone adversely lowers IgE, some school of thought say > it can go either way (high or low), but really has not been my > experience. So dosing a prednisone dependent patient can be > tricky. If hey don't feel Xolair is working after 3 months and the > MD wants to stop Xolair, I ask them to consider the Prednisone & > IgE. Most increase Xolair dose & wait 6 more months. Some are > still hard headed and think a Nurse can't teach a octor anything & > do a dis-service to their patient by stopping the Xolair prematurely. > > > > Keep up the good work! > > > > Pat > > > > __________________________________________________ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Pat, I bet you get that hard-headed doctor attitude a lot. My pulmo is not like that. He knows that without his chief nurse he couldn't run his practice at all. Thanks for contributing so much to the group! Addy > Yes, Prednisone adversely lowers IgE, some school of thought say it can go either way (high or low), but really has not been my experience. So dosing a prednisone dependent patient can be tricky. If hey don't feel Xolair is working after 3 months and the MD wants to stop Xolair, I ask them to consider the Prednisone & IgE. Most increase Xolair dose & wait 6 more months. Some are still hard headed and think a Nurse can't teach a octor anything & do a dis-service to their patient by stopping the Xolair prematurely. > > Keep up the good work! > > Pat > > __________________________________________________ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.