Rituximab

kzurawel84
kzurawel84 Member Posts: 4
edited 8. Nov 2013, 06:38 in Living with Arthritis archive
Hi,

Has anyone been recently treated with Rituximab?
I am due to start treatment shortly and am keen to hear of others experiences.
I have suffered with RA since 19 ( I am now 29 ) and have failed Entanercept a few years ago.
I tried to continue with no treatment but failed miserably! Hence the reason i am restarting on a new TNF.

Kelly :)

Comments

  • mermaid
    mermaid Member Posts: 104
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi there

    I just noticed your post and I'm sorry you haven't had a reply yet.

    Also sorry you have RA so young, I was diagnosed in my 20's too and it is hard.

    The positive side is that there are many more effective drugs around now and more are being developed and trialled as we speak.

    I was on Etanercept for 6 years and then it stopped working, so I went on to Rituximab. For me it has been the best drug in over 40 years of RA.
    I have now had 5 rounds of treatment, usually every 7-8 months and it really became effective after the second round of infusions, so you do have to be patient as it takes time to kick in. Steroids helped me over the initial period and I a trying to reduce them to a minimum dose now.

    Side effects were only really feeling very tired and a headache after the infusions, so for me not too difficult to cope with. Of course we are all different.

    I do hope that Rituximab will work for you and calm your RA enough for you to enjoy life.

    Lots of luck and take care
    Liz

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