Just finished my 4th cycle of Rituxan (gen. Rituximab), and it was extremely uneventful. Good thing too because I didn't take any Benadryl pre-meds this time. Infusion time was almost exactly three hours. This allowed me to stay alert, do some work on my iPhone, and now I'm about to go back to work at the office. Hopefully I can get 5 hours in before the day is done.
Basic dose information for me is as follows:
Total Dose: 803 mg
Concentration: 2 mg/mL
Dose Rate: initially at 50 mL/hr (100 mg/hr) increasing by 50 mL/hr every 15-30 minutes to 200 mL/hr (400 mg/hr).
The Rituxan total dose is calculated as follows:
My counts are pretty much holding steady for now, in a good range but not yet back up to remission levels. My liver enzymes crept up another 10 to 20%. It seems like nothing I do to make them better seems to work. I've read that people with Crohn's disease secrete high levels of TNFa and that TNFa is also a bone marrow suppressant. Perhaps other digestive issues such as gluten intolerance and Celiac also contribute to high TNFa levels independent of the presence of HCL. If so, then perhaps eliminating chamomile, vitamin A, vitamin E and Omega supplements in hopes of improving my liver function panel actually increased my residual TNFa levels and thus my liver enzymes too (the opposite effect of what I wanted). Then again, perhaps I'm just too impatient and overanalyze without enough data. I've asked for a cytokine panel, or at least a TNFa measurement, but have not heard back yet.
This week, I'm to going to take a vitamin D (1000 iu), E (200 iu) and an Omega-3-6-9 supplement twice daily (total 2000, 400 and 2) and drink chamomile three times a day to suppress TNFa and see if my counts go from holding steady to a pronounced improvement. I'll also take a daily multivitamin in the morning.
Overall it was a boring day, and boring is good.
Basic dose information for me is as follows:
Total Dose: 803 mg
Concentration: 2 mg/mL
Dose Rate: initially at 50 mL/hr (100 mg/hr) increasing by 50 mL/hr every 15-30 minutes to 200 mL/hr (400 mg/hr).
The Rituxan total dose is calculated as follows:
My counts are pretty much holding steady for now, in a good range but not yet back up to remission levels. My liver enzymes crept up another 10 to 20%. It seems like nothing I do to make them better seems to work. I've read that people with Crohn's disease secrete high levels of TNFa and that TNFa is also a bone marrow suppressant. Perhaps other digestive issues such as gluten intolerance and Celiac also contribute to high TNFa levels independent of the presence of HCL. If so, then perhaps eliminating chamomile, vitamin A, vitamin E and Omega supplements in hopes of improving my liver function panel actually increased my residual TNFa levels and thus my liver enzymes too (the opposite effect of what I wanted). Then again, perhaps I'm just too impatient and overanalyze without enough data. I've asked for a cytokine panel, or at least a TNFa measurement, but have not heard back yet.
This week, I'm to going to take a vitamin D (1000 iu), E (200 iu) and an Omega-3-6-9 supplement twice daily (total 2000, 400 and 2) and drink chamomile three times a day to suppress TNFa and see if my counts go from holding steady to a pronounced improvement. I'll also take a daily multivitamin in the morning.
Overall it was a boring day, and boring is good.
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