rituximab

[mrsb]

Quick question, anyone know how long the first infusion of rituximab takes to complete. I'm due to have my first infusion in a couple of weeks. Thanks

[helixhelix]

Put rituximab in the search box , up on the right hand corner of the screen, and you should get a couple of great blogs people wrote about their treatment.

[Hidden]

Hi there You need to allow the whole day. i start at 9am but you have various checks and then also need pre-meds (x3) so the actual infusion does not start until about 10.30 / 11am and i am often not out until about 4.30 / 5pm. the first one is slower than the first as long as you tolerate it okay but sometimes people need a pause or don't go up to the full speed because of low blood pressure. i am usually about on target except don't do full speed for low BP.

Hope it goes well

Skippy

[Hidden]

Sorry meant to say "the first one is slower than the second infusion"!

[Judi]

In case you couldn't find an answer to your question - mine took all day. (Believe it was from about 9 o'clock - cant find my diary to confirm this - and went home about 5 o'clock)

It sounds a long day but it didn't seem so bad at the time. I had an anti-histamine (?) and steroid infusion first then the rituximab infusion started. They start the infusion slowly and check that blood pressure and temperature are all ok throughout then gradually increase the flow of the infusion.

When it's finished there was a wait for a couple of hours before I was allowed home - even this couple of hours they were checking me.

The day goes very quickly as there are other people to talk to. I was given a sandwich at lunchtime plus coffee or tea a couple of times during the day. Take something to read in case you get bored. (I also took a sandwich and a couple of cartons of drink and some sweets as I didn't know that lunch and a drink was provided). Plus your meds. (ask your rheumy nurse about lunch and meds as I don't know if this differs from place to place)

The second infusion was much quicker and I was out much earlier.

Hope this helps and best of luck with the rituximab.

Judi

[tiger]

Mine also took all . The anti-histamine made me really sleepy for most of the day so make sure that there is someone to take you home. I certainly wouldn't advise driving. Hope it works well for you, as mine does.