Reply To: rituxin (again)

Hi Lori- in answer to your question I don’t know what the endpoint is for me as far as Imuran is concerned. Remission to my understanding is when disease is no longer active but not on any treatment- If you are on treatments like IVIG or immune suppressants, then you may have controlled but active disease if still requiring treatments. One can either go into remission on their own or with the help of remission inducing agents like Rituxan. I have been told and read that ivig is not considered a remission inducing agent due to the mechanism of action in blocking the effects of the so called ” bad antibodies” produced against peripheral nerve myelin, but does not limit the production of these so called ” bad antibodies”. Immune suppressants actually work on decreasing the production of these antibodies. I do not believe I am in remission as I still have symptoms and require regular treatment. I believe the plan for me is to slowly wean down on ivig and if I ever get to a point where I am off completely , a decision would be made about what to do with Imuran at that point. It is hard to balance trying to live one day at a time and considering the future and all of the implications there.