Week 18 - End of Week Adendum

Week 18 - Post Lemtrada

February 23, 2020

I wanted to do a short post just to wrap-up week 18.  I guess if you are counting months in 4-week increments, I am 4 1/2 months post Lemtrada. 😊

Primarily, I just wanted to update about the conversation I had with one of my neurologists.  He called me on Friday to talk about the steroids vs Rituxan.  They work in different ways to hopefully prevent the same thing.  The Rituxan targets B-cells, lowering the number of them to help eliminate possible secondary autoimmune issues caused by the B/T-cell difference.  Steroids reduce the inflammation caused by the B/T-cell difference which helps to eliminate the possible secondary autoimmune issues.  The steroids won't lower my B-cell count.  He told me that their preferred way is the Rituxan but have had good results using steroids instead where they need to.  I am glad he called because now I understand better but it is still frustrating that it's my insurance company and not my doctor who is making this call.

I was a little down and teary on Friday morning for no apparent reason.  After the Doctor called, I started to get angry all over again about the insurance company.  It dawned on me that my emotions have been "volatile" this week. 😬 I wasn't really paying attention to that possible effect.  In October, I had gotten angry one day but overall I was ok and I had a whole lot of steroids.  The only other time I had IV steroids, I didn't notice any emotional effect.  I just wasn't thinking about or anticipating it even though it's a very common side effect.  The other thing I realized is that I should start feeling better.  All of the various symptoms that I've been having should be getting better.  As I mentioned in my last post, I've noticed some improvement but nothing too significant.

That's it.  Have a good week.