Welcome to Adult Life (Chronic Illness Version)
I entered my adult years in turmoil, no thanks to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Lupus). At 20 I developed epilepsy, then leukopenia, crippling arthritis pains, and endometrial polyps in the years to follow. Some of these were a direct result of my chronic illnesses, and others were from side effects of medications taken to control them.
I needed blood transfusion at one point as my red blood cells had self-destructed to a dangerous low. As I have Antiphospholipid Syndrome (a blood clotting disorder), many potential treatments were unfeasible as well, due to medication interactions. To take it a step further, my blood type is O negative, and contains rare autoantibodies. It took the doctors 2 days to find me a compatible pack of blood from a different hospital.
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When No Treatment Seems to Work for Lupus
My face was a swollen balloon, as a result of being on high dose steroids to control the Lupus flares. It was a demoralising period, especially when everyone else around you is enjoying their prime years of health and beauty.
But I didn’t have a choice, as no other immunosuppressive drug for Lupus (Johns Hopkins Lupus Center, n.d.) worked for me. We had exhausted almost every option, including the big guns like mycophenolate, azathioprine and cyclosporine at maximum dosage.
Rituximab, Side Effects Include: Death
My rheumatologist then suggested trying rituximab – a new biologic drug in Singapore back then. I would only be the seventh patient in the hospital to try it, and the side effects included death. The brand (Rituxan) even states that upfront on their website (Genentech, Inc., n.d.).
It would also cost a ‘mere’ $10,000, with no guarantee of success. A tempting offer I must concur, but I didn’t have many options left on the table. It was either this, or one of two other drugs – one that can cause permanent infertility, and the other morphs you into a man, complete with an adam’s apple and all. Other IV treatments would cost even more. My parents encouraged me to try it out, so we scraped together some money, and I said “yes”.
A Bit More About How Rituximab Works
B-cells play an important role in our immune system, but in patients with Lupus (SLE), they can become autoreactive and attack the body instead (Nashi et al., 2010).
Rituximab is a biological agent (derived from organic sources) that targets B-cells. It was first created to treat cancer, namely lymphoma (Cleveland Clinic, 2024; Pierpont et al., 2018). Now, it is often used off-label to treat other medical conditions, such as treatment-resistant Lupus (Nierengarten, 2020).
My First Taste of Rituximab
Rituximab is taken intravenously, in 2 doses 2 weeks apart. The amount you need is titrated based on your body weight. It was a little scary watching the translucent liquid enter my vein, and I started to feel nauseous after a while, which is a common reaction.
We managed to complete both courses at a slower transfusion rate, and I waited for good news. For the other patients the results had mostly been fantastic, but my red blood cells started to break up again after only 4 months.
Consideration of Wilder Options to Manage My Lupus
The following year, my doctor referred me to a top haematologist for a second opinion. He wanted to know if hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) (a.k.a. bone marrow transplant) (Immune Deficiency Foundation [IDF], n.d.) was an option for me.
However, she thought that that would be a bit of an overkill. She discussed yet more options with me, including:
The Risks that Came with These Treatment Options
The risk for splenectomy includes excessive bleeding and splenic vein thrombosis (Fahrenhorst-Jones, 2023), and I’m already at risk for DVTs because of my blood clotting disorder. The remission rate wasn’t fantastic either at 30%, according to said haematologist back then.
HSCT would be the most drastic option, with an apparent 75% remission rate. But all these trials were only done in the U.S. back then, although some of the success stories were amazing. Some of the participants managed to stop taking anticoagulants for good, which would be a dream come true for me! These were extreme cases however, where they didn’t have much choice but to risk it.
Rituximab Round 2 Began Nice and Slow…
So we decided to give rituximab one more go, and slotted another $10,000 into the health poker machine. I checked myself into the hospital, and prepared to chill out as it transfused over the next 4 – 6 hours.
And then it started. I had a mild sore throat, which was strange. “I must be dehydrated. Let’s drink more water”, I thought to myself.
The Anaphylaxis Symptoms were so Insidious, It Made Me Doubt Myself
The sensation escalated to that of a wedge stuffed down my windpipe, making it difficult to breathe. I still thought that my mind was playing tricks on me, and tried to calm myself down. I didn’t want to be that silly little girl who overreacted to every tiny shadow. “It’s just a minor side effect”, I reassured myself and brushed it aside.
Then I started to get funny sensations in my arms, and finally decided to inform the nurse. She didn’t seemed too concerned, but said that she’d inform the doctor. I nodded and sat there with the drip still running, although my instinct demanded that it be turned off at once.
I hushed the voice; once again, I didn’t want to overreact. It didn’t seem likely that it might be an allergic reaction as I had done this before. Besides, I wasn’t itching, which is the main indication of allergies, right?
…Then Everything Exploded at Once – An Anaphylaxis Reaction to Rituximab
I cramped up all of a sudden, as if my period had arrived without warning, and felt like I had to relieve my bowels at once. I finally got the nurse to disconnect the drip as I ran to the toilet.
I heard footsteps down the corridor, signalling the arrival of the doctors. I willed myself to hurry up, but still took long enough for them to knock and ask if I was okay. It was embarrassing to step out with no less than 10 doctors there, waiting around for me to finish my business with the loo.
Answering “Yes” to All the Doctors’ Questions for Anaphylaxis
The doctor in charge sat me down and started asking questions in rapid succession. One of the younger doctors wanted to get me some paracetamol for the ‘period cramps’, but the senior doctor said that that wasn’t a priority. This dismissal annoyed me, but I understood why later on.
She examined my throat as I answered “yes” to all the questions on her checklist. By then my breathing was starting to become laboured, and those rashes that I didn’t have? They finally broke out on my back, calves and ears.
My eyes swelled up, and my oxygen levels fell. My heart rate spiralled out of control, and my cramps tuned up in intensity. I was sweating from the effort of it all. It was now blatantly obvious that I was suffering from a severe anaphylaxis reaction from rituximab (Fouda & Bavbek, 2020).
Reversing the Anaphylaxis Reaction Caused by the Rituximab
The doctors hurried to administer emergency medications. They hooked me up with IV hydrocortisone (steroids; U.S. National Library of Medicine [NLM], 2016), diphenhydramine (NLM, 2022), Nexium (esomeprazole; NLM, 2023a), and injected me with epinephrine (NLM, 2023b).
You know those epipens (Viatris Inc, n.d.) that people inject into their thighs to stop an anaphylaxis attack in movies? They actually hurt. A lot. And never in my life did I think that I’d get to try it out.
Anaphylaxis Reaction from Rituximab – How Long the Side Effects Lasted for Me
To my relief, my body started to calm down, including the ‘period cramps’. I read after, that this was a common symptom of anaphylaxis, too, as your gut and internal organs swell up (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). All the drugs they had administered made sense then.
I spent the next 8 hours hooked up to the IV diphenhydramine, but was able to go home the next day, although the itching took months to subside. As for the remaining titration of rituximab? They threw it out – $10,000 straight down the drain, literally.
“Should We Try Rituximab Again?” – Heck, No!
It seems like my body was too smart for its own good, and recognised the drug from the first round of infusions. It was obvious that it didn’t like it very much. My doctor suggested that we try rituximab again at an even slower transfusion rate, one quiet enough to trick my system into accepting it.
But I rejected the proposal this time. If my body doesn’t like it, then it can’t be that good for me either, can it really?
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- Cleveland Clinic. (2023, October 17). Anaphylaxis. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8619-anaphylaxis
- Cleveland Clinic. (2024, August 9). Biologics (biologic medicine). https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/biologics-biologic-medicine
- Fahrenhorst-Jones, T. (2023, April 17). Splenic vein thrombosis. Radiopaedia. https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-90836
- Fouda, G. E., & Bavbek, S. (2020). Rituximab hypersensitivity: From clinical presentation to management. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2020.572863
- Genentech, Inc. (n.d.). RITUXAN® (rituximab) medication for RA, NHL, CLL, GPA, MPA & PV. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from https://www.rituxan.com
- Immune Deficiency Foundation. (n.d.). Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from https://primaryimmune.org/understanding-primary-immunodeficiency/treatment/hematopoietic-stem-cell-transplantation
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- Mayo Clinic. (2022, July 12). Splenectomy. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/splenectomy/about/pac-20395066
- Nashi, E., Wang, Y., & Diamond, B. (2010). The role of B cells in lupus pathogenesis. The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 42(4), 543–550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocel.2009.10.011
- Nierengarten, M. B. (2020, September 1). Rituximab as maintenance therapy for difficult-to-treat SLE. The Rheumatologist. https://www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/rituximab-as-maintenance-therapy-for-difficult-to-treat-sle/?singlepage=1
- Pierpont, T. M., Limper, C. B., & Richards, K. L. (2018). Past, present, and future of rituximab—The world’s first oncology monoclonal antibody therapy. Frontiers in Oncology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2018.00163
- Takada, K., Illei, G. G., & Boumpas, D. T. (2001). Cyclophosphamide for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. Lupus, 10(3), 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1191/096120301671376017
- U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2016, May 15). Hydrocortisone injection. In MedlinePlus. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682871.html
- U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2022, January 15). Diphenhydramine. In MedlinePlus. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682539.html
- U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2023a, May 15). Epinephrine injection. In MedlinePlus. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a603002.html
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- Viatris Inc. (n.d.). About EPIPEN and Its Authorized Generic. What is Epinephrine? Epipen. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from https://www.epipen.com/en/about-epipen-and-generic/what-is-epinephrine