fever for over 9 days now

[Guest guest]

I'm wondering if anyone out there who has done FCR or PCR or i guess

any kind of really intensive chemo has had a reaction of fever for a

very long time after the first infusion. I wake 3 times at night with

drenching sweats, feel like crap, worse at night, but temp raised a

degree during the day and 2 degrees at night. I do qualify for the

wonderful " B " symptoms on the basis of exhaustion I have had from CLL

from the beginning. So I am wondering if this fever (blood cultures

negative) could be from the immune system (cytokines) revving itself

up as it tanks very fast (74,000 wbc to 11,000 in 2 days) to try to

save itself from whatever enemies it thinks did this to it????

Dr. Furman, have you seen this kind of fever in response to chemo

before and if so, does it eventually go away and does it continue into

more cycles of chemo? I don't think I can go on with this if the

fever were to continue for a longer amount of time. It is truly

debilitating. Thanks! Carol

[Guest guest]

Carol,

you got a lot of good feedback, but I thought might add my two cents' worth.

Your problem may well be not in an intense chemo but in the not so innocent " R "

part of the cocktail. What you are experiencing may well be what's called the

serum sickness, which an allergic reaction to something in the patient's

treatment. In retuxan's case it is an allergic reaction to the mouse bits of the

antibody material. Serum sickness reaction to rituxan is well-documented to

occur in susceptible individuals, and your symptoms fit the profile quite well.

It typically occurs 2-3 weeks after the offending treatment, but in some cases

within hours. It's rare, and because of it most doctors never think of it in

cases like this. But if it is indeed it, and there is a way you could be tested

for it, or they may simply skip the R part in the next cycle and see if the

symptoms will recur or not, the recommendation is very straightforward - you

should never have it again, for it will only get worse and may end up badly.

Arnold

>

> I'm wondering if anyone out there who has done FCR or PCR or i guess

> any kind of really intensive chemo has had a reaction of fever for a

> very long time after the first infusion. I wake 3 times at night with

> drenching sweats, feel like crap, worse at night, but temp raised a

> degree during the day and 2 degrees at night. I do qualify for the

> wonderful " B " symptoms on the basis of exhaustion I have had from CLL

> from the beginning. So I am wondering if this fever (blood cultures

> negative) could be from the immune system (cytokines) revving itself

> up as it tanks very fast (74,000 wbc to 11,000 in 2 days) to try to

> save itself from whatever enemies it thinks did this to it????

>

> Dr. Furman, have you seen this kind of fever in response to chemo

> before and if so, does it eventually go away and does it continue into

> more cycles of chemo? I don't think I can go on with this if the

> fever were to continue for a longer amount of time. It is truly

> debilitating. Thanks! Carol

>