I suffer from RA and this novel approach for treating people like me is such a blessing. I wasn't responding well to the list of drugs that I was taking. The greatest benefit is that this is not another drug but a medical device. Usually, the whole thing takes about 2 hours and I'm in my own doctors office so it's comfortable. Basiclly, my doctor schedules the appt. for me, the Prosorba nurse is all set up, I sit in a chair and once the needles (2) are in place the process begins. This therapy seperates the plasma, blood cells and components through the column. This column removes some antibodies found in my plasma that are connected with my RA. Then the rest is filtered back to me. Sometimes I feel alittle light headed but for the most part it's not bad. It's a 12 week process, once a week and I'm almost done!
Keep us posted on your progress Vivalife; and if you have any resource links related to this proceedure could you please post them for others to see. To my knowledge you are the first one here doing this.
Best of Luck,
Lovie
This is the treatment that we are looking into for my brother Matt. Like Lovie he has gone the way of increasing MTX and other drugs. Enbrel was working, but he has had 2 infections and has had to go off of the Enbrel. I am a nurse and am familiar with Prosorba treatment and the success that some others have experienced with the treatment. The great appeal for me is that it is not a drug, and in fact they call it communicating with your immune system. It retrains your immune system to attack things more appropriate than self. Thank you for sharing your positive experience vivalife. It reassures that this is the way to go. I have done extensive research on this and would be happy to share. By now I can even explain the procedure <S>. I know they use the same type machine that blood banks use to collect from some donors so the machine is a popular one that they use frequently with no problems. And I know that they use totally enclosed systems each time so there is not a chance of being exposed to someone elses blood. I am happy whenever someone who has had the treatment shares their experience though it makes it more real to me when it is a first hand experience. I found another 1st hand experience on www.livingwellwithra.com I would appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks so much for your input, and sharing all the options.
I had to look in my files but I found other links to this treatment. I tend to avoid the ones that look like advertisements and look for ones that have medical information or personal experiences. I have done quite a lot of reading about this, and spoken to more than a few doctors ( just call me obsessive about getting all the information I can find) But there is nothing like a personal experience to give you the real information!!
http://www.ra.online-plus.biz/prosorba.htm
http://www.arthritis.org/conditions/DrugGuide/alternatives.a sp
http://www.arthritis-treatment-and-relief.com/prosorba-colum n.html
Thanks again Vivalife
Hi Vivalife,
Please let me know how this is going for you. How many treatments have you had? or better yet how many do you have left? When did you start to notice a difference?
Did your doctor suggest this for you? Or did you find it and ask him about it? It doesnt seem to be the treatment of first choice, how many other therapies did you try before you got to Prosorba? And what made you try this one?
I know this is a lot of questions. I am curious
I was just talking to a woman with RA on Wednesday (can that be only yesterday??? time is disappearing) who has finished 8 of the 12 treatments and she noticed a difference after about 5 treatments. I noticed that she was walking better and asked her about it. She said the changes were very subtle at first, but was able to get out of bed without help for the first time in a long time that morning.
I am encouraged by her experiences, and want too know about yours as well. Thanks for your help.
Let me see if I have this right.....once a week for 12 weeks and how long does each procedure last? Very interesting. Gonna do some research on it!!
Hi Karen,
From what I know the procedure takes about 2 hours. it is once a week for 12 weeks and can be done in the doctors office. The person I spoke to took a week off to go on vacation with her family, so it seems to work out well with her life. Please share anything you find out, and I will share what I find out. Matt recently called the company and was able to speak with a couple of people with RA who had the procedure. I think it is good to talk to someone who has been through it. Just gets lots and lots of information. I also like the fact that this will be done at the docs office. Matt is not especially fond of hospitals.