Developed an allergy to IgG replacement med

[acorngirl]

I have been on Sub Q Hizentra for 11 months and have not had an allergic reaction until 3 weeks ago. My legs where the infusions were get HUGE, with a delayed reaction about 24hrs later, very hot, and so large they hurt even while walking. The area that swells then turns into a bruise. I have tried taking 20mg Prednisone the night before my infusion, and taking Zyrtec and Benedryl with the infusion but to no avail. I even got my specialty pharmacy to send me another lot # of Hizentra because I thought something was wrong with that lot, but it is still happening.

Anyone else developed an allergy to Hizentra or another IgG replacement med? 

I really like doing it at home and not having to take a day off of work for an in-clinic IVIG, so am hoping maybe if I switch brands this reaction will stop. Anyone have any similar experiences or advice?

THANKS in advance, and happy early Thanksgiving!

-Laura

[s162216]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

Firstly have you spoken with your doctor etc about this? You could have an underlying cause such as an undetected infection that is causing you to react more easily so I urge you to get it checked out properly.

Serious reactions to IgG are quite rare, but not unknown so switching brand will likely get rid of the problem if there is no underlying cause. There are less SCIG preparations licensed in the USA compared to the UK, but you still have a couple that you could switch to and try.

Hope you manage to sort things out.

Sam (Admin)

[acorngirl]

Hi Sam-
Yes, I have spoken with my dr who suggested the Prednisone and Zyrtec and Benedryl. I have not seen him in person though so perhaps I should do that. Was just wondering if others had developed an allergy to one product, or it sounds like from what you're saying something else is probably going on.

Thanks for your quick response,
Laura

[s162216]

Thats O.K, we're all here to help each other! Each IgG preparation is prepared from plasma from at least 1000 different donors so to get as maximal coverage against organisms as possible, but it does induce the risk of your body naturally reacting unexpectedly against something that might appear in that batch (For example I had an IVIG infusion a couple of years ago where I got to the second bottle, and immediately developed an agonising pain in my head like a severe migraine when it started infusing. They stopped the infusion, and it nearly immediately went away so they tried again with the same response, and they then decided to abandon the rest of the infusion so I came back early for the next one). There again you've tried another batch so theres likely a more complex reason.

Sam

[elained]

Hi acorngirl,

I post on an American site, and many people there have been having reaction to Hizentra in the past couple of months.

The site is IDFFriends.http://idffriends.org

Hugs, Elaine

[acorngirl]

Thanks Elaine! I will check out that website. I am getting a prescription for SubQ Gammaguard so am hoping I don't have a reaction to that. Thanks again!
-laura