personally I wouldn't call it a sledge hammer - as compared with many of the other treatments I have been on rituxan is like a tickle with a feather. That's what I like about it, it only kills off my b cells, other treatments like cytoxan (which is iv chemotherapy) kill off the whole immune system. Rituxan's done good things for my central nervous system (my brain) but nothing much for my peripheral nervous system. But, at the end of the day my brain is more important, so I feel fortunate. Well, not too fortunate, had two small strokes a fortnight ago but that's a whole other story

cheers
raglet