Remicade veterans - I'm going on it and would love your advice & thoughts

Does it work right away?

Does it hurt?

What should I know?

Did you have a baby on Remicade?  (I'm not pregnant now but would like to be)

I am not on it anymore but did take it for 2.5 years and loved it!

I saw results within 12 hours, though that is evidently quite rare. It was a miracle drug for me.

The only pain would be the IV. I had huge IV issues in teh beginning because I was so sick and veins were not found easily but once we started to get a nurse that works in the infusion center doing them, it went much better. The medication itself doesn't feel at all and is just mixed with saline.

Evidently a lot of woman have had healthy pregnancies and babies on it and if I was still on it, I would have been fine getting pregnant on it. I'm on Humira now which has more questions regarding pregnancy and is more of a concern for me than Remicade. I would visit with your doctor at length about it, too. He may have had patients with exp.

Hi Newly Wed hope the Rem works for you I am not tihinking of getting pregneant or have been while on it so don't have any help to offer you but it is a great help for fistula's and like chronnie I have taken the other meds like her except the Ciprol.I will say that I don't get any pains now and not much D which is great . It is easy to get and once the IV is in I just relax and it seems to go good the time it takes to get it done. I was a little nervous for my first one but after that I am not nervous now. My fistula healed after my third treatment and I noticed results while getting my first treatment my fistula was to abdomen after abcs surgery. Wishing you sucess.lol gail

the only problems i had with it was it made me tired for the rest of the day, and that over time it's effectiveness diminished. but thats just me.

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19, Male, diagnosed over Christmas Break of my Junior year in High School. BEST CHRISTMAS EVAR LOL

(not really)

5+ years on it here, 2 years on a double doseage of 1000MG.

It won't work right away. You might see some improvement in a few days after the first few days, but give it at least 3 infusions before deciding if it works or not.

The infusion shouldn't hurt. The needle stick when they start the IV might a bit, but you could always ask them to numb the area first if you are sensitive to that kind of stuff.

What should you know? Talk to your GI about any concerns. There are some increased risks for some type of cancer with this drug, but from all my (and the GI's) research, no one could tell if it was the drug causing it, or if they were just finding it sooner since they were specifically looking for it. Remicade can also subdue your immune system so healing from cuts/scrapes, or other illnesses can take longer. Your GI should also be looking at blood test every few months, just to be sure that you are doing ok on it.
Take a book or something to do on your infusion day. It can take a couple of hours, so have something to do. As for me, it is a one on one thing, so I have become good friends with the infusion nurse.
The infusion process is monitored closely, so the RN will be taking vital sign reading pretty regularly to see if a reaction to the drug is starting. If one does, they can usually just slow down the infusion rate, or stop it, and things can clear up. The Remicade is very diluted into saline, so they are not dumping all of the drug into your system at once. It is diluted, and infused very, very slowly at first. If your vitals look good, they will up the rate a bit, and keep doing that.
Just be sure to talk to the RN about any concerns.

I hope it works for you as well as it has worked for me. It gave me my life back.

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Matthew McKenna,

"I'm just along for the ride."

 

 A miracle drug for me. Sometimes i dont even remember i have crohn.

 Im on it for 5 years.

 Good Luck