How long can oen stay on remicade

First, welcome! Sorry you have to be here, but I'm glad you found us.

You're still really new to the medications, so unfortunately, you're probably going to have to wait it out to see if Pentasa puts you into remission or not. Usually, but not always, Remicade is saved for patients who haven't responded to Pentasa, or Asacol, a similar drug, or immunosuppressants, like Imuran or 6MP. For example, when I started Remicade, I was on 60mg of Prednisone and 150mg of Imuran, still having very active disease in my terminal ileum, bleeding with bowel movements, etc.

You can stay on Remicade as long as it works. I got about a year out of it, but many people stay on it much longer than that. I ended up having a delayed reaction after my GI increased my dose from 5mg/kg to 10mg/kg every 6 weeks.

Remicade does help put people with active inflammation into remission, but then, it is a maintenance drug, and you continue to have infusions every 8 weeks or so to prevent another flare. Because of the serious side effects and the long term nature of starting Remicade, you really need to be sure you want to go on it, and discuss it extensively with your doctor.

There are several people at my infusion center that have been receiving infusions for over 5 years. Myself, I went 2 years and 10 months before my GI and rheumy decided I needed to switch to something else. It served me well during that time and my gut still remains in remission. The Remicade is no longer controlling my joint problems which are more severe than my gut problems.

I must respectfully disagree with oneblood. Whether a newly diagnosed patient starts out on Remicade or tries other more conventional medications first is more likely based on two things: 1) Disease severity and 2) whether the doctor approaches Crohn's treatment from the step-down theory or the step-up theory.

There is much discussion among the GI community about whether "hitting" the newly diagnosed with a drug like Remicade brings about faster remission, reduces disease progression, and reduces patient suffering. Many GIs think it does and many of the studies back that theory. Other GIs are more cautious and believe in giving the more conventional, widely used drugs a chance to bring about improvement in the patient's condition.

I hope you get the information you seek at your second opinion visit and please let us know what happens.

Yes, Ides is correct about the top down theory. I have only personally seen GIs who believe in the bottom up theory, so I don't have experience with the other. Also, as Ides said, it does depend on disease severity. Has your GI mentioned what he/she classifies your disease as? Have you noticed any change since starting Pentasa and Entocort?

Good luck at your second opinion appointment!

Over 5 years now, and no signs of letting up. I did get an increase in dosage about 2 years ago, I'm up to 1000mg every 8 weeks. No side effects, no reactions, just lots of symptom free living.

I'm going to stay on it as long as it works.

If for some reason it doesn't work for you, don't despair, there is always Humira, which does not have the mouse protein and from the last symposium I went to, there are a number of new versions of these drugs coming out in the very near future.

Hang in there.