Remicade

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jmayk8
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Remicade

Post by jmayk8 »

Has anyone ever tried this med? I think it's thru an IV. I saw it on a health tv show this past weekend. A man has benn on it for the past few months and said he is 100% back to normal, no flares and no more d. Just curious...
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Post by Joefnh »

Hi jamayk8, I have not been on that med, but my doctor and I discussed it as an option for treating my crohns and MC. Remicade is a TNF alpha response modifier, basically an immune suppressant and is deliverd monthly using an IV

I had looked at Imuran and Remicade as potential treatment options and did opt for the Imuran as it had a very long track record of 30+ years and a excellent safety record, though like any medication not perfect. Remicade like the other TNF alpha inhibitors is relatively new and have not had a chance to establish as long of a record as of yet, but remicade does appear to be tolerated fairly well.

None of the immune suppressants should be embarked upon lightly as they are powerful medications that do lightly suppress the immune system response. Both remicade and Imuran belong to the class of medications called DMARDs which stand for Disease Modyfying Anti Rheumatic Drugs, as they do physicaly alter the outcome of the disease they are treating.

Certainly in the case of MC eliminating troubling foods should be the first line of treatment and then look at meds if needed.

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Post by harma »

as far as I know are Imuran and Remicade are options for MC in cases other medication as Entocort and things as 5-AZA (or something like it, don't know the exact word) do not work. The immune suppressors are a second choice. But like Joe is saying, its not a type of medication to think too light about.

On this board, diet with or without entocort is the most common treatment plan. But for GI's the remicade and Imuran is a second choice medication group if the first group of medication group is not working (at least this is what my GI told me).

Of course diet is not an treatment option for GI's since they don't believe food and MC have anything to do with each other. It simple does not exit in their world
"As the sense of identity shifts from the imaginary person to your real being as presence awareness, the life of suffering dissolves like mist before the rising sun"
jmayk8
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Post by jmayk8 »

Thanks for your responses, I am doing very well with diet alone and if/when i do have a flare, my rx for lialda works great. I was just curious about the remicade bc i have never heard of it before.
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Post by tex »

Jenny,

We have at least a couple of members who haven't posted in a long time, who were using either Remicade or one of the other Anti-TNF drugs to treat psoriatic arthritis, and RA. As I recall, it didn't stop the MC symptoms for either one of them, and I remember one of them mentioning that every time she had her monthly infusion, her diarrhea always became much worse, for a few days or so, (and it was already bad enough). I always suspected that the drug was actually causing her MC, but she was afraid to stop using it, because of her psoriatiac arthritis. Because of that, she was never able to resolve her D, even though she followed a strict GF, DF, SF diet. I've always wondered if the diet would have resolved her psoriatic arthritis symptoms, if she had stopped the Remicade, and given the diet some time to work, but her doctor had her convinced that she had to use the drug. :sigh:

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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by Zizzle »

My best friend has Crohns and did monthly Remicade infusions just to make her symptoms manageable. She still had D. After a few years of infusions she developed joint pain, fevers, etc and she was diagnosed with "drug-induced" lupus. Now she can't take Remicade anymore and us doubly sick with lupus and crohn's. Not worth it!!

P.S. She claims to have tried GF and DF (separately) with no noticeable benefits. I don't think she did it long enough or 100%. I keep trying... She is my best friend since childhood and I hate to see her go downhill, especially when she has 4 children to live for.
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Post by jmayk8 »

interesting...
yes, I would have to say she should have just tried diet alone first. It's hard when you think your doctor is giving you his best advice when it really isnt..
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Post by harma »

. I don't think she did it long enough or 100%


you are so right Zizzle, I think so often that is the problem with diet, or people don't do it strict enough (especially for gluten only one cookie every week, would spoil the whole exercise) and also not long enough. To see my swollen belly to shrink it took almost a year of gluten free eating.

You're efforts to help and convince your friend are great, but in the end everybody makes his or her choices and all we can do is respect it.
"As the sense of identity shifts from the imaginary person to your real being as presence awareness, the life of suffering dissolves like mist before the rising sun"
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Post by brandy »

Happy New Year Everyone!

Remicade is usally option for UC or Crones when nothing else works. Yes it can work like a miracle but has extremely HIGH risks of cancer a year or two down the road. Docs wanted to put my girlfriend's son on remicade when he did not respond to any drugs. 18 year old 6'4 male down to 118 pounds. They chose the 3 part surgery instead. Remicade is very serious drug not to be taken lightly. Brandy
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Re: Remicade

Post by MCD »

Hello everyone. Newbie here. I was diagnosed with CC back in November of last year. Anything I tried didn’t work. Lomotil, pepto bismal, a powdered medication ( (can’t remember the name). He wanted me to start Remicade since I was losing weight and couldn’t keep anything in or go anywhere. I looked it up and the side effects scares me. After trying diet changes etc I decided to try the Remicade infusions. I’ve done 3 so far. It’s been a miracle drug for me. Stopped the diarrhea and I can get out of the house. I’m still very concerned about future side effects but I don’t really know what to do. Steroids make me sick and I already have osteoporosis.
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