Remicade DOSE increase and Interval change

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kasper87

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Mar 14, 2009
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Has anyone ever needed their dose increased because there wasnt enough drug in their body or it didnt last the full 8 weeks. i only get like 4 weeks out of mine.

My question is. Will the drug be STRONGER with more in me? Can my Body tolerate more then what its getting..

I had a severe allergic reaction to my iron infusion because it was to strong.

I hear remicade isnt like that.. There isnt really a change in side effects or complications for higher doses..

any experiences?
 
I started on an 8 week infusion schedule but that didn't seem to last so my doctor tried 6 weeks and that was better - around the 5 week I started to feel the symptoms all come back and would just make it before really flaring ...it is safe for most but after 8 months my body started to develop severe joint pain and I had to stop it completely...hopefully you will be okay as most are..good luck
 
I needed a dosage increase because it was not helping me enough at 5mg/kg. My doctor is still keeping it at every 8 weeks though at 10mg/kg. I just got the increase last friday, and had a horrible day yesterday. I couldnt leave the house. Seems to be a little better than before but still not all the way. But I will have to see how the next 7 weeks go! Hopefully they will be!!
 
I was on the normal dose every 8 weeks and then my immune system eradicated too much of it and it was moved to every 6 weeks, then every 5 weeks... then THAT wasn't even lasting, so we did a double dose every 5 weeks. It still only lasted 3.5 weeks.

Usually this means you are starting to build up a tolerance to it. What your doctor CAN do is put you on Imuran to further suppress your immune system and keep it from killing the Remicade. I was too far gone for this and had to switch to Humira.
 
Well i was on Cimzia and Humira.

I had a test done which showed NO antibodies in my BLood stream. Weird part was, they didn't see much drug either.

I might be metabolizng it to fast.
 
When I was on remicade I had to get it at 10 mg/kg every 4 weeks due to it losing effect by early in the 4th week every month. I never had a test for antibodies or drug in my system, but it was fairly obvious when the effect wore off. So you can increase both your drug dose and frequency to try and improve the effect. I would think going more frequently would be the better option if you only get 4 weeks of effect(if you can afford more infusions). You could try a couple 6 week infusions to test if that will get the drug concentration in your blood to be higher or goto 4 weeks a couple infusions and subsequently try to expand to 6 weeks to see if that works also. Adding more drug if you are clearing it too quickly would be less likely to provide meaningful benefit since doubling concentration in your blood doesnt necessarily mean doubling the time you benefit from it.
 
humira and cimzia barely did anything.
I guess the Drug doesnt stay in me long or affects me much. Weird.
 
ok so yesterday i had my infusion. 10mg/kg.. i do already feel better. i hope i get the 5-6 weeks out of it... i really do.
 
I've been on it for 4 years and over the course had to double the dose. A couple years ago I noticed it wearing off around week 4. My Doc doubled the dose and its been fine ever since. To tell you the truth I really don't even notice when the 8 weeks are up because I feel there is enough in my system. Having all that REM in one visit really pisses my health insurance off though :tongue: but I think they can afford it.
 
I currently get the 10 dose every four weeks. I was on eight weeks for a long time, then six and now four. I have been on the four with 10 for about three months now.
 
My son Keith was on Remicade at 8 week intervals, then was moved to 6 week intervals... then the dosage was raised... and then he was taken off of it. Even at 6 week intervals he'd feel like he had the flu the last 3 weeks.
 
When I was on Remicade I did fine at first every eight weeks but like so many others that didn't last. My doses got closer together then they increased the dose. Soon after that I had a severe allergic reaction. They said my body gradually built up antibodies and the end result was the reaction that scared the h=== out of my doctors. I do know a lot of people on Remicade that do great though. I wonder why some build up the antibodies and some not so much??
 

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