Can you get hives/itching from Remicade (i.e. an "allergic reaction")?

[Mike_in_IL]

I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to read about my situation below:

I've been on Remicade for about a year now (since the end of last July) and my stomach has never felt better. I've never had a problem during my infusions, however, about three and a half months ago (late March) I started developing a few hives (red spots; some slightly raised and itchy) on my arms. For the next couple of weeks, they progressively got worse (especially at night) and I started getting them all over my arms, legs/feet, and torso (primarily my hip and rear). Sometimes up to 100 or more and some of them itched bad! But they would always go away after I went to sleep and usually all be gone in the morning when I woke up. My allergist put me on both Allegra and Zyrtec, which seemed to control them for the most part over the next couple of months. My skin would still get really red from being in the shower, but the hives were very minimal at best. However, two days after my most recent Remicade infusion on June 16th, the hives came back with a vengeance (I would get covered in them all over at night). And to make matters worse, my skin started becoming itchy all over my body, even in the most inconvenient of places (private areas!). My antihistamines were doubled, I was put on Zantec 150, Singulair, and finally prednisone to get rid of this problem. Only after a high dose of prednisone for a few days did this stop. Now that I'm weaning off the pred (down from 40mg to 10mg a day), the itchiness is starting to come back pretty bad again.

Thoughts??? My allergist and GI doctor both initially didn't think it could be the Remicade since I went 8 straight months without any issues. However, they're not completely sure though. Gosh, this is annoying...especially since I have no other symptoms (flu, headaches, fever, etc.)! And my bloodwork has all come back completely normal...

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mr. Izzy]

I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to read about my situation below:

I've been on Remicade for about a year now (since the end of last July) and my stomach has never felt better. I've never had a problem during my infusions, however, about three and a half months ago (late March) I started developing a few hives (red spots; some slightly raised and itchy) on my arms. For the next couple of weeks, they progressively got worse (especially at night) and I started getting them all over my arms, legs/feet, and torso (primarily my hip and rear). Sometimes up to 100 or more and some of them itched bad! But they would always go away after I went to sleep and usually all be gone in the morning when I woke up. My allergist put me on both Allegra and Zyrtec, which seemed to control them for the most part over the next couple of months. My skin would still get really red from being in the shower, but the hives were very minimal at best. However, two days after my most recent Remicade infusion on June 16th, the hives came back with a vengeance (I would get covered in them all over at night). And to make matters worse, my skin started becoming itchy all over my body, even in the most inconvenient of places (private areas!). My antihistamines were doubled, I was put on Zantec 150, Singulair, and finally prednisone to get rid of this problem. Only after a high dose of prednisone for a few days did this stop. Now that I'm weaning off the pred (down from 40mg to 10mg a day), the itchiness is starting to come back pretty bad again.

Thoughts??? My allergist and GI doctor both initially didn't think it could be the Remicade since I went 8 straight months without any issues. However, they're not completely sure though. Gosh, this is annoying...especially since I have no other symptoms (flu, headaches, fever, etc.)! And my bloodwork has all come back completely normal...

Thanks,

Mike

I would try another anti-tnf, and see if it goes away. However if stopped remicade and had to go back on it they say you would have a bigger chance of initial reaction to the infusion. I have quit remicade 3 times for years apart, and I still have not had a bad reaction during infusion. So that being said, if i were you i would try Humira(or Cimzia) and see if that helps. Make sure you run process of elimination in all other meds, supps, ect that you may be taking, before doing that though.

 

[deedee]

I don't know what's causing your hives, but I can share my experience. About 3 months after starting Remicade, I started getting hives randomly. They just appeared on random parts of my body without any explanation (and not during an infusion). They usually went away after 30 min or so but sometimes took a few hours. My GI seems to think it was caused by the Remicade, even though my reaction was not related to my infusions. I was put on zyrtec to take every day until it calmed down. After that, I could take the zyrtec as needed. After a week or so, it did calm down, although I certainly still get hives (I've been on Remicade for 11 months now). When it first started and was pretty bad, they said I might end up having to switch to Humira, but decided to wait it out and see what happened. Which was good, since for me, it got a lot better. It sounds like your case is MUCH worse, though, so maybe you will end up having to switch to another anti-tnf.

I don't know if that helps at all, but that's what's happened to me! I get hives now but they're not that bad or that frequent so I just deal.

good luck!

 

[Mike_in_IL]

Mr. Izzy...I was actually on Remicade 9 years prior to re-starting it in July of 2010. I had three separate 8-week infusions during the fall of 2001 to get my flare-up under control back at that time...I then went 8 1/2 good years on only Azathioprine before flaring up again last summer. So, that is why I went back on Remicade (and I've now been off of Aza for several months). But to your point...I did not have any trouble re-starting it after such a long period inbetween infusions.

deedee...yeah, that definitely helps! Sounds similar to what I'm going through. And it really wasn't that bad at all until a couple days after my last infusion in June like I mentioned. This most annoying part about this is the constant itching all over my body. If that doesn't get better, I don't see how I can stay on the Remicade since this will eventually drive me nuts. My next infusion is not for another four weeks, so I'm hopeful this will get better. Plus, my GI doc wants to pre-medicate me on Prednisone for a couple days prior to it and a few days after. We'll see... Unless I decide to just switch to Cimzia instead, which I'm strongly considering doing at this point.

 

[vonfunk]

You can get an allergic reaction to Remicade, you might want to talking to our doctor about pre-medicating. It would be an allergy med and maybe steroids prior to the infusion.

I became allergic really fast, I had a delayed reaction to my first infusion, and the second one put me into anaphylaxis (sp?).

 

[Mike_in_IL]

vonfunk...well, that's the thing. As I already mentioned in my initial post, I'm currently on 2 Allegras, 2 Zyrtecs, 2 Zantec 150's, and Singulair. I also just got off of Prednisone a couple days ago, and sure enough, the itching has since continued to get worse as I weaned down off of it...and the hives have slowly started to come back.

My GI doc wants me to start back up on 40mg's of the Prednisone two days prior to my next infusion, and quickly wean off after that over a two week period. However, what good will that really do me if all the different antihistamines I'm on aren't really helping??? Because I'm sure as heck not going to stay on Prednisone just to control this problem. If I'm becoming that allergic to it, it's probably not worth staying on. I'm 50/50 right now about whether to do it again or switch over to Cimzia.

PS - My allergist still does not think the Remicade is what is causing this...he just told me over the phone that he thinks there is less than a 50% chance the Remicade is actually responsible...

 

[vonfunk]

Prednisone is often the next stage to controlling allergic reactions after anti-histamines as it does the same think to the body, except with different more annoying side effects. Using steroids has a stronger effect on controlling histamine production that regular OTC ant-histamines.

 

[karthik]

Antibodies against Infliximab

Hi,
I don't know the exact reason of your problem,but i think it might be the reaction of the infliximab with the antibodies which your body might be producing against it.I have taken three doses(about 300mg X 3times) of infliximab.Initially i have never had any problem after the infusion,but after 4 months(during which i was taking azathioprine and stopped later),i started to get hives and allergy all over my body,predominantly on the back.The doctor advised me to start Azathioprine again, with a daily dose of 50 mg,and within no time,the allergy started to disappear.He stated that the reason might be "reaction of the antibodies being produced(against infliximab as it is a mouse protein) by the body with the drug.Azathioprine or other immuno-suppresents might help in reducing the reaction of the body against the drug,thereby increasing its efficacy.Prednisone can also help.
Hope this is going to alleviate your problem.
Cya tc

 

[JMH]

I'm not sure if I have hives or psoriasis, but it has been slowly increasing all over my body, mostly my legs and torso (back). But recently after my 5th Remicade infusion, they have become very irritated. My doctor told me to take one benedryl the day before, day of, and day after my treatment. With winter setting in, my dry skin on top of the itching from the hives is enough to make me crazy. I hope the zyrtec, benedryl, and cortizone help.