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Do I sound like someone who should take remicade?

Hi, firstly i should say that i realise there's no simple answer to my question but would appreciate people sharing their own experiences/advice.

I am 21 and have had crohn's for around 10 years. 5 years ago I began taking Azathioprine which worked wonders. However in the past 2 years I've had constant minor symptoms and have developed an anal fistula. More recently I've had a couple of bad flare ups. These were managed by courses of steroids, which is only really ever a temporary fix.

The fistula was also layed open a month ago, but failed to heal correctly, I am now awaiting more surgery to try and fix this.

Because of the flare ups and fistula my doctor has said i should start remicade. Obviously it's normal to worry about the side-effects. My attitude is that if it allows me to work again and live an independent life then it's worth a go. However when i read about why other patients began taking remicade, they seem to have had a much harder time with crohn's than i have. I've never yet had to have other surgery, the information i was given on remicade was that it's used as a last result, is this true? and does it sound as though i really need it considering what's at stake?
 
The biologics (Humira or Remicade) are the most successful in healing a fistula (remicade has higher clinical success than humira) so I think you definitely should consider it for that reason.

Also, you may feel your crohns isn't that bad when compared to other patients but considering you have had a few bad flare ups and that the inflammation has led to a fistula forming and you said yourself that steroids are only a temporary fix, it does seem like you need something more than the azathioprine.

And if the remicade isn't for you, there are still plenty of other meds that you could try. It definitely isn't the last resort.

This is all based on my personal opinion and experience with an abscess forming that turned into a fistula and the combination of pentasa and azathioprine made me super tired so I was moved onto remicade to help combat the tiredness and help the fistula heal. The remicade has definitely helped as I had my seton taken out about 2 weeks ago and the drainage is getting less and less. Having my 5th infusion in about 3 weeks.

Feel free to pm/ask more questions.
Hope this helps some/gives you a little more to think about. :)
 
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