Finished loading doses?

[73monte]

My Daughter has just finished her 3rd loading dose of Remicade. As of now, she feels somewhat better Crohn's wise, but is immensely tired. Could that be a side effect? She has always been anemic, so it could be that.
Our GI had pretty much said that the Remicade will make her feel incredible.
Maybe the disease is better, but she can't really tell, as she feels so tired all of the time.
She also used to have alot of bleeding, but since starting Remicade, it had pretty much stopped. She has had some bleeding a couple of times still, but is that because the Remicade isn't at it's peak efficiency yet?
Still now sure how long it should really take for the Remicade to reach it's peak effectiveness.
Will her condition still improve, or stay the same now that the loading doses are complete?
Thanks for any imput. Always looking for answers.

Tom.

 

[Clash]

It can take several infusions to aee full efficacy and sometimes the dose has to be increased or the schedule shortened to get full efficacy. My son has the highest.dose every six weeks plus he is on methotrexate. If remission is reached the dose may he lowered, schedule extended or combo drug reduced but it is done very slowly.

It could be her anemia, I would get her iron checked again. But she.could also have some other vitamin deficiencies. Some deficiencies can cause fatigue and people with CD are at higher risk of some vitamin deficiencies ue to malabsorption from inflammation. It is a good idea to get vitamin D, folic acid, zinc, and B12 checked. My son was deficient in vitamin D and has to supplement.

Some people do feel awesome after the first dose for others it takes a bit, I would keep the GI informed of all the symptoms and your concerns. My son felt great the day after the first dose and did great all the way through the loading doses. It was only after we tried to extend the.schedule to 8 weeks that symptoms would break through.

Good luck and hope she is feeling great soon!

 

[73monte]

Clash,

Thanks very much for your reply. I suppose we'll have to give the Remicade a couple of more infusions to see if things change at all. Our GI is going to schedule another MRE after our next appt. in early August.

It could very well be the anemia that's causing her to feel so tired out. She has also shown quite low in Vitamin D as well. Doe's Remicade cause one to be more tired?

She's going to start taking 1000 iu's of Vitamin D3 now, but every time she takes any kind of iron, she gets badly constipated. We can't seem to find any iron that won't do that to her. Even the brands that advertise themselves as non-constipating.

Tom.

 

[Tesscorm]

My son has had four infusions and he has not felt any fatigue (but, everyone does respond to the meds differently). I agree with Clash re vitamin levels. I'm going to tag Kimmidwife , she once mentioned a liquid iron supplement that was more easily absorbed. I believe it was called Floradix but, hopefully, Kim will be by and can confirm that name??

My son's GI also tested his remicade levels and antibodies just before his fourth infusion - Prometheus test showed that he had no remicade left in his system at 8 weeks and we are moving to 6 week intervals. Perhaps your daughter can inquire about having levels tested to see if she's receiving the full benefit of the remicade treatment.

Good luck!

 

[deb123]

Its early days, but as you said the Remicade has almost stopped the bleeding I would think she could be anaemic. I have found the liquid iron the most effective and I believe if you take it with a Vit C drink your body absorbs the iron more readily.
I always took a little less than the recommended dose, or took it every other day to make it easier on my Crohns, and had good results.

I also agree with Clash, Vit D deficiency also made me feel lousy, my bones were literally aching like I had the flu!

I hope she feels better soon x