Itching like crazy with welts!

[Crohnaroideramasis]

Tuesday, received my 2nd RemIcade treatment. Then suddenly tonight I have very severe all over body itching and raised welts ! Am I having a severe allergic reaction

 

[Rebecca85]

You could be! So please get it checked out.

 

[moogie]

Yes do not delay.

You need to be checked and confirmed.

Good luck

 

[maria]

yes!

 

[Inwe]

I would think so hon. Sounds like Hives, which of course are caused by allergic reactions (amongst other things). Contact your GI asap.

 

[Crohnaroideramasis]

Definitely an allergic reaction, everyone. It didn't happen right away after my second infusion, but a few days into it my hands and feet swelled up bright red and the incredible itching started. Also, my tongue swelled up. Went to the emergency room and they put me on an iv of steroids, Benadryl other antihistimines. After four hours of an iv I was sent home with prescriptions and I'm fending off the allergic reaction. Not sure what this means in terms of continuing the infusions. The reaction next time could be worse, so I was told by the doctor in the ER. Remicade really helped me in combination with the steroids about % 30 of my pain is gone over all. This is such an improvement I'd hate to go back to life without Remicade. I see my doc soon about the reaction and we'll take it from there. I hear you can pre- treat before infusions to avoid allergic reaction. I was given Benadryl before my first two infusion and obviously that no longer works. On to the next thing. I'm just going to keep trying until I get better!

 

[SdN]

I'm scheduled to take my 8th infusion in a few weeks and I've been getting hives
daily for like the last 4 or 5 weeks. I've already asked one of the GI docs I see and he said Remicade could only cause acute reactions not chronic reactions but I'm not convinced. I hope they go away soon as Remicade has recently been working extremely well.

 

[Inwe]

I would think they'll stop your remicade because of the allergic reaction. And a severe reaction is nothing to take lightly. Speaking from experience, I started remicade just fine, but after a few infusions I started to react whilst receiving it. I would get really cold, then extremely hot and then I couldn't breathe. Everytime it got worse and worse. The last time I had my infusion my blood pressure dropped so low I almost went into shock. Luckily for that infusion I was already admitted into the hospital. And as a side note: I tried ALL the pretreatment options and they (clearly) didn't work. My point is, once you start to react to remicade, you probably won't be on it for long. But there's always humira! I hope everything works out my dear!!

 

[Crohnaroideramasis]

I just had another Remicade infusion and was pretreated with steroids. My doctor also slowed down the infusion time to four hours. I just sit in my comfy chair at the hospital and watch movies or sleep. I did start itching during the infusion but was given more benydryl and that helped. Also I continued to take corticosteroids for a week after to keep an allergic reaction from taking over. I made it through and had no welts or insane itching or swollen tongue like the last time. I was really near death without the Remicade so stopping was the very last option. However, I'm currently back in a flare and I just had my treatment so not sure where I go from here? I'm on steroids, azathioprine and Remicade. At first I got well and enjoyed three solid weeks of a remission. Now I'm back to pain and blood in the stool. Back to my doctor for more questions.

 

[SdN]

Chrohnaroid have you tried other meds? I know there's Humira and I heard the there's another option at University of Washington in St Louis.

 

[Crohnaroideramasis]

Thank you SdN! Yes is could be that I will switch to Humira. I wonder what the other drug you mentioned is?