Lapse between Remicade infusions.

[al_crohnnie]

Hi all,

I've been having new issues with my Crohn's disease -- additional hemmies, possible fissure, major pain with BMs and my GI wants me to try Remicade again. I had an infusion way back in 2003 and then another in 2005, but none since then. My doctor knows this and admits that it is not an ideal situation, but thinks that it will be an immediate fix for me. Currently I'm on 100 mgs of Imuran and 9mgs of entocort, but to be fair, I have only been on the entocort a few weeks. Though I am in a lot of pain (and have basically quit eating because it cuts down on BMs) I am very weary of going down the Remicade road. The side effects have always worried me and with the added concern of the time lapse between doses, I want to say no to this. On the other hand, I don't know how much I longer I can go like this. I'm not sure what to do. How dangerous is it to go back on remicade after such a long time away? Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Jennifer]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

There's actually a lot of threads on the forum about this. Here are a few links from the forum (you can use the search option above to find more):
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=28625
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=36568
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=35716

The general consensus is that it is possible to start back up on Remicade. Some people may need to take something like Benaryll in case there is a reaction and also mention to do the infusions slower than normal when starting back up. If you're willing to give it another shot then why not? Another option would be to try Humira. Hope that helped a little at least. Hopefully others will come in and share.