Hi everyone! I'm a 24 year old female and I am looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience.
I just went for my first remicade infusion today (although it looks like it will be my last).
Now first some background. It would take too long to get into all the details but I was diagnosed with crohns a few weeks ago after 2 hospital stays. I am on prednisone currently tapering at 30 MG. Ever since all this craziness started I have had times that I can feel my heart racing. Sometimes it seems to happen when I am in pain, sometimes it happens when I stand up, and sometimes it seems totally random. I've even had a few times that I felt a little achy by my chest for a couple of minutes. In the hospital they did an ekg which came back normal. I'm not sure if this could be because of the prednisone or if it is something else.
Anyway, back to remicade. So today I went for my infusion. They gave me Tylenol, benadryl and pepcid before the infusion. I hadn't been feeling well for the past few days so I haven't been sleeping well so the benadryl really knocked me out. I slept a bit and then about half way through the infusion I woke up. My heart was racing and I was short of breath. The nurse came by at that time and noticed my breathing. She kept asking if I was OK and I answered that I think I am and that while my heart feels like it's racing this happens to me alot recently. She got nervous and took my pulse which was about 120. She stopped the remicade and called the doctor. My heart rate kept jumping all over the place sometimes higher and sometimes lower. Then I started feeling this weird tingling sensation in my fingers. I mentioned it to the nurse and she touched my hand and jumped back cuz it gave her a shock. Then they decided to take my blood pressure. As the cuff got tighter my hand siezed up and I couldn't move it. My fingers moved on their own into this very strange deformed looking shape. At that point I freaked out which caused my heart rate to jump to 160 and the nurse freaked out and called rapid response. She also gave me 100mg of steroids through the iv. By the time rapid response showed up I was hot and cold all over, my hands, legs and mouth were tingling, I had a feeling of pressure on my chest and I was terrified! They made sure my breathing was OK (which it was) and did an ekg (which was fine). They also took some labs (which came back normal). Pretty soon I was feeling a bit better although I was still shaky and felt weak and tired. The doctor (she was not my doctor but the gi that was there today) said that this was an allergic reaction to remicade and that although my doctor will make the final decision, she does not think that I will be able to continue with remicade. I am pretty crushed. I've never had any allergies to anything before and I was so hoping that remicade would help me and keep me out of the hospital. I also wonder if maybe the whole heart racing thing is a separate issue. I'm just feeling kind of low about all this.
I have an emergency follow up appointment with my gi on Monday so maybe I will get more clarity then. Has anyone had any experience like this or just some words of wisdom?
I just went for my first remicade infusion today (although it looks like it will be my last).
Now first some background. It would take too long to get into all the details but I was diagnosed with crohns a few weeks ago after 2 hospital stays. I am on prednisone currently tapering at 30 MG. Ever since all this craziness started I have had times that I can feel my heart racing. Sometimes it seems to happen when I am in pain, sometimes it happens when I stand up, and sometimes it seems totally random. I've even had a few times that I felt a little achy by my chest for a couple of minutes. In the hospital they did an ekg which came back normal. I'm not sure if this could be because of the prednisone or if it is something else.
Anyway, back to remicade. So today I went for my infusion. They gave me Tylenol, benadryl and pepcid before the infusion. I hadn't been feeling well for the past few days so I haven't been sleeping well so the benadryl really knocked me out. I slept a bit and then about half way through the infusion I woke up. My heart was racing and I was short of breath. The nurse came by at that time and noticed my breathing. She kept asking if I was OK and I answered that I think I am and that while my heart feels like it's racing this happens to me alot recently. She got nervous and took my pulse which was about 120. She stopped the remicade and called the doctor. My heart rate kept jumping all over the place sometimes higher and sometimes lower. Then I started feeling this weird tingling sensation in my fingers. I mentioned it to the nurse and she touched my hand and jumped back cuz it gave her a shock. Then they decided to take my blood pressure. As the cuff got tighter my hand siezed up and I couldn't move it. My fingers moved on their own into this very strange deformed looking shape. At that point I freaked out which caused my heart rate to jump to 160 and the nurse freaked out and called rapid response. She also gave me 100mg of steroids through the iv. By the time rapid response showed up I was hot and cold all over, my hands, legs and mouth were tingling, I had a feeling of pressure on my chest and I was terrified! They made sure my breathing was OK (which it was) and did an ekg (which was fine). They also took some labs (which came back normal). Pretty soon I was feeling a bit better although I was still shaky and felt weak and tired. The doctor (she was not my doctor but the gi that was there today) said that this was an allergic reaction to remicade and that although my doctor will make the final decision, she does not think that I will be able to continue with remicade. I am pretty crushed. I've never had any allergies to anything before and I was so hoping that remicade would help me and keep me out of the hospital. I also wonder if maybe the whole heart racing thing is a separate issue. I'm just feeling kind of low about all this.
I have an emergency follow up appointment with my gi on Monday so maybe I will get more clarity then. Has anyone had any experience like this or just some words of wisdom?
