Hey everybody, I hope all you guys are doing well.
A brief history of my experience with Remicade. I originally started last August with the three loading doses at 0,2, and 6 weeks, and every 8 weeks for maintenance. I am currently on the standard dosage. I have been doing really well on it. I was also on 6mp along with the Remicade until this February.
In March around 2 weeks before my infusion was scheduled, I began to experience loose and more frequent bowel movements. At the time, I was worried that I had built antibodies to the Remicade, but when I finally received my infusion, everything went back to normal. This lead me to think that my levels of Remicade were becoming low at around week 6. My original theory behind this is since I am an endurance runner, my metabolism has increased since running increases your metabolism and that I was also burning through the Remicade more quickly. So, right before my next infusion in May, I got my blood work done and the results said that my levels were adequate and that I had no antibodies. This really puzzled me. Unfortunately, they did not check my inflammatory markers.
As of right now, my next Remicade infusion is in two weeks, and as of today, my stools are starting to become loose again. My doctor is not convinced that I need a higher dose of Remicade or that I have to move it up to every 6 weeks. He did say that if I do start to experience symptoms again that I should get my blood work done again to check the inflammatory markers. Any thoughts or advice of what I should do? Thanks!
A brief history of my experience with Remicade. I originally started last August with the three loading doses at 0,2, and 6 weeks, and every 8 weeks for maintenance. I am currently on the standard dosage. I have been doing really well on it. I was also on 6mp along with the Remicade until this February.
In March around 2 weeks before my infusion was scheduled, I began to experience loose and more frequent bowel movements. At the time, I was worried that I had built antibodies to the Remicade, but when I finally received my infusion, everything went back to normal. This lead me to think that my levels of Remicade were becoming low at around week 6. My original theory behind this is since I am an endurance runner, my metabolism has increased since running increases your metabolism and that I was also burning through the Remicade more quickly. So, right before my next infusion in May, I got my blood work done and the results said that my levels were adequate and that I had no antibodies. This really puzzled me. Unfortunately, they did not check my inflammatory markers.
As of right now, my next Remicade infusion is in two weeks, and as of today, my stools are starting to become loose again. My doctor is not convinced that I need a higher dose of Remicade or that I have to move it up to every 6 weeks. He did say that if I do start to experience symptoms again that I should get my blood work done again to check the inflammatory markers. Any thoughts or advice of what I should do? Thanks!
