Remicade when poorly?

[Delta_hippo]

I finally got permission to start infliximab this Friday after failing azathioprine and 6mp. I'm only on budesonide at the moment. My little one and partner have both had heavy colds/ cough the last few days and I've woken up with it today. I've been pretty much counting the days to this remicade infusion as I'm desperate for the crohns to get better and hopefully get off steroids but obviously I don't want to make myself worse.

Any views about remicade when ill?

Thanks everyone x

 

[awoenker12]

From what I know, it is best for any infections or colds to clear up before your remicade infusion, since this drug suppresses your immune system and would make it harder to fight off infections.

 

[Lisa]

If you have a fever, you shouldn't get the infusion.....if you just have a cold, no fever, check with your doctor. I've had infusions while not feeling the greatest, BUT - I am also quite experienced with infusions, how my body reacts, and when to consider holding off....

Hopefully your cold has cleared up by Friday!

 

[Kas8173]

I had a cold at one of my infusions. They said they were happy to give the infliximab to me as long as I didn't have a fever and as long as I didn't have any sign of a chest infection such as coughing up phlegm, which they checked me for both of those and said I was fine to have it.
My cold went away after a couple of days even with having the infliximab, I thought that the infliximab would make it take a long time for my body to get rid of the cold but it didn't.
Speak with your doctors or nurses when you go to have the infusion and they will be able to assess whether it is safe for you to have it. By the time friday comes you may have mostly cleared the cold.

 

[Delta_hippo]

Thanks everybody. I've got a fever and coughing up all sorts of gunk today, hopefully by Friday it'll be over and I can get the infusion. The other half is nearly over it now and he came down with it a couple of days before me.

I suppose better to be ill before I start remicade rather than once I'm on it...well that's the most positive spin I can put on the situation.

 

[Scipio]

When I have had a cold I have delayed my scheduled Stelara injections by a day or two - not until I was fully cured of the cold but until I was "over the hump" and solidly on the road to recovery. I figure once my immune system already has the upper hand with the cold the immunologic momentum, so to speak, will carry me to full recovery despite the injection of the immunosuppressive biologic. So far it has worked out fine.