Starting Remicade......oh joy! Any adivice?

[Gunny]

Diagnosed in 1998 after bowel obstruction, had a successful resection and was asymptomatic until another bowel obstruction in February 2011. I'm in the military, am stubborn and with a high pain tolerance. I knew I was flaring, but chose denial until the bowel obstruction. The did another resection March 1, 2011, but had positive margins. Was on TPN via PIC line for 3 weeks, then had to have my gallbladder removed because of a massive stone. Was still symptomatic and finally admitted I was still having problems, ie, the pain, frequency and urgency, you know the drill. Small bowel follow-through revealed a skip area with a whole other section of crohns higher up in the small bowel. So now I am going to start remicade this week. The army wouldn't pay for humera until I have failed at remicade. So for now, I am on Pentasa 1gm 4x per day, 40mg of prednisone (which I love what it has done for my face!), Questran powder twice a day, B 12 injections monthly, multivitamins, acidophilus and an occassional lortab and ambien at night time. I now am finding out my 2 back surgeries for herniated discs now may be related to the crohns. There is now a study saying that the tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF) related to crohns is also related to disc disease and joint disease. Something they forgot to tell me about! lol.
I'm not a forum person, but finally broke down as at 43, I'm over it. I know I am not that bad off, just looking for some advice as to what to expect with the remicade. Thanks in advance

 

[Sha0913]

Hi, I have been on remicade for 2 years now and it has been my miracle drug. I was diagnosed with Crohns at 11 and am now 30. I was, up until remicade, on Pentasa 6mp flagyl cipro iron potassium calcium, but since I have started the remicade i feel amazing, don't get me wrong, I still have my days where Crohns sneaks up and bites me in the butt (haha) but I am able to enjoy life again and live happily and run around with my children. Hope this helps a bit, Shannon

 

[xJillx]

Hi Gunny and welcome! I don't have any experience with Remicade, but as Shannon said, it has been a miracle for many. Some people say they feel better the next day after their first treatment! I sure hope it does wonders for you. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[ameslouise]

Hi Gunny and welcome!

Good luck with the Remi. If you haven't found the Remicade thread already in the Treatment section, you'll find lots of good advice over there.

- Amy

 

[Gunny]

Thank you

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. I will keep you all posted, and will also check out the other remicade threads. Still learning my way around the site.
Thank you all again,
Gunny

 

[David]

Welcome Gunny!

I know others mentioned it, but here is the actual Remicade forum. Sometimes people have a hard time finding it since it's a subforum

See you around!

 

[jcrjock]

hey there!!!! i have a lot of experiance with remicade and 6mp. message me as soon as you can!!!

 

[Gunny]

just a short update. Remicade failed and now have started humira on the 18th of August. Keeping my chin up and hoping this will do the trick. Thanks again for all of your support. I wished the Remicade had worked as it wasn't bad at all. I got all worked up over nothing, except that it didn't do anything for me. So on to Humira!

 

[carolhew]

Gunny, Good luck with the Humira! I hope you find the relief you are seeking!

 

[xJillx]

I am sorry to hear Remicade didn't work for you.

Good luck with Humira!!

 

[ThanksP]

Good luck, hope the Humira works!