Actually, at least here, 2 hours is considered rapid infusion. Slow infusion, which will be what you get defiantly for at least the first few times, can take up to 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Where I get my remicade at now for whatever reason doesn't do rapid infusions so mine usually takes 3 hours at the fastest, most of the time it's longer because they arnt often runnin on time. I miss the rapid infusions though. I've been on remicade almost 7 years.
He infusion doesn't hurt. The only discomfort is inserting the IV. You will probably be pre medicated, though I have seen some people post on here that they are not pre medicated. I don't know about this for sure, I've always been pre medicated since I've started remicade. They give me a Benadryl and a tylonal pill and give me a little cortisone ( don't know exact name) by IV. Bring something to do during your treatment. A book, laptop,, iPod, whatever you want to pass the time. I bring my iPad and watch movies or tv episodes I download onto it. Whenever I first started remicade, the first few times I got a pretty bad headache afterwards, and I was wiped out for a few days after. Now I don't get the headaches anymore, but I am wiped out for the rest of the day of the infusion and a little tirder than normal the day after. Sometimes the day of my infusion,later that night afterwards, my legs start to hurt a little for some reason. Not like bad, the best way I can describe how it feels is it feels like I've just done a hard workout and your muscles are tired. Thats gone usually by the next day though.
My first remicade was done on an emergency bases in the hospital. I noticed improvement after just a couple of days. A lot of people, if remicade works for them, notice an improvement pretty quick after starting.
Good luck tommorow! I hope everything goes well and that remicade does the trick for you! It has given me my life back, I hope you get same result!
