May have to go off Remicade - how do I know for sure?

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I posted! I've been on Remicade 3+ years and had a great experience. Seems lately though that it's wearing off and I think I'm flaring again.

I'd love to hear from anyone who was on Remicade and then went on another medication - what did you go on and how was the transition?

Newlywed,

The same exact thing is happening to me right now. It's so frustrating! I see my doc on Tuesday, so it'll be interesting to see what he says. =(

I hope you feel better soon!

I think Remicade just reduces the number of flare ups you have, it's no guarantee that it will keep all flares away. I've heard of people on Remicade who have to take a short course on steroids to bring things back under control, or add another maintenance med like methotrexate or imuran to the mix to make remicade last longer, and perhaps also adjust the dosage or remicade or the frequency.

You can also try switching to Humira, but it may be better to try something in addition like MTX or imuran.

I hope you can stop this flare soon.

I went on Remicade in 2002 at 500mg. It worked wonders until 2005 when it was like someone just flipped a switch and it stopped working. The GI upped me to 1000mg, and it worked great again.

Might need to talk to your GI about changing the dosage, or reducing the time between infusions. What you are going through happens to some of us. Hang in there, and like others have said, there are other options now.

We tried every 6 weeks for me and it helped for a little while, but again wore off and then I started having allergic reactions.  I went on Cimzia when I stopped Remicade and I just had to wait the normal 6 weeks in between the two.  There were no problems switching and the Cimzia had kept my Crohn's in remission until the last few weeks (I did switch to Humira for about a year in there somewhere as well).  Hopefully, if increasing the frequency doesn't work for you, switching to something else will go smoothly and work better.