First Day of Remicade Therapy

• I'm a little concerned and scared to say the least.  I am a Crohns patient for over 30 years and have never really experienced any Crohns symptoms other than chronic diarrhea until July 2010.  When I was admitted to the hospital with a Hemoglobin of 3 and 2 transfusions later.  Plus all kinds of steroids, etc and was in the hospital for 8 days.
• After much soul searching on my part, after 5 months of my doctor telling me I will feel better than I have ever felt, I finally agreed to begin the Remicade therapy.
• I would like to know what to possibly expect on my first Remicade treatment.

From what I've read, I think each clinic does it a little differently. They had me take some benedryl and tylenol when I got there, and then got hooked up to the IV. After about a 1/2 hour they started the remicade. It took a little over 2 hours for the remicade and then I hung out for an hour afterwards to make sure I wasn't going to have a reaction. The clinic has several pods with a comfy chair, TV and extra chair if you bring someone. They had some snacks and drinks, and you could cart the IV into the bathroom. I got cold, even wearing a sweater, but they had some blankets. The nurse was there the entire time. The infusion itself was painless, and really just kind of boring hanging around for almost 4 hours. The nurse took my vitals frequently and kept a close eye on me. For a day or two I was tired, and I got a little itchy, but taking more benedryl helped. I was worried all that might lead to more of an allergic reaction, but it was fine. Really the worst was all the anxiety about what would happen and if I'd react. Hopefully I won't worry as much on Weds, and it will go about like it did the 1st time!

Good luck!

Sarah