REMICADE SUCCESS STORIES !?

Hello everyone long story short I just had my daughter on January 17th and I don't know if it was water weight but literally went from 128 to 116 after she was delivered. But I just got my lab work done for my crohns a day before she was delivered & he said that my inflammation Mark was kind of high like a 15. They said tthey wanted to do blood test again in February at the end to see if it changed because it could of been kind of high from me having the baby. But he said if its still the same he will most likely do a colonoscopy an switch me to remicade can anyone tell me the side effects especially risk of cancer? And how you all did on it? Thank you!

I've been on it since last April. Prevented me from having to have surgery. I'm taking it in combo with a half dose of 6mp to prevent antibodies (can't do full dose due to side effects). No signs of active crohns! I have had other issues with body aches and migraines and probably some other things I can't think of right now that started several months into the remicade but so far there has been nothing to definitively say it's the remicade. Started plaquenil and that has helped those pains and most issues have resolved or lessened. Just caught my first cold while taking it and it's a bad one (made worse by the fact that I have asthma that only activates when I'm sick). As for the cancer risk, I agree with @scifigal.
Personally the cancer risks have always scared me especially since I'm on 6mp and remicade, but I just keep track of any symptoms that are new and contact my doctors if it is something that has me unsettled. The GI I go to is very thorough and seems to be very aware and concerned about the risks so I at least have one that will closely watch everything. There isn't much choice, active crohns is guaranteed to be destructive. I'm at peace with my decision to take it and so far it has helped.

Humira initially helped me gain weight back to my remission weight (plus I went on an ice cream binge because I hadn't eaten any in like 6 years and my weight was so low I needed to gain it back fast. During flares I could eat anything and still loose weight) I stopped humira due to side effects. Remicade helped me gain the last few pounds back that brought me back to my pre-crohns weight.I still watch my diet but it's not highly restricted I kind of take it week by week avoiding junk foods, nuts and any kind of rough foods that might cause bleeding.

& when did it eventually start working what dose? And remicade is stronger then humira right?

THANK YOU BETTY SUE

Betty sue just reminded me, in regards to what I said about the combined therapy and cancer risks, my doc had recommended I only be on the combo for two years and then just remicade to reduce risks.

Humira and remicade are basically the same strength and act the same way. They have different biological material that comprise them though. Remicade can work pretty quickly. I was on steroids when I first started so it's a little hard to say which did the initial work but within 3 months I had a good scope and only an insignificant spot left that was healing when it was rechecked on the 4th month for a structure dilation. Have you ever been on humira? That one also worked very well for me in regards to the crohns. It kicked in within the first month or two and no steroids were needed other than the short course I got while hospitalized.

Remicade isn't necessarily stronger than Humira, but it lasts longer in the system and is considered slightly more effective than Humira for that reason.

I started out at 5 mg/kg every 8 weeks. This is the standard dose. You would actually do loading doses at 0 weeks, 2 weeks, 6/8 weeks, then every 8 weeks after that. Most people start feeling pretty good after the first or second loading doses. It's difficult for me to remember, because I developed an abscess at the time that turned into a fistula, got pancreatitis from imuran, AND got c. diff. all at about the same time, which meant I was pretty sick anyways. The fistula was what made me want to switch to Remicade, and then the pancreatitis forced me to do it immediately instead of waiting a month or two more after moving to a new state.

Switching meds might be a little premature - it really could just be from your hormones changing from having a baby. Trust me, lol. And those hormones are going to keep changing for a while. I'm almost 10 months postpartum, I stopped breastfeeding about 3 months ago, and I am STILL having hormone changes from it (losing hair, etc.)!

I was on Remicade for 10 years. I never had any side effects then or now and it has been 18 years since my first dose.

While I was on it I ate whatever I wanted. Remicade worked so well for me that going for infusions was the only thing that reminded me I had Crohn's. I did gain my weight back.

I was also a quick responder and saw improvement in symptoms with 24-48 hours of my first dose.

Mine was actually a pretty big nightmare/comedy of errors. I was hospitalized 10 times in 5 months. I was fine until my daughter was 3 months old, then I came down with influenza. That made me start to flare a bit, so I was put on prednisone. But it turns out I had thrush (I had no idea what to look for), so the prednisone made the thrush go systemic and I went septic. Then I got mastitis like a week later, so I got put on antibiotics, which made c. diff. come back. I started really flaring then and had the c. diff., so I was put on even more antibiotics, but then an abscess formed and burst on the inside, and I went septic from that. So even more antibiotics, which kept bringing the c. diff. back. I actually ended up becoming resistant to all abx used for c. diff. and had to have a fecal matter transplant about 6 months later. But then a few weeks after sepsis, my pancreatitis flared up (I got it from taking Imuran and had had no problems in a year and a half) and I was admitted for that. Then I got a really, really bad UTI that went into my kidneys, so more abx.

It was just a domino effect. But I got REALLY sick REALLY fast, so I got treated pretty quickly. I moved states after the UTI because half of the problems that occurred were doctor error (they insisted it wasn't really an abscess, just a swollen gland, and it burst inside because we waited too long to operate on it), and it was my new GI who immediately moved my Remi from 5mg to 10mg and from 8 weeks to 6 weeks. He also did the FMT that same month.

Stay on Remicade as long as you can!
It's a miracle drug that let me be healthy enough to bear a child!
The postpartum was a mess of diarrhea, then constipation, then finally regularity. A colonoscopy six months after delivery showed no evidence of disease activity.

I had a bad flare last summer and was told I should try Remicade. While waiting 3 months to start it, I got better on my own and was feeling pretty good before starting Remicade. Since my third treatment on Nov 30th, I haven't been doing well. Not as bad as last summer but there is some flaring going on. They took blood last week to test my levels but that takes 6 weeks to process. I'm on Pred again so it hopefully doesn't get out of control. It's really frustrating.