Thoughts on using Remicade to induce remission only

i started remicade shortly after it got approval. i felt great after taking it. i did build up antibodies to it in mid/late 2006. i dont take it any more because i found the makers diet which showed me that i can feel great w/o it. but anyhoo, it is supposed to prevent/heal fistulas. i was on it for years and i developed a fistula from my colon to my bladder. also my colon was narrowing a lot. it was hard to do the scope with the smallest size. so how, imho, with hindsight, i think remicade only masked my symptoms and made me feel physically better but was not helping the disease at all as it only got worse. i ended up having surgery.

as for immunosuppressants, i dont like them either. i was 6-mp for like 11 years. i never felt it did anything for me but i took it any way cos the doctors told me too. i only stopped taking it after suspecting (correctly i surmise) that it was causing my anemia via bone marrow suppression. so i dont take that one any more either.

these are my personal experiences and opinions based on them. do not take them as blanket statements for every one. some people swear by these meds. talk to them too. talk to your doctor or even other doctors.

best of luck to whatever you decide.

Not sure you would have to go route of the 3 initial doses again. You don't say what dose of Remicade you are getting (single?, double?) or how often you get it.

Could try a higher dose for a short time and a shorter time in between infusions ie: every 4 weeks x 3 times, every 6 weeks x 3, then up to every 8 weeks. This is what my Daughter's GI did when she had a 6 month lapse in her Remicade to kind of kick start it again.

Remicade does lose its effectiveness, probably moreso if you have had a long lapse in usage. My Daughter has been on it for just about 5 years now and it has lost its effectiveness during the past year and she started having to do double dose and do the infusions every 6-7 weeks instead of 8. This month she actually got a Triple dose of Remicade and is supposed to do 2 more times of Triple and then her GI will evaluate if she needs to switch to something else or continue on with Remicade back to double or possibly single doses.

Hope you find what works best for you!