Bad Gi appointment

Well. I'll make this long story short and I have some questions.

   I went to the GI and he was dissapointed about the Remicade not helping me at all and me getting delayed reactions after the Remicade. I told him after the appointment I was getting another infusion and he said if this doesn't give me any relief in a few weeks I'm going to have to move on to another biologic plus Imuran   & be admitted into the hospital. I'm so tired of being resistant to medicine.

    He looked at my blood tests and asked to see my hands/feet and achey joints and he asked me a series of questions and now he thinks I have Gout and Lupus along with the Crohn's. I told him my eye sight has gotten worse and he said I have to get them checked again to see if I have cataracts(going friday to get them checked) or inflammation. He said the Prednisone is just giving me heck and I don't need to delay on the taper.

Questions:

-Isn't Lupus an autoimmne disease?

-What other medical treatment options are there if I were to start Humira and still not get out of this flare?

-Can't Lupus be a side effect of the Remicade?

- If you failed Remicade, what next step did you take?

Thanks for the reply! & I already see the Rhuematologist for my JRA. He knows I see him and was the one who reccomended I see him again since my joints have been swollen lately anyways. I have a positive ANA when I had bloodwork done about a year ago with the Rhuematologist when we were going through the whole dignosis circus. I'm not going to bring up the gout till the uri acid(sp?) test comes back. It's really not on the top of my list of things to worry about.

  Thanks for listing the meds you've taken & answering the other questions! I hope you're in remission and if not, I hope you get there and have a happy one

The Lupus the GI and Rhuemie are talking about me having isn't induced from the Remicade(although the symptoms have gotten worse since doing Remicade). I've had the symptoms about two years prior to starting Remicade. I was just curious as to if Remicade its self could cause Lupus..Never hurts to be curious.

 Sparkplenty: How often do you get your Cimiza and is it a biologic that you can just administer to yourself without going to the doctors office? I'll be praying the side affects go away and no reactions! I keep hearing more positive feedback with Cimiza than I do Humira lately. Must be pretty promising!

I was only on Humira for 4 minths and had to srtop it as developed Lupus, ironically the symptoms got worse the longer I was on it and haven't got any better off of it and that was over 8 months ago. My ANA has come back positive and waiting to see rheumy again early next year as he was absolutely adament that I couldn't have Lupus and could not have got it from the Humira (also used to treat Lupus!) and even told me I can't have arthritis (x-rays taken 15 years ago confirmed arthritis) and def could not have antiphospholipid syndrome (again tested positive for it twice after only child was stillborn 11 years ago) so yiu can see how much I am looking forward to seeing him again after telling me I def couldn't have the two illnesses I have already been found to have. His excuse is that they are in old records and he only has access to records from 5 years ago onwards.

Anywayyy, I stayed on the azathioprine, which I stopped for a year and that caused my worst flare ever and took 5 months to get under control and allow me to go back to work, which has always worked well for me and continues to do it's job.

Hope you find something that works well for you and that it all settles down soon.

Doctors need to act as a "team leader." I developed remicade induced lupus. It is painful and debilitating. My "ex" GI insisted that this could not be a result of the remicade. He let me hobble out of his office like he thought I was exaggerating!!!!! A very fine rheumatologist diagnosed me and she has been so supportive and helpful in her treatment. The GI wanted me to try a double dose of remicade, still insisting that it wasnt the remicade. I have since interviewed other GI's and I have found one that appears open minded and current on all the possibilities. I am on a 2 week medical leave from my work as a teacher. I could not make it through a day. The rest seems to be helping. I am 9 weeks out of remicade and I am told I have 3 to 6 months ahead of me until this will begin to resolve. Remicade was a miracle for the crohn's and right now I am still in remission. I believe a lot of this goes unreported. I wish I had refused the last remicade infusion. I would be 9 weeks closer to recovery.