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starting remicade tuesday- help

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Posted 4/26/2012 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
I start remicade on tuesday. My stomach pains are a little better the last couple days (i'm knocking on wood right now) but my joint pain and body aches are worse. If i start it tuesday how will i feel tuesday night or wednesday?

i'm just wondering how i will feel after. Do i need someone to drive me or can i drive myself after?

and since wednesday is my birthday how will i feel the next day? if i would like to have a couple drinks for my birthday,would that be a mistake? I only drink once or twice a month at the most. and when i do its 3 drinks max. If i would like to for my birthday, would that be ok?

my brother has been on it for a year but he started it at 15 so i would like an adults point of few.

Posted 4/26/2012 11:25 PM (GMT 0)
Well, firstly, happy birthday in advance.

Hopefully your first infusion will go well. I felt absolutely fine during and after my first one, but I still wouldn't recommend driving afterwards. Get somebody else to drive you home.

You should feel more or less the same the day afterwards, although some people suffer from fatigue for 1-2 days afterwards. As long as you feel all right, can't see any harm whatsoever with having a couple of drinks on your birthday. I rarely drink, but that's for other reasons, nothing to do with being on Remicade. Whenever I have had alcohol, I haven't noticed any difference.

Remicade normally takes 2-3 infusions to kick in, so I wouldn't expect to be in remission the next day. But having said that, some people have said they felt better after the first dose, so you never know, I suppose.

Good luck!
Posted 5/4/2012 1:41 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for the help. The infusion was great. I was there for about 3 hours but it was easy. I took a short nap while I was there too. The nurse kept taking my blood pressure and at one point she told me I mst be a cheap date. Lol it dropped from 108 over 70 to 82 over 53 in just a few minutes and we weren't even half way done. I really couldn't drive anywhere so thanks for the heads up about driving.

And as for having a drink or two all I can say is LOL. so I did have 2 drinks for my birthday. I didn't have beer or any of the fufu drinks that have a lot of sugar because I didnt want to chance it. Those have upset my stomach in the past. The only thing I use to be able to drink without any problem is a flavored vodka and sprite. And a weak one at that. And I normally only drink when we go out and with 2 kids that's to even once a month now. So to celebrate my birthday (and the birthday of a close friend that passed 2months ago, we have the same birthday) I had 2 raspberry vodkas with sprites in small glasses. After the 2drinks that I had, a few people said my eyes looked horrible. Red and bloodshot and I felt as if I had been taking shots and drinking for hours. After those two I had to say no more tonight for me and about 2 hours later I was completely fine. But those hit me hard!
Posted 5/4/2012 2:49 AM (GMT 0)
Ah yes, the constant blood pressure taking - I can identify with that. >_>

One thing I forgot to mention is that the pre-meds they give you - the antihistamine, specifically - can make you incredibly drowsy. The effect for me wears off after about an hour or so, but you wouldn't want to be driving home if you were still under the effect of it.

Sorry about the passing of your friend :-/ But glad you were able to have a couple of drinks at least!
Posted 5/5/2012 9:21 PM (GMT 0)
I had infusions for two years.  I drove myself home every time.  I used to feel tired for a couple of days but it didnt stop me getting on with my life, and I would have a drink if I needed one.
Posted 5/6/2012 1:37 AM (GMT 0)
So Any idea about how many infusions before i notice if the remicade is making enough of a difference to stay on it. My doctor said to take two doses and then we will meet to see if I've noticed a difference? Wednesday and thursday I didn't have the body aches and joint pains and stomach pains weren't there and my energy was up as well. Wednesday i felt great and was the happiest I've been in a long time. Thursday was pretty great too. But Friday I started with a few small stomach pains. And today I woke up with the aches again, my energy is down, and my stomach has had a few small pains. The doctor said it should on,y take me one or two doses and I should be able to tell its working for me. If you would have asked me Wednesday, Thursday, or even Friday morning I would say yes, but Friday night and all day today I would say im going back to how I was, if that makes since.
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