Does Remicade Help Get Rid of Fistulas?

I have several fistulas - but all internal. 

sm bowel to bladder

sm bowol to lg bowel

I havent gone on Remicade because my crohns is some what managable with the imuran. 

Would Remicade dissolve any Fistulas?  Or is surgury the only answer?

The fistulas were there before i got the crohns under control.  but I would rather take the rem before surgury.

It closed mine... but I had to come off Remicade and eventually it re-opened, but it was nowhere near as bad as when it first opened. It only drained slightly when I had loose stool. (I have what is called a complex fistula). I shared the same view as you on surgery.

After stopping Remicade, I panicked as to what to do. As a last ditch effort I used a ton of probiotics daily for about 8 months straight. about a month or two into it it stopped bothering me completely. Honestly, even now and during my last flare I forgot all about it completely. Which has never happened before.

In hind sight - If I could turn the clock back, I would have done Remicade along with probiotics right form the start.

I'm sure it will help you. As Ides points out, this is what it is great at!

Scary stuff though... the idea of an infection tunneling through you... Been a while since it's crossed my mind.

Bacteria have the potential for entering your urinary tract system via the fistula to your bladder. Any bacteria in the small bowel might travel to your bladder in any small bowel contents that reach the bladder. Notice I said might. Doesn't mean it will happen, but it could.

Since you receive monthly urinanalysis, obviously your doctor is also concerned about the possibility.

The route bacteria take are from the bladder, up the urethers, to the kidneys. If you drink lots of fluids that lessens the possibilty of this happening. [Don't drink more fluids that your doctor has told you to consume.] The only reason I mentioned the kidney infection possibility was because it is a concern whenever anyone has a fistula to the bladder. It seems like your doctor is on top of this so don't worry because of my comment.

ya that makes sence Ides

I had two massive rectal fistulas when I was diagnosed with CD in 2007.  I was diagnosed  with CD in the lower colon and a little bit in the ilium.  I had surgey to install ctons to help draining.  I was also told by my GI that the only way to heal such large fistuals as I had was with remacaid. He said nothing else will work with fistulas as big as I had.   

I really didn't want to turn off my immune system at that time, so I did my own research and decided to  try a more conservative approach first, since I was not having any other major symptoms like  pain or diarerrhia.  I read the book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" and I decided to try the SCD diet and give it a shot before anything else.  I did accept to take pentassa at 1000mg 3Xday, but nothing more hard core.

I followed the SCD diet to the absolute letter without any cheating. I made my own yogurt , i baked my own almond bread, and I followed it to the letter.    After 6 months on the diet, the first fistula healed up so much that the surgeon had to remove the cton so it would heal up completely.  By the 8 months on the diet the other fistula healed up also.  The surgeon asked me what drugs I was taking, and I said none but pentassa and the SCD diet.  He said he has never never seen fistulas as big as mine heal by themselves without taking drugs like remacaid. The  GI was also amazed.  Both docs said what ever you are doing,, just keep it up because it is working for you. 

Now was it the pentassa or the SCD diet that healed my fistulas, or maybe the combination of both,,,I guess we will never know, but they healed up and they have never came back.   It has been 6 years since my diagnosis, and I have not had one symptom or a flare or any problems with CD since being on the SCD diet.  I has a colonoscopy two years ago, and it showed absolutely no inflammation in the colon or ilium. The surgeon said the only signs he saw was some scare tissue around the rectum where the fistulas had been, but nothing more.

I still follow the SCD diet to this day, but a little less strict then before, and I still take the pentassa.  I suggest you get the book "breaking the vicious cycle" and read it.  It has a a lot of information about CD and how diet affects it.  There are also a lot of people on this site that have had good success with the diet so there is wealth of information to be had here.   It worked for me healing my fistulas, so it might work for you.  

I thought Remicade was specifically developed for the treatment of RA and it was discovered as being a good "cross-over" drug for IBD since many IBDers develop RA often as a result of having IBD (an extra intestinal manifestation of IBD).

I have also heard that Remicade can aid in healing fistulas.