Remicade

I have been reading how Remicade has helped so many of you and that is great. How many infusions does it take before it begins to work? My husband had 3 infusions since August. I think they called these step up program, or something like that, to get his body used to it. The doctor doubled his dose Thursday. Nothing has helped him so far. He has taken so many drugs and the doctor said if this Remicade does not work there are two more med to try before surgery. He has lost over 50 lbs. in the last two months and is not able to go out of the house very often. This is all new to us. I was just wondering if Remicade doesn't work for other people.

We are still praying that it will work. He had the infusion Thursday. How long does it take after the infusion to know if it works? The doctor wants to see him a month after the infusion. Will it take that long to work?

The CCFA recommends waiting until the second infusion before expecting results. I just had mine 3 days ago. Prior to the infusion I was visiting the bathroom 30+ times a day with lots of cramping and left sided pain. All I ever seemed to produce was blood and mucous and not much at that for all the straining. During my infusion I had to go 3 times - I was there for 4 hours. That night I slept 6 hours, amazing considering I had been getting up every hour the previous nights. The following day I had much reduced bathroom trips - maybe 10. Still producing blood and mucous, though less of both. Day 2 and I had a solid BM in the morning! Several other non-productive sessions followed. On Day 3 I had another solid BM, one non-productive session, and another solid BM! 3 times for the whole day! Today I've had a single solid BM. No urgency.

My solid BMs show bits of mucous and small amounts of blood, but compared to my previous life it's night and day! My stool is also much narrower than normal but I'm hoping that in the weeks and months to follow that will change for the better too. My second infusion is on 17 Nov.

I hope everything kicks in for you soon!

Hey there,
I just had my 7th infusion 3 days ago..
I didnt notice any improvement until my 6th infusion, and even then it was only a slight improvement. Im hoping ill notice some kind of more improvement any day now... I wish it worked right away for me like it does for others!
Im curious...what are the two other meds to try before surgery?

The doctor didn't tell us what the other two meds were. He just said if the Remicade didn't work there was two other meds we would try and if that didn't work my husband would need to have the surgery. He has had a really bad day today.