Remicade and Red Bumpy Rash? Help!

I am new to healingwell.com. I am 36 years old and was diagnosed with UC/proctitis in 2007. I took Remicade treatments for about 1.5 and It seem to be wearing off a little early so my doctor moved my treatments from every eight weeks to every six weeks July 2009. It put me in total remission. about a few weeks past and I had developed a small patch of itchy bumps on my face. At first I thought maybe it was just acne. A couple of months in October I went on vacation to the beach and was on the beach for the day and I woke up the next morning and had a red bumpy rach all over my face that itched like hives. I almost went to the emergy room but waited till I got home.  I told my doctor about it and they sent me to a dermatologist and went ahead and gave me my Nov treatment with steriods to see if it would help. The dermatologist told me that she had seen cases before and it was a reaction to the Remicade and that I would have to stop them for it to go away. But, she did not do a skin test or anything to know for sure, she just looked at me.  I left angry and stopped my treatments. My rash was not going away so I made another appointment with another dermatologist and they took a biopsy and I have neutrophilic dermatitis. I am now treating it with some cream and it seems to be helping. It sucks because the Remicade was so working for me and now I am not in remission anymore.  Has anyone ever had this problem with Remicade? The doctors do not seem to know if the cause is the drug, the disease or something else?

No one told me about being in the sun. My doctor seemed baffled by it. She said that people get a butterfly type red rash across their face but she had never seen one like mine. It was like I had chicken pox or something. My face was so covered. The dermatologist seemed baffled by it too.  The thing is, I have not been in the sun since and it has never improved. I had to take benedryll to keep it from itching. It was strange because it was just limited to my face. Atleast this cream that the dermatologist is helping now but I just wonder if it is my disease and the sun or the Remicade and the sun or an alergic reaction of some kind?

That is what I have on my face. My face use to be oily and now it is so dry. I am on colazal now because they are afraid to put me back on the Remicade because of this rash. I had tried everything in pill form and the colazal worked for me for about five months and I fell out of remission and my only alternative was Remicade. I loved the Remicade, it was the most normal that I had ever felt, but I was worried because it is a chemical, biological drug. I have also took 6MP, right before the Remicade. That is interesting though. Mine is like acne and also dries out and peels. I am on a cream called Clobetasol Propionate and it seems to be helping a little but I have only been using for a couple of days.

I think I need to change doctors! Really, I have had to research my way through everything to understand every stage that I have been through since I was diagnosed in 2007.  I can't believe they never told me about the sun.  I even went into my appointments with a tan and you think they would have said something.  Yeah, I am alergic to alot of meds and they gave me benedryll drip everytime I had a treatment. Well, regardless, I will not be sun tanning anymore. Now, I am hoping and praying that this Colazal works for me again. The dermatologist made me go get a blood test for Lupus to rule that out and I will find out results Thursday.

Post Edited (blondie36) : 2/14/2010 9:37:01 PM (GMT-7)

No, I was on Remicade treatments only. I did some research on the diagnosis of my face and it is basicaly inflammation of the skin.  I spent a little over 3 months on nothing but then started to fall out of remission. I am now on Colazal only and it does seem to be working. My face keeps clearing more and more every day with the cream the dermatologist gave me. I know the sun had to do with it for sure, I was just curious if other people had anything similar to happen to them.  Since the doctors never told me about being in the sun, I wished that the web site for Remicade would have had a warning though. I loved being on the Remicade because that was the most close to normal that I have felt since being diagnosed but now I am afraid to go back on it and my GI dosn't seem like she is going to let me go back to it.  I just hope that I can do well on this Colazal. Thanks for all your advice and input:)