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started remicade today

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 2/10/2011 8:54 PM (GMT 0)
So I had my first treatment this morning!! Well they did it in only 1 hour. I thought it would have to be atleast 2 hours? I would have asked the nurse but I was so out of it do to the benadryl. I slept the entire time. I had no reactions, so yay!! So I guess my two questions would be 1) is it ok to have it done in one hour? 2) why did they have me take a bigger dose of prednisone the night before? I usually take 10 mg but they had me take 40 mg last night. TIA.
Posted 2/10/2011 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
Mine generally takes about 2 hours with a gravity feed IV...my GI's office does not have an IV pump...that may have something to do with it depending on what you're using. Also, what dosage are you receiving? When I went up to 10mg from 5, my time frame for the infusion increased. For the prednisone, it was probably so you don't experience any allergic reactions to the infusion. I get a steroid injection into my IV of solucortef to avoid any reactions. I'm not currently taking any steroids and I was told it's ok to get a one time injection of the solucortef at each infusion as it doesn't require a taper like prednisone. Thats a big jump in MG for prednisone...what MG did they tell you to do back down to the next day?
Posted 2/10/2011 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
Congratulations on getting through your first infusion. I can't really answer any of your questions, the thing about increasing the dose of prednisone the day before seems strange, I don't believe I've ever seen anyone mention doing this before. Were you experiencing unmanageable symptoms? Have you seen results from the infusion so far? I've heard some people see results right away!! Then again, it would be hard to tell whether the results were caused by the Remicade or from 40mg of prednisone.

I hope you get better responses from people taking remicade. I also hope you can successfully taper off prednisone quickly with the help of remicade.
Posted 2/10/2011 11:17 PM (GMT 0)
The increased prednisone is likely to help prevent an allergic reaction. I get solumedrel (sp), which is a steroid, as a pre-med along with benedryl and tylenol.

The hour seems really short. I am not sure why that is. I only just had my second dose yesterday, and both times it took about 1 3/4 hours for the actual Remicade to go in.

Fingers crossed for both of us that it works!
Posted 2/11/2011 1:26 AM (GMT 0)
I had my first dose of remicade on tuesday, it took me about 3 hours in the hospital, didnt really experience any changes within the first day, but i believe im feeling it somewhat now. I was already on 60 mg of prednisone so they didnt change the dose at all, but since the remicade i have begun to taper down. I have had a headache for two days but aside from that havnt had any negative side affects. My colitis seems to have calmed down a bit, i am eating now without any pain and actually feel quite good. Good luck with yours and i hope it works out for you!
Posted 2/11/2011 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
blksteeda-they said to just take my normal dose which is 10 mg.

notsosicklygirl-i have been in a lot of pain until today but I have a feeling it's due to the prednisone.
Posted 2/11/2011 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
Usually the centers won't do a one hour infusion until you've had about 6-8; this is to ensure them that you aren't having any reactions. My last three years of being infused, I was at the hour rate. I'm surprised that they gave you the one hour infusion with your first infusion, but maybe the thought process was by giving you a higher dose of pred you'd have less chance of reaction. Also, be careful of the Benedryl if you are only having short infusions because as you said, it makes you pretty sleepy. I usually had a few hours to sleep it off and even then I was tired. You might want to try Claritin or something else that doesn't cause the drowsiness.
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