Remicade?

Hello, I saw my GI yesterday and he wants to start me on Remicade. The idea of IV injections seem a little scary but if I would be able to avoid the handfuls of pills daily and live my life like a somewhat normal 24 year old maybe it would be worth it.
I am wondering how people who have had or are having Remicade treatments find it and if it actually helps? Any additional info would be greatly appreciated.
On another note, I would like to become pregnant as soon as I am feeling well enough. My GI said that the Remicade treatments would have no effect on fertility or the baby while I am pregnant. Not sure how to feel about this either!
Please let me know of your experience or knowledge of Remicade :)

I started Remicade at the end of april of this year. It pulled me out of a really bad flare and I'm happy to say I'm doing very well so far.

I talked to several GI's regarding pregnancy and Remicade and have been told over and over it should be safe.

It is a very serious medication and it is a big decision but when it works it is such a relief.

Keep researching and find out all you can.

Thanks everyone for the info. I will start looking into insurance coverage as it looks very expensive!
I keep hearing over and over how serious this medication is. I keep finding that the possible side effects are increased risk of infection and cancer (specifically lymphoma). I have yet to be able to find how greatly Remicade increases your chances of developing cancer. I could imagine that this is more a patient specific answer and different for each person. I am sure that there is no general number of it increasing your chances by 25% or anything but do many patients actually develop cancer?
Are there any other serious possible side effects besides cancer and infection?

Just wanting this nightmare of UC to be over with! The 14pills a day with symptoms really sucks

Remicade helped me out alot!

Jc, my GI gave me the choice between Remicade and Humira. I chose Remi for 2 reasons. I didn't want to give myself injections and having to do it so often. With Remi I go in once every 8 weeks instead of injecting myself every few weeks or so. Plus I heard they hurt.

Jessica Marie said...
I have yet to be able to find how greatly Remicade increases your chances of developing cancer.

Slide 21: Main Side Effects of Anti-TNF Treatment
I think malignancy is the most concerning to both patients and providers and families when you think about starting a medication that might actually cause cancer, which is a scary thing to think about. But to remind you of the baseline risk, meaning those people walking around on no medications at all of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, about 2 people out of 10,000 (or 0.02%). On the immunomodulators, it’s about 4 people out of 10,000 (or 0.04%). If you’re using anti-TNF medications along with immunomodulators, although the risk is a little bit higher, it’s still about 6 people out of 10,000 (or .06%).

Slide37: Putting Risk in Perspective
The chance of dying over your lifetime from a biking accident is 1 per 5,000; drowning, 1 per 1,000. And believe it or not, in the US, the chance of dying in a car accident is about 1 out of 260. The chance of dying from cancer is 1 out of 8, and the chance of dying for heart disease is 1 out of 5. Now, remember this isn’t patients with Crohn’s disease. This is people in general. So when we’re talking about side effects of medications on the order of 1 per 10,000, 6 per 10,000, we’re taking extremely small risks.

Source: Balancing the Risks and Benefits of Treatment For Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America:
http://www.ccfa.org/assets/pdfs/risk-and-benefits-transcript.pdf

I tried Remicade for my UC but it didn't work. My mom has been on it now for 7 or 8 years to treat her Rhuemetoid arthritis and she has no ill effects from it at all. It works great in treating RA but its a crap shoot for UC. Some people it works for and others it just doesn't. Humira seems to work better on Crohn's patients.

Honestly, I don't look at forums (like this) often but I pour over medical research. I'm in a similar position as you, because I've been having trouble controlling my UC and docs have suggested Remicaid. I also want to get pregnant. I was "flaring" in January '13 and became pregnant but miscarroed at 7.2 weeks. I had lots of tests and it turns out I have Anti-Nuclear Antibodies (ANA's) and elevated Natural Killer cells (NK's). After ruling out other problems (months of testing & going to doctors--including the IBD clinic at Cedars Sinai), it is evident that my UC is the root cause of these antibodies. These antibodies will attack a pregnancy! They can cause another miscarriage.
BUT I wouldn't consider Remicaid if I wasn't so sick already and if I dodn't have antibodies--I'm also 9 years older than you & got UC at your age. Remicaid is serious and the longer you can avoid it, the better. But if you've tried everything and you're at the end of your rope (like me) then might as well take your chances. In my humble opinion.