To all those who have tried Remicade: Did it work?

My first infusion was 8/30/2012. I've been on 5 mg/kg @ 8 weeks, 6 weeks, and 7.5 mg/kg @ 6 weeks. I am a partial responder - I've always been on another med with it, and I don't personally feel it does much, but my GI thinks it is enough to keep me on it.

I've just moved to 8 week infusions again, and I hope it means she's considering taking me off of it.

Yes, I received infusions for a little over five years, and after two clear colonoscopies, I stopped the Remi and now take maintenance meds (Pentasa, 6 per day.) I haven't really had any blips since then, knock on wood.

I took my intial infusion in the hospital this year, Sept 12th (10mg/kg). Then my 2nd one on Sept 16th (10mg/kg) and I will be receiving my 3rd one Oct 25th (10mg/kg).

Before my 1st one while in the hospital, I looked and felt like absolute death. The day after the 1st infusion, my family came and visited me and told me I looked like a completely different person and I did feel better. I seemed to improve pretty quickly in the beginning, but it has now slowed down. I am not going backwrds, it is just a much slower improvement. Can't wait to get my next infusion next week.

My diet is pretty open, I just maintain a low fiber diet, stay away from almost all fruits and raw veggies, also trying to lower my carbs as well. That's pretty much it. I have not had any bad reactions to food yet, just testing to see if they are impeading the speed of my recovery.

A resounding YES from me. It's been working since 2006.

The scientific literature states that if there is no response by the 14th week in the patient, then they will not respond to additional treatments. The treatment needs to be discontinued at that point to prevent further complications

It's something that you may need to give time. But then again you may not respond at all.

From my N=1 experience, not only did remicade and humira fail, they caused unwanted adverse reactions. It was a useless endeavor that cost me a lot of time and money. I implore you to look into other safer treatments like resistant starches, diet modifications and LDN if biologics are something you are not comfortable with.

Interesting. I'm going to show my friend this tomorrow. Thank you all.

Tried it ..... Didn't work. I went for about 8 infusions hoping it would "kick in" but it never did.

viviane, what other meds are you on? Also, just know that this disease itself can cause joint and muscle pain. I've had muscle and joint pain since I first got diagnosed, before I was on any meds. Just recently, the joint pain in my knees has gotten really bad at night, to a point where I can't stand up right away. Also, I didn't used to have any pain during the day, but now there is a constant mild to moderate pain all day. I started Remicade over a month ago.

Mikesocal. I know UC can cause joint pain. But everyother time ive had to deal with it it was med related. And the pain also started after my first infusion. The second one was 2 weeks later and the pain had gone down a little. The next day after the 2nd infusion it went full blown to the hands and feet. And hasent gone away since august.
I also have about more than 2 weeks after the infusion where i cant function and i need to sleep all the time.
Im also on 6mp since april 75mg
Mesalamine 4.8mg

Ive tried imuran, salofalk, cortenema, cortifoam, an other form of mesalamine and of course the dredded pred.

I've been in remission for over 2.5 years on Remicade.

Forgot my profile again!!

I had been off prednisone for a month. Both ER and GI docs blamed muscle spasms on Remicade