Remicade. I might be feeling better

My GI dr. told me that she has patients that respond to it immediately and felt the difference as little as 24 hours later. And then there are others (like me) that it didn't do a thing for. Sounds like you are on the right track! Best of luck with it. :)

Glad to hear it is working for you so far. It helped me right away as well.

that's awesome news!!

i remember after the first infusion i slept the entire night!!! that had been the first time in probably 7 months where i didn't wake up to poop. i was shocked it worked so fast. i was VERY constipated the first month or two while i was on it- it was like the complete opposite of all the diarrhea i was having.

That's great Lr21.
Remember though to be patient and understand with your body; that even though things can change (symptom wise) quickly , the body itself takes time to heal. I remember thinking often 'ok if this was an external injury , cut, road rash, blisters, etc... it would take a long time to heal completely and have new healthy skin/tissue in it's place'. It helped me to visualize what was happening inside my colon and to be patient when things weren't' 100%. But yes it is also a huge relief to get any kind of positive change! :) Happy for you!

It is so encouraging to hear all the positive feedback from those that are currently getting Remicade or did the infusions and are in remission.

I pray I have the same results with Remicade. I am currently taking 2000 mg of Sulfasalazine and 9mg Useris that isn't helping. I tried Rowasa enema for the first time last night (but i don't know if i even did it right) I have an appointment with GI today to discuss other options I wish I could just take steroids again but the osteopenia diagnoses in May takes that option off the table. I should be at work right now but I'm just exhausted :(

Well it helps to understand how remicade works. It's an TNF-Alpha-blocker (as described below). Once it is in your system it goes to work. Then it is entirely up to your body to heal, once the attack on your intestine is stopped/reduced. Really depends on how bad you are damaged, how bad and extensive the uc flareup did damage to you.

How REMICADE® Works
Your immune system works around the clock to protect your body from bacteria, viruses, and other foreign agents. When you have ulcerative colitis, your immune system becomes overactive and produces excess amounts of a protein called tumor necrosis factor-alpha, or TNF-alpha.

The presence of excess TNF-alpha causes your immune system to mistakenly attack healthy cells in the lining of your intestine. This leads to the inflammation you experience with uc. REMICADE® has been shown to block the action of TNF-alpha. This inhibits an underlying cause of inflammation.

No, I don't think remi stops all inflammation in you. Well you have a bunch of remicade proteins (tnf-alpha blockers) pumped into your veins with each infusion. The remi protein will bind to any tnf-alpha protein it encounters, once locked together neither can do anything anymore (goal achieved the tnf-particle cannot trigger inflammation). That means there is one less remi protein until the next infusion. So it really comes down to how much tnf-alpha proteins your body creates vs how much remi proteins are left in your system. If you run out of remi proteins before the next infusion, then uc symptoms return. So either you get remi more frequently, or they give you more remi each infusion. And who's to say the remi protein finds and binds before the tnf-alpha finds its target; some get through before remi gets to them.

Your immune system will attempt to come up with antibodies (lol remi-blockers) and if it succeeds then your SOL.

keep us posted!! I'm looking into doing remicade too.

Afass, I hope the temporary you are speaking of is many many years..

I noticed no change after my 1st infusion of remi. My second infusion brought about noticeable improvements. My 3rd infusion brought about the biggest improvements. There has been no wear-off that I have noticed.

In the end, everyone is different. My body tends to respond very slowly to uc meds; pretty much everyone I have tried.

I never thought I would say it, but I am looking forward to the 2nd and 3rd infusions. If I saw slight improvement already, they should do the trick. Just as long as the urgency goes away I will be really happy. Mikesocal, I'm sorry to hear that you are going backwards with your symptoms; let's hope that your 4th infusion does the trick to get you back under control. I see that you are on a 4 week interval at 10mg/kg; why again did you progress so quickly to a high dose and short interval?

Lr21 said...
I never thought I would say it, but I am looking forward to the 2nd and 3rd infusions. If I saw slight improvement already, they should do the trick. Just as long as the urgency goes away I will be really happy. Mikesocal, I'm sorry to hear that you are going backwards with your symptoms; let's hope that your 4th infusion does the trick to get you back under control. I see that you are on a 4 week interval at 10mg/kg; why again did you progress so quickly to a high dose and short interval?

The 10mg/kg is done for the first 3 infusions, loading doseage. 2 weeks between 1st and 2nd, 4 weeks between 2nd and 3rd. My GI wants me to wait 8 weeks for my 4th one, but said if things were going backwards that we might have to shorten the time and not wait the full 8 weeks.