Higher dosage of Remicade

You seem a litle frazzled, so I'll go over some of the basics for you:

• Remicade is dosed either 5mgs per kilogram or 10mgs per kilogram. So listing the number of vials doesn't do much good without knowing the body weight. But it sounds like he was 5mgs per kilogram and doubled to 10mgs per kilogram. That's fine, some here use double dosages and it helps them.
  
• I'm 145 pounds or 65 kilograms. My dosage is 5mg/ml per kilogram, so thats 325 mg/ml needed for an infusion of remicade. A vial of remicade mixes to 100 ml, so they use 4 vials of remi for each of my infusions. If he uses 5 vials, he must be a little more in mass than me.
  
• Remicade infusion frequency can be 8 weeks, 6 weeks or 4 weeks.
  
• So, yeah 10mgs per kilogram every 4 weeks is the maximum dosage for remi
  
• The remicade antibody test he is referring to is the Prometheus labs anserfx test http://www.anserifx.com
  
• Depending on the results of that test, you might want to change his treatment. If antibodies to remicade are not found, then he has failed anti-tnf treatment (meaning similar drugs simponi, humira will not help) and the best treatment course is to try entvyio which uses another treatment course. If antibodies are found, then increasing the remi dose (already done) may offset it or you can switch to another anti-tnf drug like simponi or humira.
  
• Remicade is based on a mouse protein, and as such the immune system may target it and develop antibodies over time. That makes remi less effective over time, or it may cease working all together. Other anti-tnf drugs like simponi or humira are more humanized, and less prone to that risk. Increasing the remi dose somethimes is enough. Others must switch to another med.
  

Hope this helps. Good luck,

Is he on anything besides the remicade and prednisone? I have been on remicade for a little over a year now at 5mg/kg every 8 weeks. I had a colonoscopy on Christmas Eve and it showed some inflammation (I could kinda tell too) so my doctor put me on imuran in addition to the remicade. The imuran helps to not build antibodies against the remicade.

mcfarl73 and ipoop..... First,,,no,,His doctors never put him on the imuran that I know of, in case they mix it with the remicade when he goes for an infusion.. so I don't really know..The older gastro doc, that he just saw last week, gave him an antibiotic called METRONIDAZOLE 250mg 3 times a day for 3 weeks.
Matt doesnt know why he gave him that,,but maybe he has an infection or something,,,
And yes Ipoop,,,he is very smart,,and has learned and read so much about Remicade Humira, Entivio and all the rest,,plus their side affects...etc..that it amazes me how much he understands his own disease ..He is now studying the web site on this blood test for antibodies...and there is so much to take in..He is mostly worried about the sores that have develoed all over his arms and also lower legs..that is really kinda rare. and the young gastro doc never saw it or knew nothing at all about it...but the older doc said he only seen it on legs a couple times...so he can deal with the colitis,,but it's these sores that are worrying him, as it is rare and actually form on your organs, including your lungs, heart, spleen,,etc...and can kill you...so that has him freaking out...The two GI's actually know each other..the older one is my husband's doc, who had mild colitis,,and now in remission, but in Maryland...we live in Virginia, so Matt went to this local younger one..but my husband insisted he go see His doctor for another opinion, so he did. So he was told to take this blood test one week before his next Remicade infusion...so we'll see.

Ipoop,,,don't feel bad that you never heard of sores on the arms,,,neither did either of his gastro doctors.
They had no clue what it was,,,If you look up Pyoderma Gangrenoosum on google and type in images or pictures,,,they show an arm of a guy who has it...Matt's is from his wrist up to his shoulders..all around both sides and some on his calves too...and they burn,,,after 3 different dermatologists saw it,,finally the last one,,and older doc,,,knew what it was as soon as Matt told him he had colitis,,he said,,"Oh now I know what that is,,,it is colitis on your arms,,ulcers and inflammation,,and they take forever to heal...they drive poor Matt nuts....and it is all part of his auto immune problem,,,and Remicade is suppose to help it,,but it isn't...so...we are upping the dosage as I stated in the beginning here...lots of history here...