Inflectra Infusion Anxiety…. help

I start Inflectra on sept 20. I am less worried about serious side effects and long term side effects after reading many threads on that site.
However, after using Google (I know I know google is awful and I’ve stopped myself now), I am extremely anxious about having a reaction during the infusion process. Are reactions common? Are they very dangerous? Am I being silly for being so anxious about this?
It’s my first time ever going on a biologic so maybe this is also why I’m so anxious.

Thanks, Keith. They told me they would be giving me iv Zyrtec and iv Tylenol. I forgot to put that in my post. Your response is comforting to know it’s safe.

Everyone is nervous with their first infusion — I know I was for sure. It might help to have someone with you — but that may not be possible with covid protocols?

I don’t take premeds with my entyvio infusions. My dr said he preferred to wait and see if it was really necessary. But it’s definitely up to you. Reactions are rare! But again your anxiety is perfectly understandable. If I were you I’d confide in the nurses when you get there. I always find that helps to tell someone how anxious you are. I love my infusion nurses! We always chat and that helps pass the time. They also have a tv going at my facility.

Take a book or whatever you like to do for hobbies. I usually play games on my phone or kindle.

Thanks for the replies everyone! Your experiences definitely help me feel a little more at ease. I hope I have good experience like all of you have. And fingers crossed I hope this medicine works for me!

When I first started remicade the nurses checked me frequently when I got my infusions. It's been 2 years now and they usually just check on me once or twice in the 2 hours it takes for the infusion and only check my BP at the beginning and end. I've haven't had any issues and have never had any pre-meds.

I was in bad shape when I started remicade in 2019. Saw improvements pretty quickly, but it wasn't until we increased the frequency to every 4 weeks in April this year that I now have no symptoms at all (don't want to say the R word because I am afraid to jinx it lol).

Have patience and communicate with your GI. I assume that dosing of inflectra is the same as remicade. If so, there is room to adjust dosing if you need to. Goof luck and keep us posted!

I started Remicade infusions almost 4 years ago with no side effects. I also take Lialda. And yes I was scared. I do take premeds Claritin and Tylenol before each infusion.
My maintenance dose has been 10mg/kg every 6 weeks for all these years. But I had gotten into a bad/severe flare over the last months caused by the cancer drug Tagrisso. My Calprotectin level was 822 and my C-reactive protein was high too.
So I stopped the drug tagrisso and we moved my Remicade infusion up to 10mg/kg every 4 weeks. I was really afraid it wouldn't work this time and I would have to move on to a different drug. But I was proved wrong and in 7 days I was feeling better and in 10 days I was in no pain and back to normal once again.
Remicade has been a miracle drug for me and it may be a miracle drug for you too.
Keep hanging in there and Good luck.

I have been on Remicade since 2015. It has been a life saver for me--. I used to take premeds but we stopped them a few years ago. The iv benedryl knocked me out for 4 hours....lol. So I always had my spouse drive me.

Good luck

Clo