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Remicade decision

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/13/2012 2:34 AM (GMT 0)
I was hospitalized last week for 4 days to get iv steroids after my colonoscopy showed severe full blown pancolitis. My doctor said it was so bad I needed to get tested and approved for remicade. I have an appt. this Thursday for my first infusion. Here's my question...since I've left the hospital, I've really dialed in my diet and have been strict paleo. I have been getting better by the day. I slept the entire night last night for the first time in months, my BM's have dropped from 15-20 urgent,bloody messes a day to 4-5 partially formed with very little blood. This has all happened within a matter of days. I'm.wondering if I should tell the doc I want to hold off on remicade since I'm getting so much better this fast? Maybe I just needed the super shot of steroids to calm things down, or maybe my diet is really doing the trick. Either way, I feel better than I have in months and am now second guessing my decision to take the remicade since its such a big league drug. Any suggestions, opinions, similar experiences?
Posted 6/13/2012 4:12 AM (GMT 0)
I was in almost the exact same situation. Went into the hospital to try to knock out my flare. Did IV steroids (60MG) for 10 days. No real improvement. The day I was discharged I started the SCD diet. Within a couple weeks my BM's were coming down in frequency and were beginning to take better shape, and I didn't have as many instances of urgency. But by that time my GI wanted me to make a decision about Remicade. I went ahead and started. I had already tried Cimzia and hadn't noticed any improvement. I looked at the Remicade as a "last step before surgery", and a heavy hitter drug. But I think a lot of people would feel differently about it if it could be administered from home. It wouldn't seem like such a big deal. I'm glad I started. The improvements I gained with diet have only further improved with the Remicade. So I'm crossing my fingers that I'll see continued improvement with my third infusion in a few weeks. GI doc said that ofter the third is when people see the most results.

Now to just finish the pred taper successfully. I'm convinced that drug is worse than Remicade.
Posted 6/13/2012 9:36 AM (GMT 0)
I'm one if the fortunate ones who doesn't have have of the bad side effects of pred. I've been on and off it for five months and actually lost weight, no puffy face, no mood swings, nothing. I was thinking along the lines of doing the remicade to really try and squash what is going on inside me and use that opportunity to fine tune the diet even further.
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