6mp vs remicade

both at the same time baby. Max power! Red was on something like that. Your GI will approve it.

A pincer attack!

If you choose 6mp then plan on waiting a couple months before the full result is in effect. As it takes a good while to build up in your system and that likely means being on pred for two months before you can even start the taper (which then takes another month and a half). 6mp is generally pretty inexpensive as far as uc meds go, it is available in generics pretty much everywhere and, for me, 6mp falls under the cheapest medicine copay Tier for my insurance company only $10 a month woohoo. I've been on 6mp since Jan 2013, I have had no side effects from it, I survived cold season without getting sick, and it has for the most part pulled me out of a nasty flare up. 6mp might work for you, if you are willing to wait that long, and the side effects are far less dangerous then most biologics.

If you choose remicade, know that it works quickly, sometimes in a few weeks which will get you off the pred. However, remicade could be very expensive depending on your insurance coverage. This is because remicade isn't a simple pill you can swallow yourself, rather it is typically given in a hospital through an IV in your vein which is a process that takes a couple hours of time. Often an infusion of remicade can cost between $6,000 and $11,000 depending on your body weight, dosage, and the costs charged by the hospital in which the infusion is done. My insurance wants a $3,000 annual deductible before they will pay a penny of my remicade infusions when they are given in a hospital. If your GI office does infusions (not all do) then, in my case, it is only a $30 copay; huge frigg'n difference. My GI office is starting in-house infusions in another month, and I might go on remicade then. Depends on symptoms.

The cost just seems absolutely crazy and I mean crazy! Its really heart breaking to think that there must be so many out there in the US struggling to cover medical bills. So much for land of the free!

Guess that is one of the major advantages of living in Scotland, I get all of my medical treatments and prescriptions for free of charge. The NHS has lots of problems but we are still light years ahead of the american system.

Jonny_Murray said...
The cost just seems absolutely crazy and I mean crazy! Its really heart breaking to think that there must be so many out there in the US struggling to cover medical bills. So much for land of the free! Guess that is one of the major advantages of living in Scotland, I get all of my medical treatments and prescriptions for free of charge.

Aint that the truth I envy you scotts, canadians, and others in that regard. I spent the greater part of a week making phone calls with my insurance company, the hospital, my gi office, and various medicine reimbursement programs trying to figure out how the heck I or some other reimbursement was going to pay for that $3,000 (and that was with medical insurance which not everyone has here). The RemiStart program was going to pay for the medicine cost, but not the other costs from the hospital. Ugh. Since my GI said he was going to do it in-house soon, and my insurance company said only a $30 copay if my GI does it, I decided to wait. What a nightmare of phonecalls upon phone calls, notes, cost estimates and so forth.

We're all too scared of the "evils of government" on this side of the pond to see it really does make a lot of sense to have universal coverage for all. A disturbingly large amount of folks here are suspicious of everything government does, and determined it can't be anything good. So the last thing they want is government controlling our healthcare (as there is deathpanels and other wonderful forms of nightmares just likely to happen) even though many other countries have universal healthcare and that has never happened. So, instead healthcare is run for a profit, with both insurance companies making a cut, and healthcare providers making a cut off of it. No wonder it is all so expensive. And of course, the many lobbyists from pharmaceutical, hospital, insurance and other industries have a vested interest in keeping the status quo as they are earning money hand-over-fist from it; making things hard to change even a little.

I'm on Azathioprine in addition to Canasa and Lialda. Been on it for 9 months at 125 mg with no side effects. It seems to be working (knock on wood). I've been off pred for 3 months. 1-2 BMs per day, I see what I think may be blood from time to time but inconclusive in the words of my GI. So overall I'm pretty happy. Of course, I would prefer to be on no drugs at all but that's just not realistic for me.

The side effects are scary but pretty rare (I think I read 1/2,500 get lymphoma). But I believe it helps 70%+ of UC'ers (at least at first). So put another way, 4 out of 10,000 will get a lymphoma, 7,000 will go into remission.

garylouisville:
I actually do take a good probiotoic daily and Ive journaled a food diary off and on...have pinpointed a few things that don't agree with me but nothing substantial....Tried gluten and dairy free...no difference. Definately sensitive to red wine, and alcohol in moderate consumption. Not much of a drinker these days. I tend to do best with clean eating and no alcohol. greasy, processed fast food makes me feel terrible...thats probably the case for most people with or with out UC. HAHA. Ive wondered if it would be worth getting tested for food allergies...Its sometimes so hard to tell if its just the disease or an actual food intolerance....

I'm on both at the same time. They are more effective together.

Anderson: You may want to look into histamine intolerance.

So you haven't tried Colazal yet? Colazal has shown to be one of the best meds for left sided UC. However, it wasn't enough for me to get me into remission so the doc put me on 6mp. At first it improved things for me and I will admit, it kept me out of severe flares but I would still flare. That's why I started on Remicade. I was on both for about a year but it proved to be too much for me because the 6mp started causing me foot neuropathy (which is a possible side effect) and I could never metabolize it correctly. Now I'm on Remicade and still Colazal. Remicade has been my saving grace. It has put me into 100% remission. I just recently discovered that Colazal is now causing me issues so I'm now down to 3 a day as opposed the 9 I was originally taking.

I think it all boils down down to is how fast do you want to feel better. 6mp can take several weeks to months to work while the Remicade can give you relief in about 2-4 infusions.

Btw, the typical dosing for Remi is 1 infusion, than another at 2 weeks, than another at 4 weeks...this is called the loading doses. Than, it usually goes to every 8 weeks. You go to the hospital or infusion center and the infusions take about 2-4 hours.