starting remicade Thursday

Any suggestions on what to expect? :(

I believe that the fatigue aspect of the infusion is associated with the IV Benadryl. I would suggest a driver if they give you the Benadryl. It was nice to have a driver for my first infusion I got on Sat. I am doing very well so far, I hope you do too.

1. Drive into the clinic.
2. Get called in to the infusion part of my GI's office.
3. Set my stuff down, get weighed (so they can figure the dosing per your weight).
4. Sit down, have the nurse come over and go over my recent health history (since last infusions usually).
5. Let the nurse get the IV started in my arm. (or she does this after the meds are mixed, can't remember)
6. The nurse goes and gets the medicine mixed up.
7. The nurse comes back, hooks everything up and the infusion starts.
8. They check your blood pressure and temperature every half hour or less.
9. Once the Remicade is done they run another solution through for about half an hour.
10. Once that last one is done they then take the blood pressure/temp one last time, and unhook everything.

They also schedule my future appointments during the infusions and such. At my clinic they offer drink boxes and snacks if I need them.

I'm never tired afterwards, though some people certainly get that way.

All in all I'm there for around three hours.

Good luck! :)

Agreed. A very pleasant experience overall considering my concern about taking a powerful drug. I took a friend to drive me home since I didn't know how i'd feel. (Premeds are supposed to make you sleepy but didn't for me.)
I found nurses in infusion center to be very good & attentive. They do this all day long so are great at starting IV. You can make it easy for them if you drink water in advance. Easier to get a good line in.
I had one thing not reported here - nausea. So my premed was also Zofran in addition to Tylenol & Benadryl. Fatigue afterward was minor - less than 24 hours.
The key is to communicate with the nurses if you have any questions, concerns, discomfort during the infusion. They really want to make you as comfortable as possible. At least that's what I found.
Wishing you much success and ease with this!

I second the bring a book, ipad, knitting, or something to keep you busy. It's sooo boring otherwise.

I take claritin and tylenol as premedications for my remicade. Some form of anti-histamine is used (either Claritin or Benadryl). Claritin does not make you sleepy, like Benadryl does.

Some react quickly to remicade, for others it takes a while. You should notice a positive improvement by the time you've completed the initial 3 loading dosages, if not then remi isn't going to work for you. I noticed my first positive improvement a week after my 2nd infusion, then a much bigger one a week after my 3rd infusion. I've been healing slowly ever since.

Thank you everyone!