Renflexis infusions

Wayne, I haven't seen anyone on here on Renflexis, Inflectra seems to the one on here frequently. Both drugs have the same working mechanism. I haven't looked in the archives here either.

When I was on Remicade after the loading doses I saw subtle changes & as more time went by I could really tell the difference. Everyone reacts differently, since the prednisone has helped you, lets hope you respond a little quicker.

Good luck tomorrow, let us know how it goes

Good luck tomorrow. I took Remicade, which is basically the same thing. I believe it got me into remission after the 3 loading doses. Unfortunately, I flared again after 8 weeks of no symptoms after developing antibodies to the drug, so it did not work for me. It works for many though, so hopefully it will for you. Also, I saw our other thread and I never had bloodwork done prior to infusions, other than when it stopped working for me. Usually that is when they will test for antibodies and drug levels in our system to determine if they need to increase the dose or the frequency of your infusions.

Sara14.....I think the blood lab is either a VA regulation for IBD or to see why Humira failed. They sent my blood work to Mayo Clinic so it took about 10 days to get a forensic report to my Doctor. I get my first infusion of RENFLEXIS tomorrow morning. Tests showed I had antibodies to HUMIRA. PRED has slowed down the number or urges but still far from confident I can be far from a restroom. Still 12-15 trips a day to the toilet. I'll keep posted.

Post Edited (WayneTX) : 5/17/2023 1:12:26 AM (GMT-8)

You should be able to ask them what the blood tests are called or what they are testing for if you want to know. That's still a lot of trips to the toilet while being on prednisone. How did the infusion go?

That's not accurate information they gave you. It usually takes people at least until after the second or third loading doses to notice improvement from that medication. Others please correct me if I'm wrong, but I would not expect fast results from a biologic.

You’ll notice slight improvements after you finish the loading doses. Very slight and there will still be bad days mixed in. My first major improvement was being able to complete a prednisone taper — but that probably took 6 weeks or so. Then you start having more good days than bad. After your 3rd loading dose you’ll have your first 8 week interval. I remember having some bad days again after about 6 of those 8 weeks. Then after that infusion things markedly improved as far as symptoms go.

Some people notice improvements almost immediately (I met one woman who said after her 1st infusion she slept through the night without needing to go to the toilet, for the first time in ages). Many others will only notice improvements gradually and after a few weeks. In short, just let the medicine do its thing and wait until the loading doses are done before assessing if it's working. I agree with sara and straydog that what the nurse said is not entirely accurate.

Post Edited (poopydoop) : 5/18/2023 4:59:04 AM (GMT-8)

After my first infusion of entyvio I felt very much stronger that night. There was no difference in symptoms, just that small sign of feeling stronger when I’d been feeling quite sickly and weak. So sometimes it’s only a small sign at first that a med will work — and other times there’s no sign at all at first.

up 4X last night so you were all right......long road still lies ahead.

answer to Q is brown liquid diarrhea with some flakes showing here and there on top or has sinked to the bottom.......nothing even close to forming stools yet........not taking anything now to bulk up. I'll check that out.

You may try Culturelle for the diarrhea. I was still a water fountain (very urgent diaper style diarrhea) leaving the hospital but my sister picked up Culturelle for me to start that night. I feel like it helped me very fast- within 3-4 days my poop was getting firmer. Might be worth a shot. I was on 60 mg of iv pred for 6 days and that did not touch the diarrhea aspect but Culturelle is a strain that works great for diarrhea. I swear by it. I have been taking it the whole time I have been home and my poops are like rocks (constipated now but I will take it).