New To the Forum

Hey All
My name is April I am 32 years old married and have 3 kids. Started having problems january 08 ended up in the hospital with bloody diarreah, and major abdominal pain, fever. I was sent home the next morning said they werent sure what was wrong but needed a colonoscopy, 2 weeks later ended up back in the hospital with bowel obstruction, (bowel spasmed and closed off) it took them a week but got it relaxed enough they did not have to do surgery. had the scope that week and told everyting was fine there was nothing wrong with me. was sent to an internist. He has been following up with me since, in october a follow up scope was done and i was then diagnosed with Chronic non specific colitis. Througg the last year I have had a 2 week period where my bowel movements were "normal". Just this last january i spent another 2 weeks in the hospital with and inflammed gall bladder and colitis flare, Right now my meds are Pentasa 1000mg/4xdayCipro, flagyl, prednisone, tramadol, toradol, buscopan, gravol prevacid. I am being weined off of the prednisone because of the side effects (uncontrollable shaking, weakness, total ill feeling all over, eyes watering, eye pain, weight gain of 25lbs in 3 days)from that. The dr are talking about putting me on Remicade. anyone have any thoughts on this med? Any help would be appreciated. I have been diagnosed since october 08 and trying different meds and nothing seems to be working.

Thanks for any info you can give me??

Your in the right place, welcome.

Hi April,

Welcome to the forum...I am sure you will find lots of good info here. There was recently a new member also asking about Remicade. Take a look at the post titled "First time user" from tpacker09 under "Your Story". You might find some of your questions answered there. There is also a "Remi club" thread...you will find that a lot of us who are or have been on Remicade.

Good luck to you!

Hi April, welcome

Hi April!

Welcome and nice to meet you. You have come to the right place for lots of good information. Shadycat gave you good recommendations to get some information on Remicade. I only had one infusion of it, due to the cost and now on Humira, but there are several others on Remicade that will be able to answer any questions you may have.

Good luck and look forward to seeing you around!

Hi April and welcome!
If you use the search feature, you will find TONS of info about Remicade on here.
It seems to work well for most people who are on it, except for those who have reactions to it and have to quit.
I was on Humira, which is very similar to Remicade, and did VERY well on that for 4 1/2 months until it gradually quit working.
Now I am on Remicade since November and am doing VERY well on it too. (I feel about 90-95% normal depending on the day.) The only thing is - I just came off of Prednisone when starting Remi, and started Imuran at the same time as Remi - so I can't be for certain that it is the Remicade that is working. But SOMEthing is working - so I'm not gonna mess with it just yet.
I know that I have read of people on here that have had positive results from Remicade for years and years before it stopped working. I was hesitant to try it at first, but I got to the point where I was feeling SO awful I would do ANYthing to fix it. I'm glad I made the choice to try it.
Good luck, and welcome again!

Hi April! Welcome to the boards! When I read about your 25 pound weight gain in 3 days, my jaw dropped. I didn't think that was physically possible!! Yet another reason I hope to stay away from Prednisone *fingers crossed*

How is your family doing with dealing with this with you? It can be so hard for people to understand what is going on...it can be so different from one day to the next.

There is TONS of info about remicade in the Treatment section of the forum...I'm not on it....yet....but lots of people on here are, and it really does seem to work for many of them. I was told by my GI that he usually doesn't like to start people on remicade right off the bat...that he likes to try other things to see if they work before making you sit in a clinic for 4 hours with an IV in your arm! good thinking, I guess...

Anyways...welcome to the boards, I hope you find the info you are looking for here!

hey april!
i was on remi for a few years, and those few years were as close to remission as ive ever come. eventually it stopped relieving my symptoms, your body can build up a tolerance to it over time.
but lots of people seem to have good success with it, so i hope the same holds true for you!
welcome to this lovely place