Remicade

[nhchic]

My teenager starts this on Monday.  Any advice or experience? Ive heard it can help with Crohn's, but know there are side effects. Why do they give Benadryl with it? Thanks!

[Lauren6286]

after my seton surgery they gave me 2mg of dilaudid for the pain (the stuff is amazing!) nothing else seems to work for me. Ask her doctor if dilaudid would be ok for her..I know it's not good to always take painkillers, but if she is in that much pain, dilaudid will do the trick.. just to give her some relief

[nhchic]

Hi Lauren, thanks so much for sharing your experience. I do worry she will have a bad experience.She is in horrendous pain from her anal  skin tags or ulcers, whatever you call them. It was a rough day. She can't walk too far. Hurts to sit. She's only 15 and can't understand why this is happening to her. Ill post after her infusion to let you know how it went. Take care. :-)

[Lauren6286]

I was just reading my previous post and realized how many typo's were in it lol sry

[Lauren6286]

I currently just had my 5th Remicade Infusion last week. Yes, there are side effects, like being allergic to it, but a lot of the side effects people experience from it are because they have other conditions or are on a lot of other medications. I think the Remicade is helping me, but then again I'm not sure because it's internal, and I can't see what's going on. It is designed to heal fistulas and take down the inflammation of the bowels and intestines caused by Crohn's. They give they Benadryl and Tylenol before starting each infusion to prevent any allergiv reaction. Some people have experienced a fliushed/red face from it from what I've heard, but other than there arent' too many other reactions. Hope everything goes well with her first infusion. It can be a somewhat depressing experience because infusions are typically given in the same center with cancer patients are being administered chemo. I get mine done at the infusion center at the hospital. You meet a lot of really nice people who have been through a lot while youre sitting there for 3 1/2hrs. Whenever I'm there for my infusion, I realize how lucky I am to not have it so bad.... as there are others there going through much more scary things (like cancer).

When I was going for iron infusions (due to anemia) over the summer, I had met a women sitting next to me who was getting chemo for her bone cancer (one of the many cancers she has gone through). She has a daughter my age (23), and felt so bad for me to be going through this (even though I felt worse for her). The second time I went for the iron infusion, she was there... I sat next to her and she pulled out a book which was all about crohn's/uc and gave it to me. I was so astonished that this woman, who had just met me a day ago, took the time and the money to buy something for a total stranger. I thought it was just the sweetest thing. You will see that sitting with your daughter during these infusions is truly a humbling experience.

-Lauren