Oh Girl this is wonderful...

You can pm me with ANY questions or thoughts or concerns, we have several here on the boards with Remicade.

On September 8th will go for my 7th Infusion.

I will say insurance wise it is a pain in the butt, at least for mine I had to have a current TB test, current x-rays, blood work and I guess everything that we had tried up till then. It took about 6 weks to get the ok from the insurance.

This is different for everyone but my treatments at least on explanation of benifits is about $4000.00 an infusion but then BCBS shield comes in and is lke ok with the discount, stuff we don't pay for blah, blah, blah so it is costing around $2500.00. So far I have not paid a penny BUT I have Medicare as secondary to pick up any balance so I have been blessed greatly in this or I wouldn't have been able to do it.

Now drawback wise is anything can happen, not trying to scare you just inform you. I know several people on here have had reactions bad enough to quit remicade, some have to take benadryl to combat the itching ect.. I can tell you that I have never had anything happen to me so far in the 6 treatments that I have had. Now that doesn't mean it couldn't sometime. Biggest complaint I have heard about like I said is maybe itching, I think there have been 1 or 2 on the board that have had major reactions maybe they will chime in.

Ok, Im sure you know all of this but the remicade works kind of by taming or turning off your immune system, it doesn't completely shut it off but enough to get your body to stop attacking itself. The med comes in 300, 400 and 500mgs or that kind of dosage and you can only do it thru infusion in your Drs. office or at the hospital.

It takes me about 4 hours to do my treatment, longer in the beginning because they will start the drip very slow to make sure you don't have a reaction. When getting mine they start at 50 dph (drips per hour) she turns the timer on for 15 minutes comes back to check on me if everything is ok then she bumps it up to 60 dph, same thing to 70 dph, then 80 dph then the next time as long as I am ok she ups it to 90 dph and leaves it there.

I have mine done in the Dr. office and they have to what they call Infusion rooms, very nice with couches, recliners, cable TV..I can bring my laptop, sleep do anything I want to do. If I need to go to the restroom I can unplug the drip and it will work for 30 minutes so I take me and my little IV pole to the bathroom and then back..lol

I have to do my infusion in the top of my hand as I have tiny veins and they can't fond a big one that won't roll but it does not hurt at all. After my treatment I have an apt with the Dr. and he does a complete exam as well as a complete conversation about how am I doing now compared to the last time. He goes over all the joints, muscles anything that could be wrong, asks me to tell him about ANY thing that has been going on.

I thought this was funny but so far after every treatment before I even leave the office I start sneezing BIG like 5 or 6 sneezes and my nose starts running I have this for about 24 hours and I think it is due to the remicade shutting down my natural histamines.

ok..it is almost 2 in the morning and my brain isn't working anymore..lol if you think of ANYTHING just let me know.

Don't be afraid Remicade has and is helping alot of people. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't for you.

Right now I am having some issues with it. I have been on the 300, the 400 and the next infusion is 500 because it isn't working as well as we had hoped but I am not giving up yet. You are also suppose to go like Infusion, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks and the 1 time every 6 weeks but so far 4 weeks is the furthest I can get but we are still working on it.

Keep us updated,

Hugs,

Lisa

Speak kindly, Live simply, Care deeply, Love generously, and BLAH, HA, HA, LOUDLY! every chance you get.