Hi everyone,
I haven't been on in a while, but here I am back and ready to post... I want to let you all know about my last remicade infusion. Last Tuesday, June 1st was my 34th infusion. I have been on remicade since April '06. I had an allergic reaction to my first infusion also. Severe hives and throat closing. The first one happened after I left the doctors office after my infusion. Since then I have been on a protocol so that I can still use the remicade. Starting three days before my infusion I take 20mg. of prednisione a day and Bendadryl 3 times a day. Right before the infusion I get another dose of solumedrol(40mg) in my iv. Then for two days after the infusion I get 10 mg. of prednisone and benadryl 3 times a day. So - back to #34. I did my protocol as usual, but as I was sitting there, maybe an hour into the infusion, my throat started feeling pretty thick and like it was closing. My blood pressure went up, I became dizzy headed and my chest was burning. They pulled me off the remicade and stuck up a bag of saline. They then injected a large dose of steroids into it and also another dose of benadryl. Eventually everything calmed down and I agreed to let them start the iv again slowly. (I forgot to mention that I usually get my ivs a little slower than usual because of the first infusion reaction. So this 34th infusion including the reaction time took about 6.5 to 7 hours. That was a week ago today and I'm still taking some Benadryl. They kept me on the steroids until yesterday. Needless to say, I'm a little nervous about going in for #35. Of course, my doctor may pull me off of it. I have an appt with him on June 23rd.
I'm wondering, has this happened to anyone else here? And, what did you do about your meds after that? What did you switch to, or did you stay with Remicade?
Thanks, Wanda
