At one point in anyone's life they are going to have to deal with their Insurance Company! And yes I meant to say deal. I have dealt with insurance many times but recently I’ve had the most inconvenient run in with then EVER!! Shortly after beginning my immunosuppressant I started having some real complications & got incredibly sick! Since then I have been back in my doctor's office 3 times & prescribed a different medication, one that probably everyone has heard of at least once. Humira or Adalimumab. Two weeks ago I went to my GI & he sent the prescription in. Almost a week later, after going through a whole truck load of stupidity, to try & get everything that was needed over to the insurance company so that we could get my medication & I could stop sitting up all night every night throwing up & nauseous, they denied us the prescription & notified us that we have to try Remicade first! Now I know that you are sitting there probably scratching your head saying "What the heck is Remicade?" Remicade, also known as Infliximab, is a biologic that is used to treat both Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis in adults & children, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis Ankylosing Spondylitis, & Plaque Psoriasis. What it does, like many of the other medications prescribed to IBD patients, is it suppresses the immune system so that the manufacture of TNF-a (Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha) is slowed down. TNF-a is what causes the inflammation in autoimmune disease patients. Remicade, much like Humira, grabs hold of the extra TNF-a & keeps it bound up so that it is unable to make its way to other parts of the body & cause an inflammatory reaction.
Like all other medications patients take for Crohn’s you must have a doctor’s prescription to receive the treatment. The treatments depend on what your doctor suggests, most infusions take as long as 8 hours (so basically a whole day) but the time between the infusions is left up to the doctor. To be honest, I’m really not all that enthused about starting this considering I don’t have that much time!! Anyway like I stated earlier Remicade is an infusion, meaning that this medication has to be administered through an IV while at the Hospital. And because this medication is considered a chemotherapy treatment for patients, they have to go to the caner center of the Hospital to receive the infusion. 
Some common side-effects that tagalong with this medication are headache, stomachache & nausea. Serious side-effects include pain & swelling of the injection site, joint & muscle pain, swelling of ankles & feet, easy bruising & bleeding, vision changes, seizures, confusion, muscle weakness, numbness & tingling of arms & legs, butterfly-shaped facial rash, chest pain, redness, & swelling of arms or legs, shortness of breath, fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat. Infection can set in during treatment & signs of this would consist of fever, chills, night sweats, persistent cough & sore throat, trouble breathing, painful & frequent urination, & white patches in the mouth. Liver disease is also possible, although it is very rare. Symptoms of liver disease are dark urine, extreme tiredness, severe stomach & abdominal pain or yellowing eyes & skin. Allergic reactions are also possible with this drug like any other drug. Some symptoms of an allergic reaction may include rash, itching & swelling (of the face, tongue or throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing, & difficulty swallowing.
Because this medication is a mouse derivative you need to make sure that you are not allergic to mouse proteins. A reaction at the infusion site is typically usually because it is a mouse derivative, but like I stated before if the reaction is persistent & severe you need to notify your doctor. Before staring any medications for autoimmune diseases your doctor will require a certain amount of blood work to be done to make sure that there will be no serious reactions to the medication. And although your doctor will have a list of your medications make sure that you remind them of everything that you are on so that they for sure don’t forget one! Because you are on a medication that will suppress the immune system make sure that you speak with your doctor before you go & get any kind of vaccine. If you do receive a vaccination before speaking to your doctor make sure that you don’t receive a live vaccine!
So not that I have probably just scared the pants off of you with the side-effects lets talk about the good that this drug can do! It really does more good than harm to the patient. This drug manages the inflammation caused by the aforementioned TNF-a that is the responsible for the inflammation in the intestinal tract of the Crohn’s & UC patient. With the inflammation under control the pain & ulcerations in the intestinal tract of an IBD patient. Once the inflammation is under control the patient can achieve remission & go back to living a somewhat ‘normal’ life. Because the cases are alway different in every patient the trigger are different for everyone as well so a normal life is different will be different for every patient. Alterations may have to be made anywhere from the food the patient eats to managing stress & anxiety! But hey, if you aren't running to the bathroom every 5 minutes & worrying about not making it to the bathroom life feels pretty normal!!!
Although the time it takes for this infusion to take place if a pretty big pain in the butt, if it can help me feel normal again & live life like any other 19 year old I’ll take it & I’m sure any other IBS sufferer would agree!! The next medication that I plan on addressing is Humira, the biologic that I briefly mentioned before. If you are interested in reading more about this particular biologic check out the websites that I referenced for this blog piece! WebMD's information page on Remicade
Thanks for reading!!! :)
~Kaylee <3
This is just a little update on my if you are interested, I recently started Remicade infusions. I had my first infusion Friday March 4th & I feel so much better than I have in the last couple months!! I've been dealing with a few different side-effects since then but it's been nothing compared to what I was dealing with before I switched medications! I got to the hospital at 12:30p.m. & didn't leave until 4:30p.m. so it took a really long time, but they also have to watch for any indication of an allergic reaction. When the nurse first put the needle in my arm & turned sheet white & started to get extremely clammy. My ears started ringing & I started to get tunnel vision too. Needless to say I have never been good with needles & this was not the first time this has ever happened!! It ended up being kind of amusing though.
The side-effects that I mentioned earlier are a small price to pay for feeling good, I think! The day after my infusion I actually felt like getting up & playing Just Dance 2015 with my little brother & my friend, granted that was overdoing it a bit & I was utterly exhausted afterwards, but it was fun & at least I had that much energy! I go back on the 18th for infusion number 2 & hopefully the side-effects may let up a bit. The sore muscles & joints have been the worst of it so far but that's nothing that I haven't ever had to deal with before!!
I am so glad that we have finally found something that might actually work for me medication wise!! :)
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Hey guys!! So I recently found a youtube video made by Sara Ringer, the author of the blog Inflamed & Untamed & one of my personal favorite IBD writers!!! Whether you are researching Remicade because you are getting ready to start on it or you are looking things up about IBD & the treatments because someone you know, love or both has been diagnosed with CD or UC, I hope that this video will help!!! :)
This is just a little update on my if you are interested, I recently started Remicade infusions. I had my first infusion Friday March 4th & I feel so much better than I have in the last couple months!! I've been dealing with a few different side-effects since then but it's been nothing compared to what I was dealing with before I switched medications! I got to the hospital at 12:30p.m. & didn't leave until 4:30p.m. so it took a really long time, but they also have to watch for any indication of an allergic reaction. When the nurse first put the needle in my arm & turned sheet white & started to get extremely clammy. My ears started ringing & I started to get tunnel vision too. Needless to say I have never been good with needles & this was not the first time this has ever happened!! It ended up being kind of amusing though.
The side-effects that I mentioned earlier are a small price to pay for feeling good, I think! The day after my infusion I actually felt like getting up & playing Just Dance 2015 with my little brother & my friend, granted that was overdoing it a bit & I was utterly exhausted afterwards, but it was fun & at least I had that much energy! I go back on the 18th for infusion number 2 & hopefully the side-effects may let up a bit. The sore muscles & joints have been the worst of it so far but that's nothing that I haven't ever had to deal with before!!
I am so glad that we have finally found something that might actually work for me medication wise!! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey guys!! So I recently found a youtube video made by Sara Ringer, the author of the blog Inflamed & Untamed & one of my personal favorite IBD writers!!! Whether you are researching Remicade because you are getting ready to start on it or you are looking things up about IBD & the treatments because someone you know, love or both has been diagnosed with CD or UC, I hope that this video will help!!! :)