Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Remicade For Crohns Disease

Question:
I know this is a difficult question to answer. I want to know the effectives of Remicades on Crohn's Disease patients. We all know Remicade has a lot of side effects, but some doctors say Remicade can even cure Crohn's Disease?? I really want to know how effective it is, and I don't want to take too much risks. My Crohn's disease situation has been improved, and the doctor gives me options on either don't take medications now, or do Methroxide with Remicade injection. I don't want to do Methroxide with Remicade injection due to its side effects. But I worry if I don't take any medications, will my Crohn's Disease suddenly get worse again??

Answer:
In my opinion, your last assumption is probably correct, given the history and known cycling of this disease.  I say my opinion because you are hearing from a person that has been on tx/remicade now for over 4 years.  Went thru the majority of the rest of the drug arsenol before this and this is the only thing that is pretty much sx free, at this point anyway. I am remicade'ing every 12 weeks (not 8), standard dosage for my weight and mtx is self injection at 10mg/week.  Pretty low doses, probably the reason for the little to no side effects, but it took some higher doses to get there and we gradually lowered them over time, the sx's disappeared and I stayed in remission from cd and pg.  my suggestion has always been start at the lower dose rather than the higher dose (after discussion with you doc that is).  Why you might ask?  Irregardless, it will take time for the meds to work, no matter what the dosage.  If you start out hi, but trade off the remission (if it occurs that is) for nasty side effects, you will end up lowering it anyway or stop completely/get discouraged.  if you start out low, little to no sx's and it does not do the trick, you can always up it some and wait out the few weeks again to see the reaction. I found also, that your body, over the months, adjusts to the medication. it is likely that some of the sx's will reduce on their own over time, or possibly completely disappear for that matter. There are some things you can take to help reduce the sx's of the mtx as well.  Docs never told me this, but i learned later.  Ask the doc about taking folic acid, when and how much, milk thistle and beet extract or concentrate.  These things help the liver cope also.  Docs probably won't have much of an opinion on the latter two, but we know that mtx works by using folic acid.  If it is not available in your body in ample supply, your body lets you know. Seems to me someone on this group asked this question recently.  Was it you? I thought I had a similar response to whomever it was. Just curious. Let me know what you decide.