so i've begun to notice that around the time i'm due for another treatment my body gets so sore and my joints ache like crazy...for awhile i thought i had rja or arthritis and now it's dawned on me that maybe my body is hooked on remicaid? can you detox from it? when my doctor started iton me he told me i probably could never stop..and i didn't really think into what he said until now..does this happen with anyone else? like joint pain ? and i'm supposed to be stopping because i don't need it anymore but how do i stop if my bodies going to eact like this everytime until i have it again?


Alicia

No, this is not addiction, and it does sound to me that you do need it because it is helping to control your joint pain. You may well have IBD related arthritis.

What your symptoms mean is that your body has processed all the Remicade and it is no longer active in your body. Why are you saying that you are supposed to be stopping it because you don't need it? Often, it is needed for maintenance therapy. With my Humira, which is a similar drug, I had to shorten my dosing frequency because I became symptomatic halfway to my next dose.

Jan

I was on Remicade for 2 years and I could tell when it was wearing off...sometimes it would be 4 weeks, sometimes 5 weeks. My joints would ache something awful(and sometimes they would lock up too) and my useless colon would start to act back up. Towards the end of the 2 years the effectiveness lasted less and less. I opted for the surgeries after the Remi quit working.
It did work wonders though...sometimes I would feel awesome right after the infusion. Might be the large doses of Benydryl I had to have with it
David