Hey,

Has anyone had the infliximab drug before?

I have fistuals on the 'vulva' area, which in a word is awful. They have tried all sorts of antibiotics over the last year and nothing has worked. I have my next appointment on the 5th September to begin this Infliximab drug.

Just wanted to know how it affected people who took it. How it made them feel, side effects, if it worked. etc. Thanks

Emma

Hi there, EMS. Welcome to j-pouch.org Infliximab is Remicade. Do a search here for "Remicade" and you will find lots of information from others like myself that have used it. I didn't use it for fistulas though, but others here have. You may also want to search for "remicade" and "fistula" to make the results more specific to your concerns. Hope that helps.

Good luck to you!

Hi Emma,

I think that the brand name for Infliximab is Remicade. I haven't any experience with it myself but I know there are a lot of people on this site who have been on it for the treatment of Crohns and fistulas so I'm sure there will be others along very soon to help you out.

Good luck and take care

Shell

Looks like Melissa and I posted at the same time! See I told you someone would be along shortly!

Shell

I was on Remicade for 2 years...every 6 weeks I had an infusion. It was the last medicine that i tried for my UC. It worked wonders at first then not so much at the end - ended up with surgery after that. I had to take the infusion really slow or would have nasty allergic reactions. They gave me loads of Benydryl and that made me loopy for a couple days after
Its expensive, luckily my insurance covered it. I paid 15 dollars for doctors visit co-pay but the Remicade cost about 10,000 a dose.
It also robs you of any immune system so watch out if you catch a cold...
hope this helps
David