Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives Anti TNF and other biological medications How long until remicade works?

I received my first dose of remicade 3 weeks ago (3 viles) and my second dose last week (increased to 4). I really haven't noticed much of a difference. I don't feel any worse though (so I guess that is somewhat goo). My question is how long until it kicks in? I thought I read somewhere that Remicade starts to work after two weeks?

Hi Chosen,
With me it was the next day after my 1st infusion but here in Australia if it is not working after 6 weeks you don't get to stay on it because of the cost.
You have to remember we are all different hang in there it just may take a bit longer for you
Adriaan

Hi,
I've had 2 infusions and going to have the next one in about 10 days and I'm not getting anything from it yet.
Just hang in there! It it might take a few times. Everyone is different. Think I'll give up if I don't have any improvement after 2 more. Might just need a higher dose.

I found that I had inprovement after the first dose. Once I got to every 8 weeks I started to have pain at about week 6. So now I go in every 6 weeks. It seems to work pretty good going in every 6 weeks. I hope it starts working for you soon.

Debora

Some people feel an effect right off; for others it can take a while. It was quite a number of infusions -- I want to say five or six before I began noticing that I felt much better. And, it fails to work for some people, so it is matter of wait and see.

Best regards,

jcwinnie

I was so glad to see someone ask this question. I've heard any number of Remicade patients marveling at their instantaneous positive results and was disheartened that, for me, it did not happen that way. I had my second IV two days ago and believe I am, just now, feeling a change for the better in my level of pain. What I hope, is that there is a cumulative effect and it just keeps getting better and better.

Good luck to you and stay positive. This drug does work for so many of us.

Hi there Chihuahua
I just wanted to welcome you to KickAS. I hope your Remicade works as well for you as it does for me. If you have any questions about the remicade, feel free to PM me.

Debora

Hi Chosen,
Remicade didn't start working for me until after my 4th infusion, with some people it's straight away.

Good luck with it.

George.

Hiya,

What the Dr.s are looking for is an ACR improvement = > 20....think that is about a 20% improvement in pain stiffness fatigue (Basically 20mm improvement on the 100mm visual scales used in the BASDAI.

I read a few of the published reports on the biologicals and some respond well immeadiately others 3 months some and more likely to be B27 -ve take upto 6 months.

The placebo effect was sketched in on a graph and there may be some early on but after 6months of improvement placebo seemed very unlikely.

I hope things go well for you, but rember there are other biologicals and one usually works well!

David