Living With Crohns Disease

This newer class of medication works by blocking TNF-alpha, a chemical in your body that causes inflammation. There are several varieties of this type of drug that are taken in different ways and are made by different methods.

Remicade

This was the first drug of this type to be approved for use in Crohn’s patients. It is administered as an infusion, meaning they hook you up to an IV drip and dilute it in a bag of saline so that it enters your bloodstream slowly over the course of several hours.

An infusion of Remicade can last six to eight weeks, but it takes anywhere from 3 to 5 hours to take a dose. It can be very effective if used regularly, but if you go off of the medication for several months or years like I did, your body can build up antibodies to it and you can have a serious reaction to it (like I did).

I had started up Remicade infusions after being off the drug for over a year, and my first infusion had gone over without a hitch. But just minutes into my second infusion I started seeing spots. Then I began feeling light-headed, flushed, and nauseous.

My lower back began to tingle, then pain trickled up my spine. It grew until it was almost unbearable. And this all was happening after the nurse had stopped the drip, so the medicine was no longer going into my body.

After what seemed like several minutes, the symptoms started to subside, but I was off of Remicade for good. Don’t be afraid to start Remicade just because of my horror story here. For the several months I was on it the first time it worked wonderfully for me.

Humira

This is a drug that I currently take and have been taking for almost two years. It comes as either a syringe or a self-injector that you can administer yourself. You can of course go into the doctor’s office and have them do it, or have a spouse or trusted friend or parent do it if you’re that uncomfortable stabbing yourself with a needle, but I’ve found it most easy and convenient to administer the drug myself.

Humira is generally taken once every two weeks, and takes just seconds to prepare and inject. I receive the drug by mail order and it comes in a big white box that has a styrofoam container with ice packs inside it to keep the drug cool. It has to be kept in the fridge when it’s not being used.

After having used Humira for so long, I feel that it works best in the week or so after each injection, then gradually wears off over the following week, until the next one. Overall I believe it improves my condition and has served as a useful maintenance drug to keep me in remission.

Others

There are at least two other biologic treatments approved for Crohn’s currently, but since I’ve never used either I don’t feel as if I’m qualified to write about them specifically. I believe one is a shot, like Humira, and the other an infusion, like Remicade.