I have been on Remicade for over 3 years. No side effects- none. Cleared up my Pouch inflammation but didn’t prove quite as effective on the inflammation in the neoterminal ileum. I have an indication of Crohn’s Disease like you, after being UC pre op. That doesn’t really matter because either treatment works or not on the inflammation regardless of what you wish to call the inflammation. To me inflammation of the bowel is inflammation of the bowel. It’s like the difference between a category 1 or 2 Hurricane, who cares, you have to stay inside either way.
Why is Entyvio being recommended first over Remicade? There is more data on Remicade’s effectiveness in J Pouch inflammation than Entyvio. The only advantage of Entyvio that I am aware of is shorter infusion time (30 minutes as opposed to 2 hours plus)- which enables the Doctor to make more money off patients because they can infuse 4 patients in the same time as 1 on Remicade. Ask for the doctor’s reasoning. This question came up in another thread where Entyvio was recommended over Remicade and I asked the poster to get an explanation on it because I suspect it has more to do with profit than effectiveness. She didn’t post back. Too many people here accept statements of the Doctor without asking any questions. In my case I didn’t have to because my doctor gave me his reasoning with his recommendation- the empirical studies.
Remicade is quite expensive ($10,000 per infusion) but the good news is Remistart, a manufacturer cost savings program, pays everything except $5 per infusion and insurance companies view those payments as out of pocket payments towards my deductible. Thus my $5000 deductible was satisfied with one infusion with my out of pocket cost being $422, the $417 infusion time and $5 copay. Haven’t paid a cent since because my $6500 maximum out of Pocket was maxed with one infusion. Even though I literally only paid $422.
Please specifically ask for the medical and scientific reasoning on Entyvio over Remicade and post. Thanks