Prednisone and Remicade

[Guest guest]

It seems to me after a few weeks on the group that there are a great

many people taking Remicade and also a surprising number of people

who take prednisone. It could be that this group attracts more

people with difficult cases who need prednisone, but you should

realize that this is not the best initial treatment for a fairly

normal newly diagnosed case of RA. As someone pointed out a few

weeks ago the side effects of prednisone are horrific, proven and not

reversible.

One theory is that the doctors have a real interest in quick results

so they will not lose the patient to another doctor or specialist.

Prednisone gives you a fairly quick feeling of improvement but it

can't be sustained without damage.

One good reason to use prednisone is to make people with very bad

symptons have some easing of their symptoms while one of the other

types of drug starts to take effect as nothing alse acts so fast.

Anyway - watch out for the prednisone

As for the Remicade, according to my friend, the medical market

research person, the doctors in the US can " warehouse " the drug.

They get it direct from the pharmaceutical companies and sell it

direct to the patients so the doctors make the money that a drugstore

would make in other systems. That means that each person on remicade

is worth $2000 a year to the doctors. Also the administration of the

infusion nets them more money than an injectable.

One drawback to remicade is dosage creep - as your bodyy gets more

accustomed to it, or if you get heavier you will either need more of

it or you will need it more frequently so the cost will go on

rising. She knows of one heavy person who needs it every 4 weeks at

a cost of $68000 per year.

Anyway this is one point of view and I am a patient not a doctor.

Annette