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From:
Lisa
Date: Jan 2001
Just wondering about the prevalence of the
following side effects with the use of Asacol/Rowasa/Pentasa
in normal dosages:
- nausea
- vomiting
- diarrhea
- severe
cramping
- rapid
heartbeat
I've
spent all evening searching online for any writeups on these
symptoms related to the above meds and I can't find ANYTHING
that mentions them, not even on the CCFA site. Can someone
help me or at least validate what I'm saying? I've also recently
found out that I'm pregnant -- could that have an adverse
effect on the meds that would manifest itself in the side
effects mentioned above? The following is a brief history
of my recent episodes, FYI... Yes, I will be seeing my gastro
next week, but I thought I'd get a jump on things before I
see him.
I
was in remission from what may or may not be ulcerative colitis
(new doc thinks it's Crohn's) when I had a relapse early December
2000. I was taking 2 Asacol 2x per day as a maintenance therapy
(2 Asacol 3x per day constipated me something terrible). Family
doc changed my therapy to 5 Pentasa 3 times per day and 4
hours after only one dose I was sitting on the toilet with
violent diarrhea and vomiting into a garbage can for an hour
with double my normal heart rate. Needless to say, I stopped
the Pentasa and started to use only Questran to control the
amount of fluid in my stool (I was pooping pure water, if
you know what I mean).
New
doctor (a specialist) put me back on 3 Asacol 3x per day but
my symptoms didn't get relieved, in fact they got worse. He
added a Rowasa enema every night; after only one dose of that
I had a similar reaction as I had with the Pentasa -- rapid
heart beat, nausea, severe cramping, violent diarrhea, but
no vomiting (thank God!). I talked to my brother (non-blood
related but has mild Crohn's) and he had to stop taking Asacol
because it caused similar symptoms for him; he suggested a
trial period of stopping the drug, then starting it again
so see if that caused the problems. I'll be damned but my
symptoms cleared up and I felt a whole hell of a lot better
without the meds (except I was still using Questran at a half
dose to prevent the runs).
After
a few days I took ONE 2 pill dose of Asacol and I immediately
got nauseated and the nasty diarrhea started again. So, I'm
not taking anything but Questran right now and I hesitate
a great deal to take anything that may threaten my baby. I
know the above drugs are safe for pregnancy, but I can't tolerate
them and I absolutely refuse to take steroids for any period
of time -- I've got asthma and I know first-hand the long-term
effects of the drug and NO ONE can convince me that they won't
harm an unborn baby -- yeah, right, like Thalidamide wouldn't
harm an unborn baby... Thanks for the help/support! :) Lisa
Newsgroup
replies:
- I had
all those symptoms when I was on the Asacol ... to the point
that I was causing myself to become anorexic ... so I took
myself off, and won't go back on it Check with your GI Dr
though first before doing what I did !!
- For
information on Asacol, go to http://www.asacol.com
For info on asacol, and pentasa go to http://www.rxmed.com
For info on mesalamine enemas, go to http://www.rxlist.com
Everything that you have stated are reported side effects
of these drugs. In addition, about 2% of people have a hypersensitivity
to the drug that actually makes their colitis WORSE. You
should definitely talk to yiour doctor about this, especially
about the rapid heartbeat.
- I took
Asacol and 6-MP on and off for quite a few years. I'm not
sure which one caused it, but I'm a shiny-topped bald guy
now.
Listserve
replies:
- I also
quit taking Asacol against the advice of my doctor. That
was 6 months ago and I have no symptoms whatsoever. I can't
wait until my next visit to tell my doctor "I told you so".
I've had Crohns since 1995 and have never felt better since
I've been on this diet.
- After
being on it for 6 months, I also quit cold turkey. I noticed
no change in my UC symptoms. I did however notice that the
headaches, joint pain and general aches and pains that I
thought were from UC disappeared. Shortly after quitting
Asacol the SCD kicked in and my symptoms have been slowly
going away.
- My
symptoms improved greatly after I had been off Asacol for
a week. I quit cold turkey without any problem. I quit after
I read the potential side effects could be blood and diarrhea!
These were the very things I was trying to get rid of. Each
of us are different. What worked for me may not work for
you. You could try going without it to see if your symptoms
improved or not.
 more about Asacol - on HealingCrow.com
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Asacol