Advice needed

[smkymntn]

I am new to the forum and have read some of your posts and feel like maybe i have found the right place. I was diagnosed with Crohns in 97 and have been on prednisone, asacol and currently entocort and pentasa. /i am currently in the hospital with atrial fib/flutter. I think it is the entocort but the docs dont think so. I came in here for my first remicade treatment in outpatient and they freaked out when they took my blood pressure. I always feel wired on the entocort. I am telling them tomorrow I do not want to take it any more and honestly want to be off all meds as this has scared the you know what out of me. I would rather be on a liquid diet than have two iv with a blood thinner and some other drug that is lowering my heart rate. Has anyone had this happen on entocort? any advice/experience would be appreciated.

 

[jed]

i havent had entocort myself, but i have been in the same place as you gettin ready to throw away all the drugs and seeing what happens.

best wishes with you decision on what to do, and welcome to the forums, it is a great place!

 

[smkymntn]

Thanks Jed- I see you are from australia- on a lighter note I am a huge cruiserhead. I have an FJ60 - You live in the mecca for landcruisers.

 

[jed]

LOL, i could park my car underneath yours! i have a ford Ka, one of those little bubble things... HA! it's pretty poxy, but it gets amazing milage for the petrol you put in.

the other funny thing about it is i'm 6foot 6inches tall, so its quite humerous to see such a tall guy getting out of a lego car

 

[smkymntn]

Curious question- do you have the same treatment options as us ?

 

[jed]

i'm not sure whre your from, but i should say most countries have the same medical options.

heres a list of some the things i've tried
pred (oral, enama and IV)
mesalazine (oral and enema)
sulfasalazxine
imuran
cyclosporin
methotrextate
plaquenil
imodioum
SURGERY!!!!

so thats some of them, names may be slightly different from what you use tho?

 

[Guest]

hi smky, & welcome

i have never tried Entocort, but i did look it up on google, and found this quite informative site, which covers a lot of the typical Crohns meds. you'll see it does state that Entocort can produce raised blood pressure - but having said that, i would go with what the doctors are saying and put your trust in them. it may be the meds, but it may be something else, & you're in the right place for them to monitor things & sort out your symptoms.

good luck, i hope everything is ok!! keep us posted.

http://www.angelfire.com/ga/crohns/meds.html

 

[Kev]

Isn't low blood pressure N reduced heart rate a side effect of remicade infusion

 

[smkymntn]

Thanks for the responses- I am currently on blood thinners etc- and have discontinued the entocort. The doctors are not convinced this is from the entocort and but also have not ruled it out. I am waiting for GI to come and discuss options regarding crohns treatment during this stage. I am pretty strongly leading to extended steroid use as the cause of this issue. I will keep you all updated as I progess. Good news is that my echo came back normal.

 

[BWS1982]

I was put on Metoprolol as I've stated before, it's mainly for hypertension, but it was used on me mostly for my higher heart rate, at rest it was speeding at 2 beats/second...it was the prednisone. I still fear for the wear and tear that that damn drug put on my heart and body for 6 months, taking away from my lifespan for all I know.

My BP wasn't too bad, but it was on the upper threshold of "normal", both BP and heart rate are much much better now, but not as good as when I was working out all the time and eating better (because I was allowed to).

 

[smkymntn]

here is an update- all lab tests are normal- echocardiogram is normal. I stopped taking entocort and my heartrate slowed down, talked to my GI and he says it is not the entocort- I listened to him and took entocort today and guess what? I am elevated again. Dont trust your doctors blindly- you know your body better than them. I will let you know what happens next- I am not taking the entocort again.