I have relatively mild Crohn's just in the terminal ileum. I didn't have an allergic reaction to Asacol HD 800, but my none of the mesalamines seemed to work on me. Asacol worked on me for awhile last year, we just tried it again but this time started with 1 pill 2 x a day, and after 2 weeks increased to 2 pills 2 x a day. 2 hours after I increased the dose, I got really watery projectile diarrhea. Thought it was something I ate, stayed on the meds next day. Following morning, felt queasy, very gassy, extreme abdominal pain. Ate just a bowl of rice for lunch. 2 hours later, still queasy. Sipped some ginger ale (with real ginger, from the health food store). 1/2 hour later started vomiting and did not stop for 6 hours. Also projectile watery diarrhea for 9 hours, which finally stopped after 3rd dose of 2 Immodium capsules - which is another story, I am allergic to the yellow dye #10 in regular Immodium. I am now afraid to try any other mesalamines at any dosage (Lialda and Pentasa never worked for me anyway, and Lialda made me nauseous.)
Only thing that ever worked on me was steroids. When I was on Entocort last year I had horrible horrible foot & leg cramps and tingling in my fingers. However just recently I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and while I was on prednisone for that, I had awful side effects - insomnia, short-term memory loss, mood changes, gained 7 pounds I don't need - but NO Crohn's symptoms. Also thinking the foot & leg cramps may be more related to psoriatic arthritis tendinitis more than muscle cramping. I'm not on anything now, and guess what, still getting occasional foot & leg cramps, and also in my index finger which is the one most affected by the psoriatic arthritis. So I just told the GI doc I am afraid to try any more mesalamines but would like to try Entocort again....
Does anyone know if bad reaction to one mesalamine is a predictor of bad reaction to another mesalamine???
