Pentasa

[dustydshook]

Been researching Pentasa and found this page listing side effects. Aren't we taking this to get rid of these symptoms????

http://www.pentasaus.com/

Quote from the above web page
"PENTASA is generally well tolerated. The most common adverse events in US clinical trials (N=451) were diarrhea (3.5%), headache (2.2%), nausea (3.1%), abdominal pain (1.1%), rash (1.3%), anorexia (1.1%), and nausea and vomiting (1.1%). In combined domestic and foreign trials (N>2100), the most common adverse events were diarrhea (3.4%), headache (2.0%), nausea (1.8%), abdominal pain (1.7%), dyspepsia (1.6%), vomiting (1.5%), and rash (1.0%)."

 

[Rebecca85]

Don't forget, almost every drug lists nausea vomiting and diarrheoa as side effects, partly because the people reporting them are hypochondriacs! Also, if some is not feeling good and they take a drug that has no effect, they might attribute some of their symptoms as being caused by the drug.

 

[crazycanuck]

Yep rebecca's exactly right. look up the side effects to asacol, imuran, 6mp....anything all the same side effects. I had the same reaction when I first read them. Also thats only 3.5% of the 451 surveryed......that means 15 of the 451 reported D and as rebecca said that probably means the drug isn't working haha.

 

[Astra]

All drugs leaflets list these, not just Crohnie meds!
Think it's to cover themselves, we have such a massive compensation culture and everyone's getting their arses sued off!
As regards to Pentasa, I've been on it 5 years now with no side effects.
xxx

 

[JoeUK]

Azathioprine scares me more! I've been on pentasa for years and when I ask my dr about whether I should stay on it he mumbles something and says that it can't hurt to continue with it. I'm not so sure. I think it is causing my metabolic gout attacks but I'm not keen to drop it and find myself with a terrifying relapse senario. Anyone else with side effects?

 

[Jan]

Hi,

Dusty - I, like Astra, have been on Pentasa for many years and I've been fine with it. It's a great medication that worked really well for me, until it started not working, but as a first time medication it's good.

Joe - I've just started taking Azathioprine a week a go and I want to die!!! Seriously, I've just put up my own post asking how long this is going to last because I just want to curl up round the toilet and cry!

Jan x

 

[Astra]

Pentasa is an amnio salicylate, a prophylactic, a preventative not a cure, it works like an anti inflammatory for the gut, to maintain and prevent future flares.
Pentasa will not work if there is inflammation or flaring, far too mild, that's why we get put on immuno supressants, steroids or biologics.

xxx

 

[crazycanuck]

Just wanted to comment on the AZA i started on it in dec of last year and it was a very rough start with puking and dizziness but after a couple weeks and eating a fair bit and drinking milk when i took the pills right before bed i found things improving a lot! It changed my life for a few months until i hit this current rollercoster of pretty severe flares since a majorly stressful family time in the spring. Even though its immunosuppresent i never felt myself havinh more colds or the flu at all. It worked great right up until the time it stopped working haha.

 

[JoeUK]

Hi Jan, sorry you are having a rough time on Azathioprine but I can sympathise. It made me feel very I'll when I started and I went to the dr complaining that I'd rather be I'll than continue. He them agreed that I could reduce my dose by 25mg at a time until I could cope. I went from 250 down to 125 and I'm now on 100/day and it seems to be working. A friend of mine had a similar experience. We are all different but it might be worth discussing it with your dr. I know that they sometimes calculate the size according to body weight but I could nor cope with my "expected" dose. Has has headaches, felt nauseous, felt like I had flue like symptoms and wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there. It was so difficult to describe how I felt to the dr but I'm sure you understand. I must say that I think that it has helped but it is a nasty drug. I'm hoping they can offer something else instead soon. Hope you feel better soon. Joe

 

[Racheld]

I have just started on Pentasa 2g twice a day.

 

[Cozmo]

I was put on Pentasa when I was first diagnosed along with predisone. The Doc said to do a 6 to 8 week reduction of predisone to give the Pentasa time to work. Within 24hours of coming off predisone I was back in flare. So it's looking like the Pentasa is doing nothing for me. At the moment I'm back on predisone and will be giving it another try in a week or so. I'm not sure what the next step should be if the Pentasa isn't working.

So for me it's more like no effects rather any side effects!:frown:

 

[Racheld]

that has been my problem as soon as I am off the entocort I am back flaring, so they now trying the pentasa

 

[ezekiel67]

I take 3,000-4,000mg of Pentasa everyday with no side affects.

 

[FrancisK7]

Pentasa will not work if there is inflammation or flaring, far too mild, that's why we get put on immuno supressants, steroids or biologics.

The protocol for IBD where I live is 5-ASA as first line of treatment whether the colitis is active or not. They will not even consider immunosuppressors unless 5-ASA have shown no signs of improvement after 6 weeks.

Thankfully most doctors don't follow it exactly, but many do.