In this weekend's NY Times magazine, under the "Diagnosis" feature (one of my favorites), there is an interesting case about a woman who goes to the hospital after a stretch of terrible diarrhea, which turns out to look like celiac, but is actually a reaction to a high blood pressure med called Benicar, about which there had recently been an FDA warning.
It made me wonder whether any members here are/have taken Benicar. Apparently the symptoms stop as soon as the med is stopped.
Interestingly, part of the feature is that readers can email in their diagnoses and someone from Australia guessed microscopic colitis.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... #/#patient
Benicar and MC/celiac-like symptoms
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
While the article doesn't mention it, that clearly was indeed a case of drug-induced MC (which often clears up when the drug is discontinued promptly, before too much damage accrues). The loud digestive system noises validate that diagnosis, so the reader from Sydney was quite correct.
Benicar is just one more of many drugs that can trigger MC for some people.
Tex
Benicar is just one more of many drugs that can trigger MC for some people.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Benicar
I just have read something about the possible connection between Benicar and MC. I only now discovered the post above. It certainly was an eye-opener. I have been taking Benicar since July 2006. I was on 20 mg until January 2013 and then was increased to 40 mg. The first four years it also included HTCZ. However I apparently had it prior to going on Benicar because it was indicated on my Colonoscopy which was done in May 2006 (but I wasn't even told until 2008.) I also have read that it could be dangerous to go off of the Benicar but on the other hand I am also taking 3 other blood pressure meds.
Here is one website that I found:
http://www.drugwatch.com/benicar/side-effects/
and an excerpt from that:
Severe Intestinal Damage and FDA Warning
The FDA issued a drug safety alert for Benicar in July 2013 after it reviewed data submitted by the Mayo Clinic in 2012. The FDA found a number of former Benicar users who reported severe diarrhea and weight loss after taking the medication. Some of them also developed severe intestinal damage.
Initially, doctors at Mayo Clinic thought a number of patients who took Benicar had Celiac disease, but blood tests came back negative. They noticed a common thread between patients with this painful intestinal disease was Benicar.
No other drug in the same class caused the Celiac-like symptoms of a disease called sprue-like enteropathy. Symptoms improved once patients stopped taking the drug.
Another website: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/ar ... 7/fulltext
and an excerpt:
Objective
To report the response to discontinuation of olmesartan, an angiotensin II receptor antagonist commonly prescribed for treatment of hypertension, in patients with unexplained severe spruelike enteropathy.
Patients and Methods
All 22 patients included in this report were seen at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, between August 1, 2008, and August 1, 2011, for evaluation of unexplained chronic diarrhea and enteropathy while taking olmesartan. Celiac disease was ruled out in all cases. To be included in the study, the patients also had to have clinical improvement after suspension of olmesartan.
Disturbing information but I hope I can go off of the Benicar.
Jean
Here is one website that I found:
http://www.drugwatch.com/benicar/side-effects/
and an excerpt from that:
Severe Intestinal Damage and FDA Warning
The FDA issued a drug safety alert for Benicar in July 2013 after it reviewed data submitted by the Mayo Clinic in 2012. The FDA found a number of former Benicar users who reported severe diarrhea and weight loss after taking the medication. Some of them also developed severe intestinal damage.
Initially, doctors at Mayo Clinic thought a number of patients who took Benicar had Celiac disease, but blood tests came back negative. They noticed a common thread between patients with this painful intestinal disease was Benicar.
No other drug in the same class caused the Celiac-like symptoms of a disease called sprue-like enteropathy. Symptoms improved once patients stopped taking the drug.
Another website: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/ar ... 7/fulltext
and an excerpt:
Objective
To report the response to discontinuation of olmesartan, an angiotensin II receptor antagonist commonly prescribed for treatment of hypertension, in patients with unexplained severe spruelike enteropathy.
Patients and Methods
All 22 patients included in this report were seen at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, between August 1, 2008, and August 1, 2011, for evaluation of unexplained chronic diarrhea and enteropathy while taking olmesartan. Celiac disease was ruled out in all cases. To be included in the study, the patients also had to have clinical improvement after suspension of olmesartan.
Disturbing information but I hope I can go off of the Benicar.
Jean
You might think you understood what I said but what you don't realize is that what I said was not what I meant!
Benicar
I just now read this on another post on this forum.
Olmesartan has raised side-effect questions before. Last year, the FDA gave the drug the green light after a 10-month-long safety review. The review concluded that the drug's benefits outweigh its risk. Two studies found diabetic patients on the drug have an increased risk of cardiovascular events.
I also have had diabetes for about 9 years. I just wonder how much doctors pay attention to our ailments and the meds we are prescribed! Two years ago I had a stent placed in a coronary artery! I took Plavix for one year following that and it seems I read something about Plavix and I'm wondering what complications there are there.
Jean
Olmesartan has raised side-effect questions before. Last year, the FDA gave the drug the green light after a 10-month-long safety review. The review concluded that the drug's benefits outweigh its risk. Two studies found diabetic patients on the drug have an increased risk of cardiovascular events.
I also have had diabetes for about 9 years. I just wonder how much doctors pay attention to our ailments and the meds we are prescribed! Two years ago I had a stent placed in a coronary artery! I took Plavix for one year following that and it seems I read something about Plavix and I'm wondering what complications there are there.
Jean
You might think you understood what I said but what you don't realize is that what I said was not what I meant!
Hi Jean,
I'm sorry to hear that you've been caught up in this medication merry-go-round. If you do a search for Benicar class action, for example, you will discover a lot of websites discussing the legal issues involved. Here is an example:
http://www.classaction.org/benicar
The sad fact is that many doctors routinely fail to check for drug interactions and other issues that would make drugs they are prescribing inappropriate for use by certain patients. We have to be our own advocates. It's always a good idea to ask your pharmacist about possible problems before filling a new prescription. As a group, pharmacists tend to be much better informed about drug side effects and interactions than most physicians.
There's no question that all drugs have side effects, and many/most of them have potentially dangerous side effects. Thanks for the heads up about Plavix. I was aware of some of the risks associated with it, but not all of them. And of course a search turns up beaucoups of websites devoted to legal issues about it, also.
I'm taking Plavix (or a generic equivalent) for stroke risk, and yet I see that increased stroke risk is listed as one of the side effects of it. Furthermore, a few months before it was prescribed for me (by an ER doctor), my colon had to be removed because of massive colonic bleeding that couldn't be stopped. After checking on Plavix known issues, I found this:
It seems to be mighty hard to win when we agree to take prescription meds. 
My 23andme results show that I have a gene mutation that prevents me from properly metabolizing Plavix anyway, so it may not be making any difference one way or the other (except to my bank account and drug company profits).
As Sir Walter Scott wrote, "Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive". And clearly the drug companies continue to deceive us, with the help of the FDA and doctors who don't discuss all the risks with us before convincing us to take these toxic potions.
Tex
I'm sorry to hear that you've been caught up in this medication merry-go-round. If you do a search for Benicar class action, for example, you will discover a lot of websites discussing the legal issues involved. Here is an example:
http://www.classaction.org/benicar
The sad fact is that many doctors routinely fail to check for drug interactions and other issues that would make drugs they are prescribing inappropriate for use by certain patients. We have to be our own advocates. It's always a good idea to ask your pharmacist about possible problems before filling a new prescription. As a group, pharmacists tend to be much better informed about drug side effects and interactions than most physicians.
There's no question that all drugs have side effects, and many/most of them have potentially dangerous side effects. Thanks for the heads up about Plavix. I was aware of some of the risks associated with it, but not all of them. And of course a search turns up beaucoups of websites devoted to legal issues about it, also.
I'm taking Plavix (or a generic equivalent) for stroke risk, and yet I see that increased stroke risk is listed as one of the side effects of it.
Furthermore, a few months before it was prescribed for me (by an ER doctor), my colon had to be removed because of massive colonic bleeding that couldn't be stopped. After checking on Plavix known issues, I found this:For users with a history of gastrointestinal problems, the blood thinner carries twelve (12) times the risk of recurrent ulcers or gi bleeds when compared with aspirin and a heartburn pill.
It seems to be mighty hard to win when we agree to take prescription meds. My 23andme results show that I have a gene mutation that prevents me from properly metabolizing Plavix anyway, so it may not be making any difference one way or the other (except to my bank account and drug company profits). As Sir Walter Scott wrote, "Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive". And clearly the drug companies continue to deceive us, with the help of the FDA and doctors who don't discuss all the risks with us before convincing us to take these toxic potions.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Benicar and MC
Tex,
Thank you so much for your response. I am sorry also that you have had so many problems. When I was young, the doctors appeared to be as God but through the years I have learned that they are human and they don't know everything. How can they possibly know everything there is to know about so many varied patients. And I do believe as you do that we have to be our own advocates.
. I have not been able to talk to my doctor yet and I'm a little bit afraid to just drop the Benicar and I don't know what to do. A while back a doctor wanted to increase my blood pressure medication and I'm already on four different pills. But how do I know that some of the things I'm taking aren't increasing my blood pressure.
I am trying to go off of my heartburn medication as it is a PPI. I have had heartburn since I was a teenager and my father and brother had the same thing. It is probably from a mutation.
And I have just taken myself off of the statin. It was pravastatin 40 mg.
I had a stent placed in my right coronary artery two years ago and I had to take Plavix for one year. Now I am having a lot of the same feelings that I had prior to having the stent put in and I'm beginning to wonder if the Plavix did it's job as it should have. I have an appointment for January 7 which is the earliest I could get in to see the cardiologist. Last summer the doctor ordered for me Isosorbide mononitrate. It was for chest pain and I could not convince him that I was not having chest pain. So when I called them to make an appointment, they asked me if I was taking that medication and I said no and they wanted to know why. "Did you get a headache?" ( I'm putting enough junk in my body now, I don't want anymore!) I could not figure out any reason why I should take it. If I do end up needing another stent I'm wondering what I should take.
I ordered the Chlor-Trimeton but I am still taking my prescription Cetirizine that I have taken for years and now I am wondering if I should quit taking that and just use the Chlor-Trimeton. When I saw the first cardiologist she had said she didn't want to discuss anything that was not my heart but when I sneezed I told her what a doctor had told me that I have perennial allergic rhinitis and she looked at me and said you have seasonal allergies. Now this was in January in Minnesota. You think? I am seeing a different cardiologist now! Sorry about all the questions but I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out?
Thank you so much for all your help and kindness and a Happy New Year!
Jean
Thank you so much for your response. I am sorry also that you have had so many problems. When I was young, the doctors appeared to be as God but through the years I have learned that they are human and they don't know everything. How can they possibly know everything there is to know about so many varied patients. And I do believe as you do that we have to be our own advocates.
. I have not been able to talk to my doctor yet and I'm a little bit afraid to just drop the Benicar and I don't know what to do. A while back a doctor wanted to increase my blood pressure medication and I'm already on four different pills. But how do I know that some of the things I'm taking aren't increasing my blood pressure.I am trying to go off of my heartburn medication as it is a PPI. I have had heartburn since I was a teenager and my father and brother had the same thing. It is probably from a mutation.
And I have just taken myself off of the statin. It was pravastatin 40 mg.
I had a stent placed in my right coronary artery two years ago and I had to take Plavix for one year. Now I am having a lot of the same feelings that I had prior to having the stent put in and I'm beginning to wonder if the Plavix did it's job as it should have. I have an appointment for January 7 which is the earliest I could get in to see the cardiologist. Last summer the doctor ordered for me Isosorbide mononitrate. It was for chest pain and I could not convince him that I was not having chest pain. So when I called them to make an appointment, they asked me if I was taking that medication and I said no and they wanted to know why. "Did you get a headache?" ( I'm putting enough junk in my body now, I don't want anymore!) I could not figure out any reason why I should take it. If I do end up needing another stent I'm wondering what I should take.
I ordered the Chlor-Trimeton but I am still taking my prescription Cetirizine that I have taken for years and now I am wondering if I should quit taking that and just use the Chlor-Trimeton. When I saw the first cardiologist she had said she didn't want to discuss anything that was not my heart but when I sneezed I told her what a doctor had told me that I have perennial allergic rhinitis and she looked at me and said you have seasonal allergies. Now this was in January in Minnesota. You think? I am seeing a different cardiologist now! Sorry about all the questions but I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out?
Thank you so much for all your help and kindness and a Happy New Year!
Jean
You might think you understood what I said but what you don't realize is that what I said was not what I meant!
Jean,
It would probably be best to discuss the Benicar issue with your doctor before making a decision, especially if you have been taking it for so long. But I agree with you that it may not be the best choice, especially since you have MC.
One of my pet peeves is that doctors are always concentrating on trying to put out brush fires, but they never seem to have a good long-term plan. Unless we speak up, we continue to take the same pills that they prescribe, and we continue to fight the same brush fires, as if nothing ever changes. But the reality is that changes do occur, and sometimes we need to make changes in our treatment plan.
They had me taking a statin too (supposedly for reduction of stroke risk), but after about 8 months I stopped using it because of muscle stiffness problems.
Isosorbide mononitrate works to relieve chest pain by dilating blood vessels, which makes it easier for blood to flow through them, and that should also lower blood pressure and reduce the workload on the heart. That's probably the reason why your doctor prescribed it. But of course, like all drugs, it does have some side effect risks.
If the cetirizine works OK, there is probably no point in switching, since it's a newer antihistamine, and therefore it has less risk of causing drowsiness. One problem with the 12-hour Chlor-Trimeton is that it contains lactose. The 4-hour version does not, so if it is effective for us, then it's presumably safer for most of us to use the 4-hour version (if we are sensitive to casein).
I agree with you that seasonal allergies shouldn't be much of a problem in Minnesota in January. LOL.
You're very welcome, and I hope that the new year brings you improving health and happiness.
Tex
It would probably be best to discuss the Benicar issue with your doctor before making a decision, especially if you have been taking it for so long. But I agree with you that it may not be the best choice, especially since you have MC.
One of my pet peeves is that doctors are always concentrating on trying to put out brush fires, but they never seem to have a good long-term plan. Unless we speak up, we continue to take the same pills that they prescribe, and we continue to fight the same brush fires, as if nothing ever changes. But the reality is that changes do occur, and sometimes we need to make changes in our treatment plan.
They had me taking a statin too (supposedly for reduction of stroke risk), but after about 8 months I stopped using it because of muscle stiffness problems.
Isosorbide mononitrate works to relieve chest pain by dilating blood vessels, which makes it easier for blood to flow through them, and that should also lower blood pressure and reduce the workload on the heart. That's probably the reason why your doctor prescribed it. But of course, like all drugs, it does have some side effect risks.
If the cetirizine works OK, there is probably no point in switching, since it's a newer antihistamine, and therefore it has less risk of causing drowsiness. One problem with the 12-hour Chlor-Trimeton is that it contains lactose. The 4-hour version does not, so if it is effective for us, then it's presumably safer for most of us to use the 4-hour version (if we are sensitive to casein).
I agree with you that seasonal allergies shouldn't be much of a problem in Minnesota in January. LOL.
You're very welcome, and I hope that the new year brings you improving health and happiness.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.