Got up at 4 not feeling great... watched the storms on radar and out the window passing over NW Houston.. pretty nasty but just heavy rain here.
I hurt my back a week ago cleaning the garage and the doc put me on a 13 day dexpak. I was constipated so dropped down to 5 pills from 6 yesterday and stopped the muscle relaxer... D back big time soon after I got up! Not sure what was causing the constipation.. might have been the muscle relaxer that I took only at night.
Have been drinking at least a gallon of water a day with the dexpak... thought i better add some pedialyte to my intake this morning... now just tired and weak but the D seems to have slowed down.
They told me to stop the entocort while on the dexpak.. may add some back in today.
I took premarin for years... when there was only the high strength ones.. stopped it when the reports came out.
Did the miacalcin nasal spray for two years and still had bone loss last year. I go again in june and have taken nothing all year... will see what happens.. I guess genetics wins out in the end:)
grannyh
Actonel to build up my bones
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Grannyh,
Dexpak is based on dexamethasone, which is a corticosteroid, used to treat inflammation, thus the reason for your doctors instructions to suspend the Entocort treatment. I notice that constipation is not listed as a side effect of dexamethasone.
I'm not familiar with dexamethasone. I suppose it's possible that the combination of dexamethasone with the residual entocort in your system, (IOW, an above-label dose of corticosteroids), may have caused the constipation problem. Still, Entocort, (alone), has been proven to be safe at double-dose levels, without a significant increase in side effects.
Also, I wonder about the abrupt withdrawal from Entocort treatment. True, the dexamethasone is also a corticosteroid, but I'm not all sure that they would be interchangeable, as far as chemical dependency is concerned, and I would think that there could be a possibility of withdrawal symptoms. Dexamethasone, if used for prolonged periods, also requires a withdrawal period, in order to preempt withdrawal problems.
I wouldn't want to take a guess as to whether or not resuming your regular Entocort treatment would result in adverse consequences, since those are uncharted waters. Entocort is not absorbed until it reaches the ileum, whereas dexamethasone presumably acts as a systemic, (sorta like prednisone).
I can't find a recommended dose for dexamethasone on the web. It is aproximately 7 times as potent as prednisone. IOW, 6 mg of dexamethasone is equivalent to about 40 mg of prednisone. How much dexamethasone are you taking?
Tex
Dexpak is based on dexamethasone, which is a corticosteroid, used to treat inflammation, thus the reason for your doctors instructions to suspend the Entocort treatment. I notice that constipation is not listed as a side effect of dexamethasone.
I'm not familiar with dexamethasone. I suppose it's possible that the combination of dexamethasone with the residual entocort in your system, (IOW, an above-label dose of corticosteroids), may have caused the constipation problem. Still, Entocort, (alone), has been proven to be safe at double-dose levels, without a significant increase in side effects.
Also, I wonder about the abrupt withdrawal from Entocort treatment. True, the dexamethasone is also a corticosteroid, but I'm not all sure that they would be interchangeable, as far as chemical dependency is concerned, and I would think that there could be a possibility of withdrawal symptoms. Dexamethasone, if used for prolonged periods, also requires a withdrawal period, in order to preempt withdrawal problems.
I wouldn't want to take a guess as to whether or not resuming your regular Entocort treatment would result in adverse consequences, since those are uncharted waters. Entocort is not absorbed until it reaches the ileum, whereas dexamethasone presumably acts as a systemic, (sorta like prednisone).
I can't find a recommended dose for dexamethasone on the web. It is aproximately 7 times as potent as prednisone. IOW, 6 mg of dexamethasone is equivalent to about 40 mg of prednisone. How much dexamethasone are you taking?
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.
On the Dexpak it says each pill is 1.5mg. I took 6 for 3 days.. should have taken 6 for 4 days but dropped to 5 yesterday. Supposed to be 5 today then 4 for three days , three for one day, 2 for 3 days then 1.
I am probably only going to take 4 today and i started the entocort back..will take one or two of them I guess havne't made up my mind.
Have been keeping up the water and added pedialyte.... still very weak but at least the D seems to have stopped.. for now anyway:)
I have to keep up the liquids with the steroids.. I feel like I could double as a tropical fishtank...LOL
grannyh
I am probably only going to take 4 today and i started the entocort back..will take one or two of them I guess havne't made up my mind.
Have been keeping up the water and added pedialyte.... still very weak but at least the D seems to have stopped.. for now anyway:)
I have to keep up the liquids with the steroids.. I feel like I could double as a tropical fishtank...LOL
grannyh
Hmmmmmmmmmm. That seems like a fairly stiff dose, but I guess it probably takes a while to build up the level in your body to a workable level.
The unanswered question is: How is your back? I hope the treatment is providing enough relief of your back pain to be worth all the aggravation to your digestive system.
Tex
The unanswered question is: How is your back? I hope the treatment is providing enough relief of your back pain to be worth all the aggravation to your digestive system.
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.
Alice,
Now you've got me curious -- how much Vit D were/are you taking, and was it/is it the D2 (ergo_ form) or the D3 (chole__ form)?
For a while there, it was a bit difficult to find the D3, but I've seen it in several places lately. I think someone said they have to get it from Europe, or something, but that may not even be true anymore. My endo says I'm still not on enough Vit D according to my lab work, so I'm going to try to get this amount up to perhaps 1000, and stick with that up until the time I have my repeat bone density.
These are rather new recommendations based on studies, and last evening when we went to Whole Foods, I even spotted some Vit D 1000's. The study that most intrigues me is the one someone did among nursing home residents who apparently perked up after being put on this amount per day. That is why I'm trying to get several of the smaller amounts of Vit D down her now.
Hopefully, she's gotten enough of the big doses of Folate down to help some as well. People can get really mixed up if they don't get enough Folate one way or the other, and if not, it can look like dementia, etc.
Alice, would you be willing to increase your Vit D to around a thousand per day? Perhaps your doc's already read that study, but from our experience, we know how long it takes some docs to catch up with their reading! Ha! Has your doc done the blood tests that include the 25(OH) and the 1, 25 test for Vits D? Mine included the parathyroid hormone level, etc.
Yours, Luce
Now you've got me curious -- how much Vit D were/are you taking, and was it/is it the D2 (ergo_ form) or the D3 (chole__ form)?
For a while there, it was a bit difficult to find the D3, but I've seen it in several places lately. I think someone said they have to get it from Europe, or something, but that may not even be true anymore. My endo says I'm still not on enough Vit D according to my lab work, so I'm going to try to get this amount up to perhaps 1000, and stick with that up until the time I have my repeat bone density.
These are rather new recommendations based on studies, and last evening when we went to Whole Foods, I even spotted some Vit D 1000's. The study that most intrigues me is the one someone did among nursing home residents who apparently perked up after being put on this amount per day. That is why I'm trying to get several of the smaller amounts of Vit D down her now.
Hopefully, she's gotten enough of the big doses of Folate down to help some as well. People can get really mixed up if they don't get enough Folate one way or the other, and if not, it can look like dementia, etc.
Alice, would you be willing to increase your Vit D to around a thousand per day? Perhaps your doc's already read that study, but from our experience, we know how long it takes some docs to catch up with their reading! Ha! Has your doc done the blood tests that include the 25(OH) and the 1, 25 test for Vits D? Mine included the parathyroid hormone level, etc.
Yours, Luce