Entocort Studies /Polly

[harvest_table]

I noticed your post and it interests me. Can you elaborate on this suggestion or post any studies your aware of?

But be sure to ask about any studies specifically linking Entocort to communicable disease.

Thanks,

Love Joanna

[tex]

Joanna,

Polly is so busy these days that I don't believe she has even logged on in a couple of days. While it's certainly possible that she might have specific information related to what you are asking, I suspect that in her post, she was simply referring to the standard disclaimer about budesonide's capacity to suppress the immune system. While Entocort is classified as an immune system suppressing drug, (like all corticosteroids), note that it does not lower serum cortisol levels significantly, the way that the systemic corticosteroids do. That's a big plus in it's favor.

Here is one of the typical statments issued about the risks of immune system suppression:

Glucocorticosteroids may mask some signs of infections and new infections may appear. A decreased resistance to localized infection has been observed during glucocorticosteroid therapy. Viral infections such as chicken pox and measles can have a more serious or fatal course in patients on immunosuppressant glucocorticosteroids. In adults who have not had these diseases, particular care should be taken to avoid exposure. If exposed to chicken pox or measles, therapy with varicella zoster immune globulin (VZIG) or pooled intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), as appropriate, may be indicated. If chicken pox develops, treatment with antiviral agents may be considered.

This comes from:

http://www.pulsus.com/cddw2002/entopi.htm

Numerous toxicity studies have been done, and that site presents the results of various studies of that type. Data on the actual statistics of risks of contracting communicable diseases, though, seem to be very elusive.

Consider the information on this site, for example:

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/dr ... fm?id=2616

Under "Warnings", they have a similar disclosure of the risks of immune system suppression. In that caveat, they include these statments:

How the dose, route and duration of glucocorticosteroid administration affect the risk of developing a disseminated infection is not known. The contribution of the underlying disease and/or prior glucocorticosteroid treatment to the risk is also not known.

IOW, this is a pretty complex issue, since this drug is typically prescribed to patients with pre-existing conditions, (IOW, they are already sick, and their immune systems may or may not already be overwhelmed), so the actual risks involved, will probably be a pretty individualized matter. At any rate, evidently, no one has ever bothered to actually document the statistics involved with the effects of immune system suppression. Or, if they have, they are doing a pretty good job of keeping it a secret.

I realize this isn't much help, but I suspect that the information you are asking for, hasn't been documented by reliable research. I hope I'm wrong, as that information would certainly be nice to have, but if it's in the literature available on the web, I haven't been able to locate it.

Love,
Tex

[harvest_table]

Tex,

Have a better understanding now where she was coming from with that suggestion but I haven't found studies on it either so if a patient would ask their physician about it, they might be clueless.

It's great to be connected again and thanks so much for your support.

Love,
Joanna

[Polly]

Hi there, Tex and Joanna,

Yes, I have been so busy. This past weekend I went on a meditation retreat in rural N.Y. A wonderful experience!

Tex is absolutely correct. It's just a routine disclaimer. GI docs may not have this type of specific knowledge, but infectious disease docs do a lot of research/publishing, so info of this type could be located anywhere, and I may just not be up to date on it.

It IS difficult to know if someone on a medication got an intercurrent illness BECAUSE of the medication or would have gotten the illness anyway. It seems to me that Entocort is relatively safe - certainly compared to prednisone it is.

I recall that Sally and Jill (any others?) had serious urinary tract infections while on Entocort, but the infections may have not been related to the medication. UTIs are so common in women in general.

Love,

Polly

[JJ]

Hi....I too have been busy teaching crafts at Vacation Bible School. Today is the last day....

I never connected my infection with Entoccort, but I will talk to the urologist when I see him on the 31st. The CT Scan saw that I have a blockage in my ureter and a cyst in my kidney....who knows if this is related to the Entocort. I just know that I could not have kept a teaching job without the help of that drug. More on my job situation in a later post.

TTFN...JJ