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Well it has been 3 weeks on Entocort as of today and here is my report.
Effectiveness - It is working great and I am down to 2-3 trips per day and only 2 incidents of explosive D.
Side Effects - I find I can avert dizziness if I do not look up and to the right too fast - otherwise spinning world. I feel extremely bloated and did gain 2 pounds but lost them. Do not like the bloated feeling but the end results far outweigh that. I have always bruised quite easily but now bruise more quickly and pretty shades of black and purple.
I find that taking 3 per day is just too much for me especially in the dizziness area so have cut it to 2 per day. I think with my heart meds this is my best bet for now.
Doctor is this Thursday so we will see if he agrees with me lowering the dosage.
Only other side effect I don't like is that I am more tired than normal.
Total Satisfaction - 95% and sorry I didn't use it sooner.
Love, Maggie
Maggie Scarpone
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Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
Thanks for the update, and I'm glad it's working so well. Maybe you'll be able to lower the dosage some more, after a few months, and minimize those side effects.
Love,
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.
The dizziness thing might be a side effect, but sounds an awful lot like positional vertigo (that real specific directional thing). There is a treatment for that that involves tilting the head in certain ways and re-aligns the little crystal thingies in your inner ear. I had it done once in an ENT office, and then was successful the last time my right ear flared up in doing the maneuver myself. But perhaps too once you back off to a maintenance dose, it will resolve itself too.
Has the slow down in D helped the heart thing? I always wondered if it was semi related to your body trying to keep up with loss of fluid/electrolytes (of course I'm no doc, so don't know anything really).
Also hope the bloating feeling settles down. I bet it will. Your gut is probably so surprised at have food in it for some period of time, that it's over compensating right now.
You know, that never occurred to me before, but Katy might be right about the bloating. Your body may need to increase the production of some of the enzymes that it needs to properly digest certain foods. Or, it could be that after years of rapid transit, 100% of the time, the balance of flora and fauna in the intestine may have gotten out of whack, and the populations need to be "readjusted" so as to properly expedite the digestion of certain foods. I'll bet that will improve, as time goes on.
She could be right about the vertigo, too. While the Entocort may have ultimately triggered it, that doesn't mean that the treatment routine she mentioned might not resolve it. It certainly might be worth a try.
Love,
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.
EXCELLENT news, for the most part. I know we're all very different, but wanted to let you know I can wean it down to only one a day when I have to use it...then I cut it altogether and just stick with the Asacol once things are "normal". Maybe one a day might be in the future for you, too?
I'm very happy for you Mags! Having to take medications does suck, but if it gives us our lives back, and we have to do it sometimes...well, heck, I'm all for it.
