Hi All:
I've been happily D-free on Entocort for almost 7 months, and it's time to taper off. I did not gain weight for the first five months, then I put on a few in September and October, and I gained about seven pounds (10 total) in just the last few weeks. Could entocort be the culprit for the rapid gain? And do you think I will lose some quickly as I taper off?
Scout
Entocort and Weight Gain?
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scoutfinch
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:45 am
- Location: Vermont
Entocort and Weight Gain?
I've got high hopes, I've got high hopes;
I've got high (gluten free) apple pie in the sky hopes.
I've got high (gluten free) apple pie in the sky hopes.
Hi Scout,
Congratulations on resolving your MC symptoms. Weight gain is one of the listed side effects of Entocort, and it does cause some of us to gain weight, despite having D. However, even for those of us who do not have that side effect, usually, as our gut heals, our ability to absorb nutrients will improve, and we will begin to utilize more of the food that we eat, resulting in weight gains. This might be what has happened in your case, since the weight gain did not show up early on in the treatment. In that event, I would guess that is is unlikely that reducing the Entocort dose will have much affect on your metabolism. However, since we are all different in our responses to meds, that opinion is certainly not chiseled in stone, so only time will tell, as you reduce the dosage rate.
If you are buying commercially processed GF foods, be aware that many of them contain more calories than their conventional counterparts. However, if you are not taking in more calories than you did before your MC symptoms began, and you did not gain weight on that same calorie intake back then, and tapering off the Entocort doesn't seem to resolve the problem, then you might want to ask your doctor to test you for hypothyroidism. We are 7 or 8 times as likely to develop thyroid issues, as someone in the general population, and hypothyroidism will usually cause unexplained weight gain, because it changes our metabolism.
In fact, if you haven't already been tested for thyroid issues, you might want to have the test anyway, since that is such a common problem among the members here. Good luck with tapering off the Entocort. Hopefully, you'll be able to remain in remission, without the need to add any additional restrictions to your diet.
Tex
Congratulations on resolving your MC symptoms. Weight gain is one of the listed side effects of Entocort, and it does cause some of us to gain weight, despite having D. However, even for those of us who do not have that side effect, usually, as our gut heals, our ability to absorb nutrients will improve, and we will begin to utilize more of the food that we eat, resulting in weight gains. This might be what has happened in your case, since the weight gain did not show up early on in the treatment. In that event, I would guess that is is unlikely that reducing the Entocort dose will have much affect on your metabolism. However, since we are all different in our responses to meds, that opinion is certainly not chiseled in stone, so only time will tell, as you reduce the dosage rate.
If you are buying commercially processed GF foods, be aware that many of them contain more calories than their conventional counterparts. However, if you are not taking in more calories than you did before your MC symptoms began, and you did not gain weight on that same calorie intake back then, and tapering off the Entocort doesn't seem to resolve the problem, then you might want to ask your doctor to test you for hypothyroidism. We are 7 or 8 times as likely to develop thyroid issues, as someone in the general population, and hypothyroidism will usually cause unexplained weight gain, because it changes our metabolism.
In fact, if you haven't already been tested for thyroid issues, you might want to have the test anyway, since that is such a common problem among the members here. Good luck with tapering off the Entocort. Hopefully, you'll be able to remain in remission, without the need to add any additional restrictions to your diet.
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.