asacol dosage

willabec · Post by **willabec** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:35 pm

for those of you who are on or have been on asacol for mc, what was your dosage??

TooManyHats · Post by **TooManyHats** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:00 pm

I was switched today to 400 mg HD, four times daily. Lucky me, I have $200 worth of Lialda that will be sitting there. Can't wait to see what this costs.

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:49 pm

My GI started me on 6 400mg a day. 2 morning, noon & night.

Not too long after I decided that I forgot the noon dose so often that I might as well skip it. Over time I have worked down to 1 in the AM and do fine most of the time. I do avoid a lot of gluten and soy though.

Love, Shirley

TooManyHats · Post by **TooManyHats** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:58 pm

You give me hope Shirley. How quick did it work for you?

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:42 am

By the time I finished and got off of Asacol - it definitely did not work - they had upped the dosage to 14 pills per day. That was the straw that broke the camel's back as well as the ridiculous price it cost. Had a lot backlogged and was able to dispense of it in a charitable manner.

Maggie

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:03 am

How soon did it work? Who knows, because at the same time the GI started me on asacol he had me taking prednisone - I wouldn't advise going there. I had trouble weaning off and was on it about 3 months. Finally, I told him I was coming off one way or another so he prescribed Entocort - ramping down pred as entocort was ramped up. I was on the entocort another 3 months.

During everything, I was on Asacol. After weaning off the entocort I maintained on asacol alone. All this started in 2004. Can't believe it's been that long, but as I said before, I have been on 1 Asacol for probably a year now.

Some people simply can't take Asacol. I seem to be OK on it, but I'm not sensitive to dairy (Thank You Lord). I believe there are other brands that don't have dairy if you want to do a search for them.

Don't know if this is a help............

Love, Shirley

TooManyHats · Post by **TooManyHats** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:06 am

There's dairy in that???

catsrule · Post by **catsrule** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:10 am

I was on asacol hd, 1 tablet 3x's a day. I think they are 800 mg.

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:35 pm

To my knowledge it definitely has dairy in it. One reason I also stopped use of it.

Maggie

Post by **tex** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:30 pm

Arlene,

Yes, Asacol contains lactose. Pharmaceutical grade lactose is supposed to be free of casein, but industrial grade lactose is not. Since many members seem to react to the lactose in Asacol, that makes me wonder if Big Pharma is cheating, and using the cheaper industrial grade lactose in their products, (or, at least in Asacol).

Lactose "intolerance" is not like casein intolerance. Lactose intolerance simply implies the inability to properly digest lactose, usually due to a deficiency of lactase enzyme, which can be caused by any type of enteritis, even a case of the flu will usually cause lactose intolerance for a few days or so. However, research shows that many/most people who are lactose "intolerant" can ingest the lactose equivalent of at least a cup of milk, and in many cases, a pint of milk, without showing any symptoms, because they are not totally unable to produce lactase, they are simply not able to produce normal amounts of it.

Casein, on the other hand, is a protein, and protein sensitivities tend to cause autoimmune-type reactions, which can be triggered by very small amounts - even trace amounts of a trigger food. This leads me to suspect that Asacol, (and in fact, virtually any pharmaceutical products that contain lactose as a filler/sweetener), also contain at least traces of casein, (probably because industrial grade lactose is being used in the manufacturing process, rather than pharmaceutical grade).

Tex

TooManyHats · Post by **TooManyHats** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:42 pm

Ah geez. I certainly hope this isn't going to cause a problem. Thanks for the heads up.