Trial & Error for Entocort Taper (Harma How Are You Doin

[DJ]

I've been taking Entocort 2 mg in gelatin capsules for a week now. Do I need to go through a different withdrawal process to fix this problem? If the enteric coating of Entocort capsules allows only 9% to 21% of the drug to enter the entire system, have I just increased my systemic exposure by 500% to 1100%? I'm wondering if I have created some danger here.

I thought the enteric property was from the granules

[mzh]

I take back what I wrote about the capsule being the coated part; the drug sheets seem to imply that but it's not true. I researched the capsule part a bit more and it appears to be a hard gel cap. Each granule in the pill is encapsulated so it should work just fine put into any gel cap or even just taken without the capsule at all, as Tex said. Now that I know this, I may do that too.

Pets take compounded Entocort. For them it comes in tablets and even liquid, so it's clearly not the capsule that matters.

FWIW, I'm taking 3 mg every 2-3 days, depending on how I'm doing. Every time I stop the Entocort completely I get terrible gas after a while that's worse than the stool consistency, which is still formed for the most part. Gas-X just doesn't help this kind of gas at all. Ah, it's all such a trial-and-error thing.

[tex]

I thought the enteric property was from the granules

It is. Now we see how easy it is to spread misinformation on the internet.

As Marcia has pointed out, her original post was incorrect, and instead of verifying that the information was correct, I simply went along with it. Unfortunately, the same thing happens all over the internet, zillions of times every day, because it's so easy to do.

The name of the product "Entocort EC" suggests that the capsule is enteric coated ("EC" stands for "Enteric-Coated"), so I just assumed the same thing that Marcia assumed, that the capsule is enteric-coated. But a glance at AstraZeneca's product sheet for Entocort EC tells a different story. As I pointed out in a response to another post you wrote, just scroll down to item 12.1 (Clinical Pharmacology, Mechanism of Action, on page 4) to see that it is the individual granules that have the enteric coating.

http://www1.astrazeneca-us.com/pi/entocortec.pdf

In most situations involving the use of Entocort EC, this wouldn't matter, but in your particular situation, it becomes a critical detail. I apologize for posting that misinformation. That's the downside of posting without verifying the information.

Tex

[DJ]

Tex looked up the manufacturer sheet that specifies that the granules are activated in the intestines. I also spoke with a pharmacist today who looked up the medication and provided the same answer. The capsules are gelatin.

Thank you Tex. I will continue to slowly wean off of Entocort by making my own pills as planned.

[Lesley]

Re: Harma. I am friends with her on FB. Realized I haven't seen her around much so I went to her page. I see she has returned to Holland. She looked fine at the farewell dinner friends had for her.
I had planned to contact her while in Israel, but since I had to postpone my trip I postponed that too.
I hope she posts here soon. I miss her posts.

[mzh]

FWIW, my GI doc told me it was the capsule!!!! Scary, huh....

[DJ]

FWIW, my GI doc told me it was the capsule!!!! Scary, huh....

I'm not surprised. That's why it's important that we are all here to figure it out together.

[DebE13]

Me too, Leslie.