Feel free to discuss any topic of general interest, so long as nothing you post here is likely to be interpreted as insulting, and/or inflammatory, nor clearly designed to provoke any individual or group. Please be considerate of others feelings, and they will be considerate of yours.
At last, the medical establishment is being forced to admit that an entire class of prescription meds may cause gluten sensitivity and "celiac-like sprue." Of course they barely refer to this intestinal inflammation "syndrome" as MC until the end. The drug warning is for olmesartan (Benicar), a drug that makes more than $500 million a year. Stopping the drug usually stops the syndrome. Of course Caucasian women and those with HLADQ 2 celiac genetics are more often affected.
"Although the mechanism for olmesartan-associated sprue-like enteropathy is uncertain, the long latency before onset of symptoms, findings of lymphocytic or collagenous colitis, and high association with HLA-DQ2/8 suggest a localized delayed hypersensitivity or cell-mediated immune response to the pro-drug olmesartan medoxomil," according to the FDA statement."
From the article at the second link that you posted:
"It's probably a rare association, but an important one," he said.
Yeah, sure . . . it's always a rare association, isn't it, just like MC itself is "rare".
I'm beginning to wonder if maybe MC and even celiac disease might actually be rare diseases, if it weren't for all the iatrogenic help that doctors (and their allies at the pharmaceutical companies) provide to unknowingly promote the diseases.
Thanks for the links.
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.
I found out one year into my diagnosis that the lisinopril I was taking was a problem. That was after someone (and I wish I could remember who). Posted a link to a dissertation done on MC and listed drugs not to take. Once I was switched to HCT I noticed a reduction in symptoms. Once I was switched from levothyroxine to Tirosint it was even better. I still have some bouts with MC but that is usually due to eating something I shouldn't have.
That's a good article, because of the way it ranks drugs according to their risk of causing MC.
Thanks,
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.
This is a good article. I see that Ranitidine (Zantac), an H2 histamine blocker, has a high correlation - best to stay away from that one. Also Simvastatin is intermediate. I think Simvastatin is the statin I was taking when I got MC. The docs need to see this list.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
