Apriso
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Apriso
Hi everyone! I am new to the site and am still trying to figure out how this works! It is refreshing to see that there are so many of you whom I can relate to! I was diagnosed with MC in September 2014 and have been on Apriso ever since. Has anyone taken this medication and gotten negative side effects? I am bloated all the time especially later in the day and I am very self-conscious of it. I took Xifaxan for possible SIBO in February 2015 and it seems to have taken care of that issue. I also have a lot of pressure and pain in my pelvic area. My GI told me she doesn't know what to do with me anymore. My bowel movements are pretty much normal at this point. My only symptoms are bloating, gas, and pelvic pain unless I eat something I am allergic too. My periods have stopped and I'm not sure if the Apriso is disrupting my cycle. If anyone has any feedback I would greatly appreciate it. I take a probiotic twice a day.
Hi,
Welcome to our Internet family. Apriso is just a relatively new brand of the old anti-inflammatory medication mesalamine. Mesalamine is a derivative of salicylic acid, which means that it is related to NSAIDs. NSAIDs are well known to be a common trigger for MC. Therefore the problem with mesalamine is that IBD patients who react to NSAIDs may react adversely to mesalamine. Here is a research reference on that:
"Chronic Nongranulomatous Enterocolitis" is an outdated alternative name for MC.
It's also possible that the probiotic might be causing the bloating and gas, because many of us cannot tolerate many probiotic products. But the problem could be due to something else, also, because basically anything that disrupts digestion can cause bloating and gas. Any food that is not properly digested will usually be fermented by bacteria in the colon, resulting in bloating and gas.
Do you do your own cooking, from scratch, using only unprocessed foods? Sometimes tiny trace amounts of cross-contamination from gluten in GF flours, or mixes, or processed foods can be enough to cause those symptoms.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to our Internet family. Apriso is just a relatively new brand of the old anti-inflammatory medication mesalamine. Mesalamine is a derivative of salicylic acid, which means that it is related to NSAIDs. NSAIDs are well known to be a common trigger for MC. Therefore the problem with mesalamine is that IBD patients who react to NSAIDs may react adversely to mesalamine. Here is a research reference on that:
Diarrhea Associated with Mesalamine in a Patient with Chronic Nongranulomatous EnterocolitisAlthough mesalamine inhibits both lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase in vitro (and should decrease the production of both leukotrienes and prostaglandins), clinical manifestations and results of fecal eicosanoid analysis in our patient suggest that this drug may stimulate leukotriene synthesis as do analgesic NSAIDs and, in turn, lead to diarrhea or intestinal inflammation (or both) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
"Chronic Nongranulomatous Enterocolitis" is an outdated alternative name for MC.
It's also possible that the probiotic might be causing the bloating and gas, because many of us cannot tolerate many probiotic products. But the problem could be due to something else, also, because basically anything that disrupts digestion can cause bloating and gas. Any food that is not properly digested will usually be fermented by bacteria in the colon, resulting in bloating and gas.
Do you do your own cooking, from scratch, using only unprocessed foods? Sometimes tiny trace amounts of cross-contamination from gluten in GF flours, or mixes, or processed foods can be enough to cause those symptoms.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
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.
Thanks for the information! I will show it to my doctor. What medication(s) seem to work the best for MC? This was the first one I've tried and although it has alleviated some of my symptoms, it seems to have brought on others. I have also started gaining weight even though I have been eating the same amount of food and doing light exercising such as walking on a treadmill. Have other people experienced weight gain from mesalamine? I only gained about 6 pounds but that is a lot for me. I am 5'2 and usually around 104 lbs but the scale slowly seems to be climbing. My last weigh in was 111. All the weight seems to be going right to my belly. Any thoughts?
Thanks for being so welcoming!
Leanne
Thanks for being so welcoming!
Leanne
Leanne,
The weight gain could be a sign that the mesalamine is helping to suppress the inflammation, and so your digestion is better. But it could also be a sign that it changes your metabolism, and that's why the weight gain shows up primarily at the waistline.
The most popular medical treatment for MC is Entocort EC (budesonide). But one of the side effects of budesonide is also weight gain. Not everyone experiences weight gain, but it's a fairly common side effect for Entocort.
Another, newer medication that uses budesonide as the active ingredient is Uceris. Uceris is claimed to have fewer side effects because it does not become activated until it is way down in the colon, whereas Entocort becomes activated in the lower third of the small intestine (the ileum), and because of that, a small amount (up to around 20 %) can be absorbed into the bloodstream to cause systemic side effects. For some MC patients though, Uceris may not be quite as effective as Entocort, because of the reduced coverage area.
Tex
The weight gain could be a sign that the mesalamine is helping to suppress the inflammation, and so your digestion is better. But it could also be a sign that it changes your metabolism, and that's why the weight gain shows up primarily at the waistline.
The most popular medical treatment for MC is Entocort EC (budesonide). But one of the side effects of budesonide is also weight gain. Not everyone experiences weight gain, but it's a fairly common side effect for Entocort.
Another, newer medication that uses budesonide as the active ingredient is Uceris. Uceris is claimed to have fewer side effects because it does not become activated until it is way down in the colon, whereas Entocort becomes activated in the lower third of the small intestine (the ileum), and because of that, a small amount (up to around 20 %) can be absorbed into the bloodstream to cause systemic side effects. For some MC patients though, Uceris may not be quite as effective as Entocort, because of the reduced coverage area.
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.