I was diagnosed with SIBO and successfully treated it with the help of a functional medicine doc early this year (Jan to March). I was doing fantastic, pooping normally, gaining energy, and I was about to stop all my herbal treatments when I developed horrible watery diarrhea (like 50+ times per day). Ended up with a colonoscopy that showed very mildly elevated lymphocytes. But my blood eosinophils were through the roof. I was put on prednisone, then budesonide. I tried to taper off of it rather quickly because of awful side effects (anxiety, etc), but the colitis came right back so I went back on it.
At this point, I'd lost 10 pounds, but have since gained all of it back and more. I'm working out and feeling great on 9mg budesonide, keeping an eye on my calories, but I continue to gain weight. Is this typical with budesonide?
Also, I've tried to taper to 6mg a couple times and it's a no go, looser poops, bloating, gas, within a day or two. If I need to stay on budesonide 9mg long term, is there anything I can do to mitigate the weight gain? Any general advice for me?
TIA!
Budesonide advice, please!
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Re: Budesonide advice, please!
Hello Charis,
Welcome to the group. The reason why you relapse every time you lower the dose of budesonide is because this disease triggers certain food sensitivities, and unless those foods are totally avoided, even tiny amounts of them cause us to react. A full dose of budesonide can sometimes mask those food sensitivities for some of us, but eventually, it isn't able to do that for most of us, and the drug slowly becomes ineffective for us.
Weight gain is a common side effect of budesonide, but it also has much more serious side effects, especially with long-term use. One of those side effects is osteoporosis, and it will also eventually cause physiological changes. Some patients develop what's known as a moon face, and some develop a buffalo hump on their back. Because of those side effect risks, most gastroenterologists are reluctant to prescribe it for long-term use.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to the group. The reason why you relapse every time you lower the dose of budesonide is because this disease triggers certain food sensitivities, and unless those foods are totally avoided, even tiny amounts of them cause us to react. A full dose of budesonide can sometimes mask those food sensitivities for some of us, but eventually, it isn't able to do that for most of us, and the drug slowly becomes ineffective for us.
Weight gain is a common side effect of budesonide, but it also has much more serious side effects, especially with long-term use. One of those side effects is osteoporosis, and it will also eventually cause physiological changes. Some patients develop what's known as a moon face, and some develop a buffalo hump on their back. Because of those side effect risks, most gastroenterologists are reluctant to prescribe it for long-term use.
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.