Prednisone - Entocort help

All the conventional wisdom I have heard is that Entocort is more for Crohn's-especially Crohn's "higher up" in the GI tract-small intestines and the right half of your colon. I have even read some that it doesn't really help in the colon at all.

For whatever reason, after my first colonosopy showed inflammation on the left side, rectum and small portion of sigmoid my doctor put me on Entocort. And I know it helped. I got better after a few weeks. When I started to taper I got worse quickly. He put me on enemas and I got better again overnight. So that pretty much proves to me the Entocort was helping all the way over near the end of my colon. In my case at least, I go against that conventional wisdom. Now that I have Crohn's for sure, I have used it two other times with similar success with inflammation in other areas of my GI tract.

I do also believe it is not as powerful as pred so this could be another reason altogether.

Thanks for the thoughtful replies.

I always had left-sided issues primarily. But lately things have been really bad in the rectum and perianus. I didn't think the rest of my colon was implicated (just from feel) but my colonoscopy last week showed issues throughout the colon. Hoping I have some success with Remicade.

Entocort is generic because my husband just got it yesterday at Costco. It is still very expensive, about $415 for 30 caps, if you have to pay cash. Call around and see who has the best pricing. I have a great plan for drugs with my insurance so my co pay is low on generics, but I really feel badly for those who have to pay cash. I was with a drug company for years, and the reason our prices are about double of other countries is that we have no cost controls in this country. It is all about unlimited profit for insurance, drugs, and hospitals. Bush helped pass a bill that states that Medicare can't negotiate with drug companies as the government does in most other countries. Our company made huge profits in the US.

Here is a link with generic pricing. http://www.goodrx.com/entocort#budesonide-tab

Good luck.

Your story is very similar to mine - I was also diagnosed with UC at first in 1998, but my new doc thinks it's actually Crohn's just based on my symptoms and a blood test he did. I have activity throughout my entire colon and tried entocort with no luck. Though to be fair, I didn't really give it enough time to work - it can take up to a month for it to really start working, and I was miserable so I ended up ditching it for the prednisone. Prednisone works faster and works systemically, where entocort is topical/less systemic and doesn't reach everywhere in your colon if that's where the inflammation is. That might be why your doc hasn't suggested it.

Also, I know people say entocort has less side effects but when I was taking it at the highest dose, I felt horrible - nauseous, horrible heart palpitations (worse than when on prednisone even), and just feeling not good.

To my knowledge, though, entocort is safer to be on long term. But on the flip side of the coin, it's an extremely expensive drug compared to prednisone (it can be thousands of dollars depending on dose and how good your insurance is). But if you are interested in trying it, I say go for it.

Hope you feel better soon.