Asacol Side Effects?

Hi Everyone,

I was diagnosed with UC two weeks ago (Aug 29, 2011). Doctor (incredibly un-helpful guy, but that is beside the point) prescribed Asacol HD x1 - 3 times daily. I have been taking the drugs as prescribed since day 1. For the first 6 days there was no change at all. I was perfectly OK with that as my symptoms were never that severe, diarrhea 5-6 times a week, occasionally a small amount of blood since March 2011. As long as Asacol could prevent things from getting worse I was fine with continuing to take the meds.

After one week, things actually got a bit better. Stools started to become a bit more solid, and bathroom trips were becoming a bit less urgent.

However, 4 days ago, without warning, things took a sudden turn for the worse. Since Wednesday I have been making 8-12 trips to the bathroom each day. Stools are almost entirely water, occasionally a small bit of blood appears. Thursday evening I had a fever of 101. I couldn't go to work on Friday. I have been nauseated and therefore haven't been eating much of anything since Wednesday. As of this afternoon, I have lost about 10 lbs in 4 days. I have pretty intense pain in my abs whenever I move at all.

I don't know what triggered this. The only thing I can think of is a reaction to asacol. I am just wondering if you all agree with my suspicion. I have an appointment with my Doctor on Monday afternoon, but as I mentioned, he is nearly useless.

Thanks for any input you can provide.

I would call your doctor and see what he or she thinks. It's odd you got better first, then worse.

Thank you everyone for your input. I appreciate your insight and look forward to hopefully contributing a success story to this community some day.

Later on the same day I posted the nausea and stomach pains seemed to double in a short time, so I unilaterally decided to go off the asacol. By Sunday morning I was feeling some improvement, at least enough to eat. As of this morning I felt about 80% recovered. Nausea was completely gone, and stomach pains were hardly noticeable. Bathroom frequency is still way higher than it used to be, but I'll give it a few days.

At my doctor's appt he agreed that it was probably the asacol and switched me to prednisone 40mg initial. Once the prednisone is done I'll try out another mesalamine to try to help out the inflammation.

Thanks again for your comments and help!

Hi InSoFla,

He did not mention anything about rectal meds, and I had not yet ready your reply so I didn't think to ask. I need to call him again when I start the Prednisone, so I can question him about it then.

Specifically, are you talking about a suppository of asacol? If so, wouldn't I still wind up with the same reaction regardless of how it gets into my system? Right now, I guess, I'm just hoping my reaction was to asacol itself and not to the mesalamine.

I am definitely interested in anything to help with the inflammation. What are your suggestions?

Thank you,

Asacol caused SERIOUS problems in me. A heart condition that required semi-emergency surgery. Even though its a common drug they can stilll cause problems. Read the fine print ALWAYS. Ask questions.