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Gimme a U for Uceris!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 3/15/2013 7:48 PM (GMT 0)
haha... well, why the heck not, let's try another med??? I saw my GI yesterday, just to touch base re. surgical consult (3rd one just this past Tuesday...new surgeon though!). I'm thinking September for surgery. We talked about Uceris, & figured we'd give it a shot. Even if I can get the inflammation under control & opted to not have surgery, I'd still need yearly scopes, due to all the pseudopolyps & cellular changes. But it's worth a shot, especailly since I will stay on my existing meds (Asacol, Imuran, Humira), which are sort of working ok. So here I go again! I hope to pick up the med this wknd, & will let you all know how it goes. I'm just hesitant to get an ileo- not really sure why, the procedure doesn't freak me out, the ileo doesn't bother me... I just don't want to do it!
Posted 3/15/2013 8:46 PM (GMT 0)
left a message on my docs phone about this as well.
Posted 3/15/2013 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck and pls do keep us posted! Drug looks promising w/ the new coating and I think helped a few members on here w/out much in the way of side effects.
B
Posted 3/15/2013 9:53 PM (GMT 0)
Can someone confirm that uceris and entocort have different absorption locations? I do have a bunch of entocort laying around but I'm positive it doesn't do anything for my UC.

Uceris, from my understand releases in the distal colon?
Posted 3/15/2013 10:12 PM (GMT 0)
I have a GI appt Wed. I plan to ask for Uceris. I am stuck b/w 10mg and 7.5mg of pred. I want off of it! The insomnia has been terrible this time.
Posted 3/15/2013 10:29 PM (GMT 0)
from what I gather, uceris is just a type of extended release budesonide- is that entocort? Apparently it releases the steroid at the beginning of the large intestine, where budesonide releases it in the beginning of the small intestine. My GI said that budesonide is more commonly used (& effective) in Crohns, because of that release mechanism. Hey, I'll give it a shot! I haven't taken pred in years, but my colon is still stubbornly inflamed. The pharmacy has the script, but they don't have the med- so I can't pick it up 'til Monday. I'll be the first of my GI's patients to use it. It's one pill a day, & I believe the time frame is 8 weeks- so we'll give it a couple weeks, see if I notice any changes in symptoms.
Posted 3/15/2013 10:36 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Eva,

Budesonide is just entocort.

When you say one pill a day uceris, is that 9 mg? 9 mg of entocort is roughly equivalent to 40 mg of prednisone.

Hope it works out for you. Keep us updated.
Posted 3/15/2013 10:47 PM (GMT 0)
9mg per day, yes. I'm actually curious to see if I do experience any pred like side effects. I've done 3 fairly long-term courses of pred, starting at 60mgs. Which takes forever to taper off.... the only time it really helped was the first time I used it, the other times it was like a band-aid. We'll see... what have I got to lose, aside from my colon! ha!
Posted 3/16/2013 2:34 AM (GMT 0)
The strange part about UCeris is that there is no ability to taper- 9 mg pill is it. (Also one pill - whatever your body size - nutty). So I gather, even though technically it still has some systemic effects, they must be tiny and sub physiologic dose, since they assume you will take it at its full max dose for 8 weeks and then stop cold turkey. I am trying it too. Like entocort, it seems to give me some discomfort and looser stool, I dunno if it's the coating or the budesenoide, but at the same time I reckon that doesn't mean that it isn't suppressing inflammation- stool loosening can occur without actually causing inflammation. I'll keep trying it as long as I can manage to tolerate it.
Posted 3/16/2013 2:41 AM (GMT 0)
Budesonide in general doesn't need to be tapered because it doesn't suppress the HPA axis the way that pred does.

**the more you know**
Posted 3/16/2013 3:45 AM (GMT 0)
The bad news it does not have the success rate that prednisone has. It was barely over the sugar pill.

Placebo : 7.4%
2.4g Asacol : 12.1%
6.0mg Uceris : 13.2%
9.0mg Uceris : 17.9%

Actually until I copied the data I had not realized 12.1% was ASACOL, so Uceris beats ASACOL. 9.0 mg is 10% beyond sugar pill.

Maybe I should point that out to the GI doc who refused UCERIS but loves 5ASA's.
Posted 3/16/2013 2:38 PM (GMT 0)
To me prednisone statistics are useless, as are many others. There are just too many variables that are not accounted for. True prednisone statistics are that is works probably close to 100% of the time while you are taking it and close to 0% of the time after tapering off. I have tried and tried to find long term remission rates for many things, including Prednisone and Uceris (of course Uceris has not been around long term) and found very little. Uceris remission rates seem to be at the 8 week interval but what are the continued remission rates 3months, 6 months, 9months, or a year down the road? Not available, even for prednisone. I'm excited about Uceris but, unfortunately, I'm willing to make a small bet that you are going to have to take it for 2 months several times a year to retain remission. Many, many of these statistics quoted are while patients are on other meds concurrently, such as Asacol and others so when you factor these in the statistics are very cloudy.
Posted 4/25/2013 10:20 AM (GMT 0)
That data is also as monotherapy. My doc never adds prednisone alone. It's always with a 5asa. I'm sure Uceris will have a better effect with a 5asa. With this disease, it's all about the drug cocktail! What works best for you?
Posted 6/16/2013 6:33 AM (GMT 0)
Eva Lou - any updates? How are you doing on Uceris? How long you been on it? Keep us posted! =)
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