Can't take Lialda, but can take other mesalamines?

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has had the experience of not tolerating one mesalamine medication but being able to tolerate others. I don't tolerate Lialda well at all (increased urgency, frequency, side pain, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea even worse than usual, etc) and my doctor says that sometimes people can still go on to take other medications in the same class of drugs and be fine. I wondered if anyone here has had that experience and with what meds?

Thank you!

Emilee

I have tried Lialda on two separate occasions and had the same side effects each time. It basically increased my flare to the max. The first time, I had no active symptoms except bleeding, and I took Lialda at 4 pills a day for about a week and it gave me really bad urgency, frequency (about 15-20 times/day when before I was at about 3-5 times/day), side pain, fatigue, even worse bleeding, nausea and loss of appetite. Then I stopped taking it and some of the symptoms improved but I didn't go back to my "normal." I was in a full flare after that.
Fast forward to about a year and a half later and I decided I was willing to give it another try. I took it at a lower dose (1 pill a day) for about a week. During that week, my symptoms were the same as they were with round one of Lialda, and this time I noticed that I lost about 7 pounds during that week. After I stopped taking it, I weighed myself a week later and I had gained 5 of those pounds back because I could eat again.
Before taking Lialda the second time around, I was pretty stable, still flaring, but somewhat consistent with what I could eat, able to ride in the car long enough to make it to work, and able to work a couple days a week. But the week that I took Lialda took me down, I felt like crap.

Thanks,

Emilee

I can't take Lialda, Delzicol or Asacol HD, even though I used regular Asacol for around 15 years. Lialda/Delzicol and to a lesser extent Asacol HD made me sick to my stomach, and I did lose weight when I was on those drugs. I asked a question similar to yours on this forum about a year ago, and someone suggested Colazal, which I requested from my Dr., and have been taking ever since. It gave me none of the problems I had experienced with the others.

When I was diagnosed last year I was put on Mezavant and it worked great. After a month I started to develop really bad dryskin spots under my eyes. My doc thinks it was an allergic reaction. I switched to Asacol and unfortunately the dryness didnt go away.

I am on Entocort right now but it isnt helping. He is trying me on Dipentum soon (Mesalamine without any buffers or time release agent), we will see how it goes.