HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Asacol vs. Lialda Quadry?!?

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 9/9/2009 7:40 PM (GMT 0)
I'm the 3rd month into a wickedly bad flare and have pulled out all the stops, short of a hospital stay (which may still happen..).
One of the things i've done is switch from asacol (12/daily) to lialda (4/day), as it didn't exist when i last had a major flare 9 years ago.
Three things I quickly have observed...
(1) The bleeding does seem slightly better controlled on the lialda, which may be because more medicine is getting lower down (I'm all sigmoid/rectal bleeding...and no, unfotunately, rowasa doesn't work for my system and no clue why)
(2) I get very severe headaches in the evening...especially back of head and neck.
(3) I get very painful gas/cramping in the evening, which i didn't on asacol.

So, my questions are... have other people experienced these side effects on lialda? How do you mitigate them best? Why do they say to take all 4 tabs in the morning...has anyone tried to split 2/morn and 2/evening? I wonder if this may help lessen the side effects....
I'd like to stay on the lialda, but not happy about these side effects i didn't have on asacol...

Final question, is it just me or do the pills smell identical to a skunk spray? How strange...
Posted 9/9/2009 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
I take 4x Lialda right now and daily Rowasa as well. I take 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. My doctor said he doesn't care how I take them as long as I get 4 in during a day. He said the main purpose of taking them all at once was to help with dosing compliance. I'm not sure how accurate he is, but I can say for sure that by taking them 2 in the morning and 2 at night, I have had no side effects at all. That's not to say I would/wouldn't have any side effects by taking 4 at once, but what I am getting at is that it's worth a shot. I did read that headaches and gas (not sure about painful) are side effects of Lialda.

I have never noticed the smell! :)
Posted 9/9/2009 8:07 PM (GMT 0)
I had headaches from two pills a day taken in the morning...

It helped get me and keep me in remission, but I am trying asacol as of today, because of all the side effects from lialda. My Dr said that lots of his other patients have odd side effects from lialda...
Posted 9/9/2009 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
I take 4 Lialda pills 1x a day - and yes, they do smell. IT's also hard to swallow  since they're big.

But no other side affects worth mentioning except  I think it has made my gas smell really bad!

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply