Is Asacol getting stuck, causing pain?

Hi all,

I've been reading the forum a lot but have only just become a member. Appreciate all the info people are posting. I was diagnosed in Sept. with UC (already have autoimmune pancreatitis) and just finished a 2 week hospital stay trying to get it under control. Very rough time. While in the hospital I ended up with a clot in my leg, steroid-induced diabetes, and C. diff! Fun fun. I'm on so many meds its amazing they aren't all working against each other.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better UC wise and making progress toward JUST being on Remicade (which seems to be helping) and I guess Asacol. My question is about the latter. I find those pills very hard to get down, and on a number of nights I've woken up with waxing/waning HORRIBLE chest and upper back pain, as though there is an obstacle in there with inflammation around it. I know my heart is fine, my breathing isn't impacted, and it doesn't really seem like acid reflux (no other symptoms that go with that)--more like there's a THING there. I wonder if its possible that the Asacol is the problem. The pain gets slightly better when I sit up and move around, but that doesn't really solve it and even eating toast or something doesn't help. Eventually it passes, but it can keep me awake for more than an hour or even two.

I know Asacol is made to stay whole until it reaches the "right" spot (pH) in the gut, so that's why I wondered if it might just be sitting there because inflammation isn't letting it go down, then its coming back to haunt me after I've been lying down for a while. That's definitely the pattern I've noticed.

Anyone else have this problem? I'm becoming nervous about taking those pills at night because the pain is so severe and scary. Thanks for any thoughts.

Are you talking about Asacol, or Delzicol? Delzicol pills are pretty big but Asacol's really aren't that big.

I don't know how many you're taking per day, but if it was me, i'd take wouldn't take any the rest of today, and tomorrow, i'd just take 2 in the morning and be done -

only way to try and determine if they are the problem is to stop taking them -

just a thought -

and if you do back off for a day, not much of a chance you'll see any negative effects uc wise -

I also had chest/upper back pain with Asacol:

I was put on Asacol (and Pred) in the hospital after diagnosis with UC and was alright for a couple of weeks after discharge. I then saw my GI for follow up and she told me to double my dose of Asacol; after a few days I started to notice a burning pain in my upper back and also in my chest. It got worse and I developed weakness and some fever and nausea - conclusion - allergy to mesalamine. My symptoms resolved a day or so after stopping the Asacol. Hope you feel better!