Fever

Hi Folks, I have been taking 3g of Pentasa, and for the last few nights I have had a fever, which is waking me up, with a slight stomach ache.

I fear the worst really....what would you suggest I do if you was in my shoes? I'm thinking of upping my Meds to 4g as my understanding is that fever usually means active inflammation. If I go see my GI he will probably recommend this and charge me $100 for which I cant really afford this month.

It's possible the fever is unrelated to UC unless you have a history of this.

It's possibly an allergic reaction to the meslamine within the pentasa then. I would talk to your GI before raising your dosage to 4g. If you read about adverse reactions to meslamine-based drugs fever is listed as a sign of overdose and/or allergic reaction. So at least clear it with your GI before proceeding.

Thanks a lot, I think I will give it a couple of days and see what happens before doing anything else.

Wow nssg...are you able to elaborate? if not no worries.

i ended up having a crazy infection that acted very quickly because i was suppressing my immune system with all the uc drugs and it almost killed me. You probably don't have to worry as much since your immune system isn't whacked from meds :)

nssg...Ah! I see, how awful for you!!

Sara..There isn't anyone with whom I can chat to....they all speak Spanish.

Heather...

To recap..

I think what is happening is that when I stopped my medication recently, I was taking 2gms of Pentasa, (some of you may remember from one of my recent posts, to take a course of Diflucan) and unfortunately for me I have had problems ever since, and I suspect I have basically messed things up for myself, because not long after I stopped taking my medication, I experienced stomach pains etc etc, and so I upped my medication to 3gms to try and counter balance the problem, however sadly I don't think that this has worked!

Recently I have had low level stomach pain, aches, a re occurrence of flatulence, and more recently night fevers, all of this leads me to believe I have active inflammation, and I am heading for a flare. I could be wrong, but I think that's what it is...this whole thing has been ongoing for a few weeks now, and it all leads back to me stopping my medication for a few days, its a shame but I think that's whats happened, I will give it another couple of days and see how I am.

I will of course go to visit with my GI if I feel really ill. I am thinking that what worked well for me (low dosage of Pentasa) may not work for me anymore, which is why I was contemplating upping my medication dosage to 4g of Pentasa, which actually is the dosage which most people take anyway, as a matter of course. I hope I have explained all this clearly? This is exactly why some people should never stop their Medication!

I also recognize the fever I am experiencing currently, as I had it when I was first diagnosed with UC, some people experience fever and some do not, and how I am feeling with my current fever, is exactly the same way I felt during my previous bout of fever. I am taking rectal medication, and some of you may remember the drama I had with not being able to get any medication at all from the hospital, which resulted in not having any rectal medication whatsoever for a month, through no fault of my own, and certainly contributed to my current setback, however the good news is that I have obtained a decent supply now, so that's helpful.

I have managed to find a local manufacturer here in Costa Rica, that manufactures Pentasa under licence from the brand owners. I do however need to stock up and plan months ahead, as certain key ingredients are not being imported by the local manufacturers currently, for some reason or other, so just when I thought I had found a stable and consistent supply of the medication, I get hit with yet another problem.....unfortunately this country is great at presenting problems, however totally useless when it comes to finding solutions!....Never mind, I will battle on...