Ulcerative Colitis & Pericarditis

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2015 after recurring rectal bleeding sessions that lasted around 6 months, which my doctors thought was due to Hemorrhoids in the first place. I did not want to rely on Steroids because of the side effects, so I was put on Mesalazine treatment with 6 tablets of Asacol (800mg), 2 suppositories and 1 enema a day. The symptoms completely disappeared in a couple of weeks after the beginning of the treatment. I had no more diarrhea or rectal bleeding anymore. No matter what I eat, drink or go through in my daily life, I have never had any bleeding since that day. I just had palpitations from time to time but everything was quite okay on the Holter device results. Around February 2017, I smoked marijuana when I was traveling abroad (it wasn't my first time but it was the first time I smoked that much) and suddenly my heart started beating too fast and I felt like I could not breathe properly so I went outside, then passed out on the street. I was unconscious for a while and when I snapped out of it I asked my friends to take me to a hospital cause I thought I was having a heart attack. They calmed me down and told me that it will be over soon, then I decided to go back home and get some rest after taking a walk around the neighborhood. That night I couldn't sleep because of my racing heart and this uncomfortable feeling over my head. It took me a couple of weeks to recover from the first shock, I had diarrhea in the meantime and every time I went to sleep, the humming noise below my ears scared the hell out of me. I came back home to see a doctor and after some regular tests, they said I just had anxiety. I wanted to believe them but I was hospitalized dozens of times in the following months and always heard the same thing again and again. I went to see a psychiatrist and he gave me some anti-depressants (10mg) a day. I kept taking them for a couple of weeks but my symptoms got worse, so I quit. One day I told myself that this will be the last time I will see a doctor and I went to the hospital. A young cardiologist asked me about the symptoms and the moment he heard about Ulcerative Colitis and chest pain, he asked me a few questions and told me that I might have pericarditis which might be related to mesalazine. Then I had echocardiography on that day and he was right, I had acute pericarditis. He was thinking about putting me on ibuprofen but since I had ulcerative colitis, he offered to wait for a while to see if it gets any better or not. He also contacted my gastroenterologist and asked for her opinion. She said I should avoid NSAIDs as long as I can. I've stopped taking Asacol tablets and replaced them with Salofalk (500mg) 3 tablets a day instead, even though it had Mesalazine in it as well, to see if reducing the dosage could make any difference. Eventually, it did not help either and after 3 months I went to see the same doctor again. He told me that it got worse and if we left it untreated like this it might cause serious troubles in the future. There was no fluid but a thickened layer of pericarditis which was quite visible on the images he provided. After discussing with a few gastroenterologists I decided that I should focus on finding a cure for my pericarditis, risking internal bleeding in the meantime. I took ibuprofen (600mg a day) along with two 0.5mg colchicum tablets and a gastroprotective agent. As of today, it has already been two weeks and my symptoms actually got worse. The pain surrounding my heart is unbearable and I also have a backache and unrest all over my body. I can only sleep face down and every time I move my left arm, even when I'm typing now, the pain gets worse. I'm afraid I might have some other disease such as sepsis or pleuritis. Right now I'm desperately looking for ways to overcome this, I'm 22 and I had to have a gap year at uni, I don't want to waste another year of my life dealing with it. I would like to know if you know any person who was diagnosed with Pericarditis related to Ulcerative Colitis and how they overcome it. Please let me know if smoking weed also had such effects on your body as well. Thanks. (I'm not a native speaker so there might be some typos)

It's the first time someone has posted about mesalamine (mesalazine) causing pericariditis that I can recall. Asacol gave me tinnitus as a side effect that continues til today, years after not taking it. Would Balsalazide be an option for you? I believe the chemical reaction that makes the mesalamine active occurs in the gut and is not systemic, possibly bypassing your heart.

I also think perhaps you are conflating the marijuana and the pericarditis when it seems more likely to be the mesalamine. But the first thing I thought about your reaction to smoking weed is that the weed may have been contaminated with another drug which I've heard is possible when sourced illegally. That's a big reason I really wish it was available legally, to get reputable sources with no add-in's.

If you haven't been smoking and still have the pericarditis it ain't the weed.

Your GI should be more involved because your heart issues being directly related to your UC RX is their job. If it were me I'd stop taking RX hurting my heart. That's a major health issue.

Hope you get some help.

We've had a few of posters with various heart inflammations. It's nothing to be triffled with! Gotta have a healthy ticker, kind of important.