Pentasa Side Effects

[Cath195]

Hi - I've recently been diagnosed with Proctitis following a colonoscopy. I was initially prescribed Pentasa tablets but after a week, had to stop taking them due to the immense headache and neck pain I was getting.

I had a phone consultation with the gastroenterologist who told me I should be on the Pentasa suppositories, not the tablets. I asked if I would get the same side effects and was advised I shouldn't do.

One dose of the Pentasa suppositories later and I'm back to the horrendous headache and the start of the neck pain again.

I would really love to hear from anyone who's experienced this and hopefully found a way through it - or an alternative which worked for them.

[Liz191]

I have had horrible side effects from oral pentasa, even when I was constantly assured that it was a really safe drug and highly unlikely to be the cause of any of the symptoms I was getting. Having said that the suppositories work fine for me. The amount that enters your blood stream is tiny so normally is pretty much side effect free. It sounds like you might be very sensitive to mesalazine. I would speak to your GI consultant again. There are other medications you can take. There are various enemas you can be prescribed, including prednisolone foam which I have always found works really well for proctitis. These are normally a step up if pentasa isn't working well enough to keep your symptoms under control but I'm sure they could be explored as options instead if you can't tolerate there pentasa because of side effects.

[Cath195 in reply to Liz191]

Thank you so much for your reply. The clinic seemed quite surprised about the side effects so good to hear I'm not alone!

[Captivil]

Hi!

It depends on when you stopped taking the oral pentasa because it does usually take a week or two to take full effect and so a week or two to leave your body completely.

I'd say that there shouldn't be an issue with the suppositories because they're a topical treatment rather than getting absorbed into your bloodstream.

Either the GI team and the IBD nurses are the best people to get help from.

Hope things work out for you!

[Cath195 in reply to Captivil]

Thank you very much - you may be right and the previous dose is still lingering. The GP seemed very unsure when I spoke to them and I'm waiting to hear back from the specialist. Appreciate your thoughts