Have you felt worse after starting Octasa?

[CaravanWanderer]

Hi all! First post! I’ve been having problems with frequent diarrhoea for 4 years, finally last week got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. I’ve been prescribed Octasa 800mg 6 times per day but have people got worse before they got better? Started them last Tuesday but by Thursday started aching all over - I actually thought I maybe had covid - but now my GI symptoms are worse too - been having diarrhoea even more (didn’t think it was possible - already go about 8 times a day, yesterday was 14!!), but also getting cramping of my stomach, feeling sick with it and losing my appetite. I’m just wondering if others have experienced this and did it ease off? I’m happy to put up with it if it’s just my body adjusting and it starts having a positive effect - I’ve read it can take a little while before symptoms start to improve on Octasa - but just wondered what people’s thoughts are, should I be contacting IBD team or giving it bit longer to see if I adjust? Many thanks!

[Susiiscute]

Hi, I am also prescribed the same dose of Octasa, for diagnosed Ulcerative colitis. Octasa is a Mesalazine drug. From my experience, Mesalazine’s are the first port of call for keeping UC in remission once it’s under control. I asked the Gastro nurse if I could try Octasa, after a bad experience with a different version of Mesalazine. I did experience one side effect, which was a skin rash. I did persevere with it. There’s many various side effects listed. When I started on Octasa, it was after a flare up, when I was visiting the bathroom up to 20 times a day. I had been given steroids for 10 days, by my GP, which stopped the flare up, before starting the Octasa. I’ve been taking Octasa for a couple of years now, with no flare ups. I’m not sure whether the Octasa will ‘stop’ your flare up, I would advise you to speak to your Gastro unit for more advice. I hope this helps a bit, it’s very complicated xx

[CaravanWanderer in reply to Susiiscute]

Thank you! Since my post I do seem to have improved with symptoms so still don’t know whether it’s been a viral thing or something to do with the medication. Think I’m going to persevere and hope they start improving things soon - it’ll be 2 weeks on Tuesday but this has been going on for 4 years so I guess I need to have patience. Thank you for your reply!!!

[Susiiscute in reply to CaravanWanderer]

Great to hear there’s been an improvement, hope it continues! 😊🙏🏻

[Yogart]

Since you've only recently been diagnosed it may be that the optimal medication hasn't been tried. I was initially prescribed Octasa (oblong tablets in a crinkly film), I soon developed terrible joint pains. Told the consultant about this, and instead of brushing off my concerns, as I was expecting, he changed the brand of Mesalzine to Pentasa. His explanation was that it's not the active ingredient that differs in any way, it's the 'filler' that forms the solid body of the tablet. Some people have a bad reaction to the filler in Octasa. And probably vice-versa.