leflunomide and diarrhoea

[HappyDiamonds]

I now have pretty awful diarrhoea from the Leflunomide, going to hang in there because the plan is for it to take over from Pred. Just wondered if anyone could cheer me up by saying it will stop eventually. Been on it just over 2 weeks.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Did you start with a low dose? That seems to help. I suspect it is the most likely adverse effect to lead to discontinuation although this

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....

disagrees. How bad is it?

[HappyDiamonds in reply to PMRpro]

Im on 10mg a day to introduce it but the plan is to increase to 20mg in time. Don't think its quite as bad today as the last 2 days but I have stopped it for a week on Rheumys advice because of esophagitis. Then I am to take it every other day for a week before starting every day again. Im a little concerned about fluid loss because my GP doubled my Spironolactone a couple of days ago

[Baileyw06]

I have been on it since January but 3 x a week. It has gotten better in the last month. I take one Imodium D if I do have a problem and that works.The gastroenterologist said it was ok.

[Bennej30]

Hi, I have been on leflunomide for about 2 years now and did have bad diarrhoea for a while. I came off prednisalone in February and have had a gradual improvement and now pretty much ok. I am still taking 15mg a day.

I can only assume it was the pred or the combination of both that caused the problem or maybe my body just getting used to it.

Hope that helps

[Katiecatweazel]

Hello there, I was on it while reducing Prednisolone. I experienced regular diahorrea for quite a few weeks and then contracted Guillain Barre Syndrome, I was hospitalised as an inpatient and found to be severely dehydrated, requiring bags of saline. It may have been something peculiar to me, but it’s worth watching out for maybe. I was unaware of the dehydration until the professionals pronounced.

[Broseley]

Hi Happy Diamonds, I would recommend taking Psyllium. It has solved my regular diarrhoea.

Tablet bottle

[Alebeau]

HiSorry but in my case it never let up from late Sept 2021 till I finally stopped talking it a couple of weeks ago.

Starting to return to normal slowly.

On the plus side I am now at 5.5 mg Prednisone

For me mornings were consistent for a couple or three visits.

Good luck