Entocort for Crohn's Disease

Entocort (Entocort CR 3mg capsules) 

About Side effects

Overview

Information specific to: Entocort CR 3mg capsules when used in Crohn's disease.

Entocort (ent-o-kort) is a medicine which is used in Crohn's disease. Entocort contains budesonide. It is supplied by AstraZeneca UK Limited.

The information in this Medicine Guide for Entocort varies according to the condition being treated and the particular preparation used.

Your medicine

Entocort is a corticosteroid. Entocort works by preventing or reducing inflammation. It is used to treat Crohn's disease.

People who take corticosteroids for a long period of time are prone to infections as their immune system can become weak. These infections may be much more severe than they usually would be and the symptoms that would usually be used to identify such infections can be hidden. For this reason people who take Entocort must be careful to avoid exposure to infections such as chickenpox and measles whenever possible. If you have been exposed to chickenpox or measles, you must get immediate medical advice. You should continue to take your medicine unless your prescriber advises you to stop taking it.

Other information about Entocort:

if you have been given a steroid warning card, make sure you carry it with you at all times while you are taking corticosteroids. These cards are normally given to you by your prescriber or by your pharmacist. If you are currently taking corticosteroids, or have taken them in the last year, you must tell everyone involved in prescribing you medicines and giving you medical treatment. This includes your doctor, dentist, nurse and pharmacist. You must make sure that they all know about your corticosteroid treatment.

Do not share your medicine with other people. It may not be suitable for them and may harm them.

The pharmacy label on your medicine tells you how much medicine you should take. It also tells you how often you should take your medicine. This is the dose that you and your prescriber have agreed you should take. You should not change the dose of your medicine unless you are told to do so by your prescriber.

If you feel that the medicine is making you unwell or you do not think it is working, then talk to your prescriber.

Whether this medicine is suitable for you

Entocort is not suitable for everyone and some people should never use it. Other people should only use it with special care. It is important that the person prescribing this medicine knows your full medical history.

Your prescriber may only prescribe this medicine with special care or may not prescribe it at all if you:

are about to have surgeryare allergic or sensitive to or have had a reaction to any of the ingredients in the medicineare elderlyhave a condition that becomes worse during steroid treatmenthave a peptic ulcerhave an infectionhave been exposed to chickenpox or measles while you are using Entocorthave cataractshave diabetes or have a family history of diabeteshave fructose intolerancehave glaucoma or have a family history of glaucomahave glucose-galactose malabsorption problemshave had psychoses caused by steroidshave high blood pressurehave liver problemshave or have had affective disorders or have a family history of affective disordershave or have had depressionhave osteoporosishave recently taken other steroidshave sucrase-isomaltase deficiency

Furthermore the prescriber may only prescribe this medicine with special care or may not prescribe it at all for a child.

As part of the process of assessing suitability to take this medicine a prescriber may also arrange tests:

to check that this medicine is not having any undesired effects

Over time it is possible that Entocort can become unsuitable for some people, or they may become unsuitable for it. If at any time it appears that Entocort has become unsuitable, it is important that the prescriber is contacted immediately.

Alcohol

Alcohol can interact with certain medicines.

In the case of Entocort:

there are no known interactions between alcohol and EntocortDiet

Medicines can interact with certain foods. In some cases, this may be harmful and your prescriber may advise you to avoid certain foods.

In the case of Entocort:

this medicine interacts with grapefruit or grapefruit juice. Grapefruit or grapefruit juice increases the level of Entocort in your blood

If your diet includes any of the above, speak to your prescriber or pharmacist for further advice.

Driving and operating machinery

When taking any medicine you should be aware that it might interfere with your ability to drive or operate machinery safely.

In the case of Entocort:

this medicine is unlikely to affect driving ability or the ability to operate machinery

You should see how this medicine affects you before you judge whether you are safe to drive or operate machinery. If you are in any doubt about whether you should drive or operate machinery, talk to your prescriber.

Family planning and pregnancy

Most medicines, in some way, can affect the development of a baby in the womb. The effect on the baby differs between medicines and also depends on the stage of pregnancy that you have reached when you take the medicine.

In the case of Entocort:

you should only take this medicine during pregnancy if your doctor thinks that you need ittaking this medicine during pregnancy may harm your baby. This can happen if it is taken repeatedly or for long periods of time

You need to discuss your specific circumstances with your doctor to weigh up the overall risks and benefits of taking this medicine. You and your doctor can make a decision about whether you are going to take this medicine during pregnancy.

If the decision is that you should not have Entocort, then you should discuss whether there is an alternative medicine that you could take during pregnancy.

Breast-feeding

Certain medicines can pass into breast milk and may reach your baby through breast-feeding.

In the case of Entocort:

this medicine passes into breast milk. Taking this medicine at high doses while breastfeeding may affect your baby

Before you have your baby you should discuss breast-feeding with your doctor or midwife. They will help you decide what is best for you and your baby based on the benefits and risks associated with this medicine. You should only breast-feed your baby while taking this medicine on the advice of your doctor or midwife.

Taking other medicines

If you are taking more than one medicine they may interact with each other. At times your prescriber may decide to use medicines that interact, in other cases this may not be appropriate.

The decision to use medicines that interact depends on your specific circumstances. Your prescriber may decide to use medicines that interact, if it is believed that the benefits of taking the medicines together outweigh the risks. In such cases, it may be necessary to alter your dose or monitor you more closely.

Tell your prescriber the names of all the medicines that you are taking so that they can consider all possible interactions. This includes all the medicines which have been prescribed by your GP, hospital doctor, dentist, nurse, health visitor, midwife or pharmacist. You must also tell your prescriber about medicines which you have bought over the counter without prescriptions.

The following medicines may interact with Entocort:

carbamazepinecimetidinecolestyramineitraconazoleketoconazole

The following types of medicine may interact with Entocort:

contraceptive steroidscytochrome P450 enzyme inducerscytochrome P450 enzyme inhibitorsoestrogensprotease inhibitors

If you are taking Entocort and one of the above medicines or types of medicines, make sure your prescriber knows about it.

Complementary preparations and vitamins

Medicines can interact with complementary preparations and vitamins. In general, there is not much information available about interactions between medicines and complementary preparations or vitamins.

If you are planning to take or are already taking any complementary preparations and vitamins you should ask your prescriber whether there are any known interactions with Entocort.

Your prescriber can advise whether it is appropriate for you to take combinations that are known to interact. They can also discuss with you the possible effect that the complementary preparations and vitamins may have on your condition.

If you experience any unusual effects while taking this medicine in combination with complementary preparations and vitamins, you should tell your prescriber.

Crohn's and Nausea

Nausea: Tips to Make it Better

By: SHARON DOERRE
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 27, 2014, 7:47 am
 

Nau­sea is never fun! Almost every­one with IBD will expe­ri­ence it at one time or another. Nau­sea can reduce appetite and lead to dehy­dra­tion and weight loss as well as make daily life mis­er­able. Don’t suf­fer needlessly.

Check your med­ica­tions. Metho­tex­trate, aza­thio­prine, and iron sup­ple­ments can cause nau­sea. Often tak­ing such a med­ica­tion right before bed­time can let you sleep through the effect. Steroids can also impact the stom­ach if pro­tec­tive med­ica­tions like omepra­zole (Prilosec) or ran­i­ti­dine (Zan­tac) are not taken. Ask your phar­ma­cist if a new pre­scrip­tion can cause nau­sea and ways to avoid it.

Ask your doc­tor for an anti-emetic med­ica­tion. Zofran (ondansetron) and Reglan (meto­clo­pramide) can often help reduce the nau­sea pro­duced by IBD medications.

Think about your trig­gers. Motion, dairy, greasy foods, stress, and sinus drainage can all cause nau­sea. Dehy­dra­tion can inten­sify the impact and IBD can lower your thresh­old to var­i­ous trig­gers, even ones that never both­ered you before.

Stay hydrated. Meclizine and dimenhydrinate(Dramamine)areavailable over the counter and can help with motion sick­ness. Lac­taid can ease the nau­sea from too much dairy; Tums can help soothe a stom­ach irri­tated by greasy foods. Gin­ger candy and even nib­bling on slices of raw gin­ger root can set­tle the stom­ach and com­bat nau­sea. Aller­gies and colds that cause sinus con­ges­tion can cre­ate nau­sea when drainage hits the stom­ach. Over the counter allergy med­ica­tions such as cet­i­rizine (Zry­tec) as well as decon­ges­tants and expec­to­rants like guaife­n­esin (Mucinex)can reduce and thin con­ges­tion and can keep it from caus­ing stom­ach problems.

Nib­ble. An empty stom­ach almost always makes nau­sea worse. Find a sim­ple food that is safe for you – IBD is such an indi­vid­ual dis­ease that it is impos­si­ble to make uni­ver­sal rec­om­men­da­tions — but­saltines or GF crack­ers, apple­sauce , or cooked rice are often safe,and nib­ble often.  If there is an imme­di­ate increase in nau­sea with nib­bling, add a Tums, gin­ger cap­sule, or water with lemon and keep eating.

Add cooked veg­eta­bles to your diet. This is a long-term strat­egy for those not flar­ing but expe­ri­enc­ing nau­sea, gur­gling, and burp­ing after eat­ing. Cooked veg­eta­bles, (and raw veg­eta­bles if tol­er­ated,) can reduce the over­all acid­ity of the diges­tive tract.

Con­sult your GI. Peo­ple with Crohn’s dis­ease in the upper GI tract can expe­ri­ence almost con­stant nau­sea as part of a flare. This type of nau­sea needs to be man­aged by a GI doc­tor. Ask about adding or increas­ing the dose of a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI).PPIs like Prilosec can help reduce stom­ach acid and can be taken sev­eral times a day under a doctor’s super­vi­sion. Other med­ica­tions like sucral­fate (Carafate) can coat the stom­ach and let the lin­ing heal. While these long-term med­ica­tions are tak­ing hold, anti-emetics med­ica­tions like Zofran can keep the nau­sea away.

Go to the ER. Stric­tures and obstruc­tions in the small bowel can also cause nau­sea if the stom­ach can’t empty. If your nau­sea is accom­pa­nied by vom­it­ing, a swollen hard belly, con­sti­pa­tion and the inabil­ity to pass gas along with abdom­i­nal pain seek med­ical atten­tion. Nau­sea is often the first symp­tom of an obstruc­tion to appear. So take per­sis­tent nau­sea that doesn’t respond to treat­ment and is accom­pa­nied by wors­en­ing symp­toms and pain seriously.

But don’t for­get non-IBD causes of nau­sea! Hav­ing CD or UC doesn’t pro­tect you from get­ting preg­nant, eat­ing spoiled food, or catch­ing a virus. Stom­ach viruses, the flu, food poi­son­ing, and preg­nancy can all cause nau­sea and vom­it­ing. So ask and see if a stom­ach virus is going around your school or office or if any­one else who ate the same dish is feel­ing ill. If preg­nancy is even a remote pos­si­bil­ity, take a preg­nancy test!

© 2012–2015 The Crohn's Journey Foundation*. All Rights Reserved.
  *designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

Crohn's Flare

I'm getting worse. Now the nausea is terrible. My pharmacy still hasn't filled my entocort prescription and I dont even know if I can afford it yet. Calling my gi tomorrow.  I also want to become a foster parent but im terrified my disability will prevent it. Im not capable of working but caring for a child is different.  Especially being a foster parent.  It's rewarding and may make me feel better. Im going to discuss this with my dr 1st. Hopefully he will be with me on this. I know other crohnies get the difference, even when others dont.