Propionate symptoms and conditions

I have been put through the wringer with Crohn's. 15 surgeries, all of my terminal ileum removed, 1/3 of my large bowel removed, etc., etc,- Those with sever Crohn's know.

I spent years on high doses of Prednisone, Imuran, Sulfasizine and other drugs and nothing worked.

I was even retired from the US Air Force due to its severity.

Remicade has help tremendously. However, some of the side effects listed above, I have also been through. Some of them, have been explained through other factors and those attributed to the Remicade I take other meds to offset them.

For example, Head aches. I figured the head aches were from allergies that I have had for some time. I attributed some of the headaches to the Remicade. The head aches are very sever after my infusions and decrease to a dull roar after that. I take four aspirin and Sudifed PE and this leaves me with a dull roar shortly after the infusions and does away with them till the next infusion - perhaps this will help some of you.

The muscle soreness is horrible and I take aspirin or Tylenol, but that barely takes the edge off.

I started get those little red dots. Then the dots turn to blisters. I get these on my hands, feet and scalp. My GI Doctor said it wasn't the Remicade, but a Dermatologist showed me a recent article that should Remicade could cause Psoriasis. I take Clobetasol Propionate for these and it has cleared them up.

I took the Remicade years ago and then it was stopped - it was the way it was done then - not constant, just three doses spread out over three months.

I got the tingling fingers during those. A neurologist attributed it to the Steroids I had been on. The nerve damage is permanent.

A few years later, they started the infusions again and I experienced no muscle soreness, headaches, etc. and it did not help the Crohn's as it had before. When I talked to my GI doctor he showed me a study that people build anti-bodies to the Remicade over time. They doubled the dose and it started working again. For those who are experiencing the Remicade not working - perhaps this is what has happened to you.

I get the mood swings, but had never considered it might be the Remicade. I will talk to my doctor about this one.

I have the blood pressure decrease during my infusions, but it has not been sever.

More recently, my joints have begun to ache and initially the Remicade had helped to stop the minor joint pains I already had. Come to find out, I have had bone thinning due to the Crohn's.

The one symptom I have started getting this week is random, sever pain in odd locations - not joints.. They have been deep and feel like they are in the bone. One midway up on my shine, one midway down on my foreman and one in my right thumb. Has anyone experienced this. The pain has been horrible and it does scare me.

I also suffer from depression, but have had it for years prior to the Remicade treatments.

Effective after two weeks for some people - not effective for others. Side effects for some people - others do not report side effects. So why does Merck have to grow their market before they have any idea what's going on?

This isn't a big group of people in the study but it makes sense from what we are reading here. These researchers did examine the mast cells. We need to know about mast cells (while suppressed by montelukast) on a longer term basis.

J Asthma. 2008 Apr;45(3):243-50. Links
The efficacy of montelukast and airway mast cell profiles in patients with cough variant asthma.Kawai S, Baba K, Matsubara A, Shiono H, Okada T, Yamaguchi E.
Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Department of Internal Medicine, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Aichi, Japan.

Background. Cough variant asthma (CVA) is characterized by chronic cough without apparent wheezing; its pathophysiology is considered to be similar to that of classic asthma. Objective. The clinical effects of montelukast, a cysteinyl-leukotriene receptor antagonist, on cough variant asthma were assessed, and the activation profile of airway mast cells was examined. Methods. Montelukast (10 mg/day) was given orally to 36 CVA patients (25 women and 11 men; median age, 37.5 years). Before treatment, the patients' bronchial mucosa underwent a biopsy with a fiberoptic bronchoscope. The biopsy specimens were double stained with anti-CD63 antibody and anti-human tryptase antibody. Results. After 2 weeks of montelukast treatment, cough symptoms improved in 22 patients (the effective group) but did not improve in 14 patients (the ineffective group); in the ineffective group, the symptoms disappeared 2 weeks after they were switched to fluticasone propionate (400 mug/day) inhalation therapy. In the effective group, the time interval from the onset of symptoms to the initiation of treatment was significantly shorter than in the ineffective group. The bronchial mucosa biopsy specimens showed that the proportion of CD63-positive cells in tryptase-positive mast cells was significantly higher in the effective group than in the ineffective group; although the total numbers of mast cells were not different between the two groups. Conclusion. There is a subgroup of CVA patients in whom leukotrienes are closely involved in the pathogenesis of their chronic cough; activation of airway mast cells may be an essential feature in these patients.

PMID: 18415834

I am very skeptical of all of the claims I have read here. I am no advocate of GSK or any other drug company for that matter, but I think people are getting carried away with attributing their symptoms to Advair. The known side-effects are readily available, anything else is purely based on assumption. I agree that Advair may in fact have many more possible adverse effects than they let the public know, but let us be careful about making ourselves little scientific researchers and concluding a causal relationship based upon a single case study (and an informal one at that). Talk to your doctor about trying something with less risk, such as Singulair, Azmacort, Intall, Fluticasone Propionate, etc. Please though, be careful not to be so quick to claim generalizable findings based on your specific case. I myself am going to work with my physician to attempt a gluten-free diet and a less invasive medication therapy. Advair is not habit-forming or addictive, so withdrawals are doubtful at best. Read up on the pharmacology of Advair (salmeterol in particular), and you can come to your own conclusions. Best wishes to all of you fellow asthmatics!