Reaction to Benicar

[mbrookes]

I didn't know where to put this, but the word needs to get out. I just got home from 2 weeks in the hospital due to a very rare but serious reaction to the blood pressure medicine Benicar. This reaction only happens to people who have Celiac Disease.  If you are taking Benicar and start throwing up and having severe diarrhea, immediately stop the Benicar and contact your GI doctor. If it is severe, go to the emergency room. I got extremely dehydrated and experienced dangerously low blood pressure. As I said, it is very rare, but just be aware.

[cyclinglady]

I am sorry that you had such a reaction!  Did they say why a person with celiac disease would react?   Just curious.  

I am glad that you recovered! 

[trents]

I just did some hasty research that didn't turn up a connection necessarily between the drug and having Celiac disease. What I did find was that for some people the drug caused "Celiac sprue like enteropathic symptoms." One article mentioned that one such patient was tested for Celiac antibodies but the results were negative. Nonetheless, I would be skeptical if a doc prescribed that medicine for me, especially when so many other alternatives exist.

[icelandgirl]

That is super scary! How are you now?

I found this from 2013, so there have been issues known for a few years.

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[Posterboy]

5 hours ago, mbrookes said:

I didn't know where to put this, but the word needs to get out. I just got home from 2 weeks in the hospital due to a very rare but serious reaction to the blood pressure medicine Benicar. This reaction only happens to people who have Celiac Disease.  If you are taking Benicar and start throwing up and having severe diarrhea, immediately stop the Benicar and contact your GI doctor. If it is severe, go to the emergency room. I got extremely dehydrated and experienced dangerously low blood pressure. As I said, it is very rare, but just be aware.

mbrookes,

Public Citizen just called for the FDA to ban Benicar.

Here is the recent article on Celiac.com about the topic.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/25007/1/Should-Benicar-Be-Banned/Page1.html

I also had a reaction to Losartan that caused me a Milk/Lactose allergy.

see this thread where I noted the same things taking Losartan.

here is a great study about this topic.

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as plumbago noted in this thread what scares her/me is it is not just benicar that could cause this effect but all "Artan" based BP medicines.  And most people don't have a clue that their BP medicine could be causing (Possible) Villi blunting.  Just because it is possible . . .doesn't mean it does but I truly believe Losartan effected me in this way.

quoting they conclude(d).

"In conclusion, the clinicopathological findings in patients taking ARBs other than olmesartan are similar to those described in olmesartan-associated enteropathy.

Therefore, we suggest the possibility of a class effect. Clinicians and pathologists should be aware of ARB-induced gastrointestinal injury because its identification has a drastic impact on the patient's health with no other intervention than ARB suspension."

I hope this is helpful.  It sure was news to me when I found out that Losartan could also cause the same symptom's associated with Benicar.

The Good news is My villi has healed well enough now that I can eat cheese again.

****this is not medical advice but it has been my experience those on "Artan" class of BP medicine's need to discuss with their doctor's if another BP medicine might be more appropriate.

For what it is worth taking Folic Acid helped my blood pressure.  I also changed back to Amplodipine/Norvasc which together withe Folic Acid seems to control my BP.

I share so that others' might not have to suffer the same things.

2 Corinthians 1: 3, 4

³ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

⁴ Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

good luck on your continued journey and I hope you feel better soon.

posterboy by the grace of God,