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Dr. Put Me On Nexium, Dicetel And Medilac...feeling Worse Not Better.

fattycat

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fattycat Rookie
fattycat
Posted

I am a Canadian in South Korea. My specialist has never actually seen or treated anyone with celiac disease and neither have the other specialists he has been consulting with. I started eating gluten free in the middle of October (one cheat day on Oct 29th and another on November 5th). My next specialist appointment is not until December 10th. My specialist put me on nexium, dicetel and medilac (a probiotic) on November 12th and I started taking them that evening.

On the evening of Friday the 12th I was fine and the same with Saturday. Saturday night though I started to feel pain in my stomach. I had a ton of gas. Sunday I started to get terrible muscle pain all over. All day I only had a few spoonfuls of food because I felt terribly nauseous and spent most of the day in bed. Suddenly at 10pm I woke up and projectile vomited repeatedly. The vomit was clearly nearly undigested breakfast, lunch and dinner from SATURDAY! After I vomited I felt fine.

For the next 3 or four days I was constipated and then started to have normal bowel movements (except they were yellow. I have just assumed that that is from the medication dye). A couple of days ago though it started to get worse. By this morning I am back to where I was before I went to the doctor. Running to the bathroom in the morning with loose, green bowel movements, feeling nauseous all day, lack of appetite, gas and bloating when I eat even a little and occasionally rashes that come up and then go away.

Next week my doctor wants me to reintroduce gluten to see what happens (the endoscopy was not 100% conclusive) but I don

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ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

You may want to talk to your doctor about discontinuing the meds. It sounds like there is something in at least one of them that your body doesn't like. Were you able to check them and confirm that they are all gluten free? Being gluten free should take care of the IBS symptoms, what the dicetel is prescribed for, and the stomach pain that you were given the nexium for.

fattycat Rookie
fattycat
Posted
  • Author

I contacted the specialist when I vomited because I was worried I was allergic to something in the medication but he never responded. When I started feeling better I figured it was just my body getting used to the medication or something. I think I have to wait until I see him next on the 10th before I can talk to him.

Unfortunately the pharmacist who gave out the medication doesn

Skylark Collaborator
Skylark
Posted

Look at the side effect list for dicetal - "SIDE EFFECTS: These are generally infrequent and fairly mild. Stomach pain or fullness, nausea, constipation or diarrhea, heartburn, headache, dry mouth, very infrequent drowsiness, dizziness and skin rash. If these persist or worsen, notify your doctor promptly. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist." Open Original Shared Link

fattycat Rookie
fattycat
Posted
  • Author

I had all of those problems before the medication. When you already have stomach pain, fullness, nausea, constipation and diarrhea, heartburn, headaches, drowsiness, and skin rash etc for years and they go away but come back how are you supposed to know if it is the medication or the celiac? :huh:

I contacted the doctor. He didn't respond. The pharmasists don't speak English and know nothing of Celiac and no other doctor in my city has ever treated (or even met!) anyone with Celiac disease. I was sick the second day on the meds but got better. Just the last few days I have had loose bowels again but I've also had a glass of wine with my dinner. Does anyone know if it could be the alchol even though all drugs list it as safe? I've got no one to ask until December 10th (and even then everyone here has more experience with the disease than my doctor) and I dont want to just stop taking the medication if it could be something else. Can the medication just stop working? It doesnt seem like I'm having side effects at this point. It just seems like my old problems from before the medication have come back!

Skylark Collaborator
Skylark
Posted

Could there be gluten in the medicine?

fattycat Rookie
fattycat
Posted
  • Author

When I looked up the medications online it appeared that they were all gluten free but that's as much as I know. I'm guessing it's not the medication since I was fine for about a week on them. Didn't have any alchole last night and so far today I am fine. I'm leaning towards alchol being the problem. The alchol was gluten free and doesnt react with any of the medicaiton so if it is it, I dont know why...

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T.H. Community Regular
T.H.
Posted

Don't know if this is relevant, but looking on that lovely www.glutenfreedrugs.com site, it listed nexium as gluten free, but didn't have dicetel listed as such. It could just mean he's never tested this drug or heard back from the drug's company, of course, but since this drug has been around for quite a while and is also used so often for bowel issues, that would surprise me.

Not impossible, but it would surprise me, you know?

Sounds like another possible bad point for dicetel. :(

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

When I looked up the medications online it appeared that they were all gluten free but that's as much as I know. I'm guessing it's not the medication since I was fine for about a week on them. Didn't have any alchole last night and so far today I am fine. I'm leaning towards alchol being the problem. The alchol was gluten free and doesnt react with any of the medicaiton so if it is it, I dont know why...

If it was a distilled gluten grain you could be one of us who reacts to distilled gluten. Not all of us do. Your tummy could also be too sensitive for any alcohol. As far as being fine for a week taking the drug, well some of us have delayed reactions and if the amount of gluten in the drug was not a high amount it could take a bit for the antibodies to build up.

fattycat Rookie
fattycat
Posted
  • Author

It was red wine so I think it should have been ok gluten wise. I'm feeling ok now so I'm guessing that my stomach is just too sensitive at this point. I guess I'll give it a week or so and then try a glass of wine again to see if the same thing happens. If yes, then I know for sure it was the wine and not something else.

  • 2 weeks later...
fattycat Rookie
fattycat
Posted
  • Author

Just wanted to follow up.

Recently I've been feeling really really sick. I've almost completely stopped digesting food again and was exhausted. I went back to the doctor and he tested me for everything under the sun and everything was normal (getting the B12/B6 results back tomorrow). On Sunday this week I forgot to take the Nexium in the morning...and low and behold I started to feel better. Tried it another day and even better. I have been eating a lot more natural sources of probiotics but it looks like it was the Nexium. Rather ticked off that I paid for all those other tests for no reason and the doctor didn't pick up that it might be the medication making me feel worse. Going back in to see him tomorrow.

eboyer Newbie
eboyer
Posted

Just wanted to follow up.

Recently I've been feeling really really sick. I've almost completely stopped digesting food again and was exhausted. I went back to the doctor and he tested me for everything under the sun and everything was normal (getting the B12/B6 results back tomorrow). On Sunday this week I forgot to take the Nexium in the morning...and low and behold I started to feel better. Tried it another day and even better. I have been eating a lot more natural sources of probiotics but it looks like it was the Nexium. Rather ticked off that I paid for all those other tests for no reason and the doctor didn't pick up that it might be the medication making me feel worse. Going back in to see him tomorrow.

Sorry to hear you're dealing with all of this too. A lot of your symptoms sound really similar to those I've been dealing with since early november.

I'm seeing a 'functional medicine' doc, and taking all of hes got me on a program with a ton of supplements to try to help me out, and i've been trying to avoid any sorts of drugs during this time, but I'm starting to feel a little desperate, after being on this plan for a month. One additional thing I have added to my plan as of this week is B12, which I'm willing to bet I am lacking, so I hope that will help as well.

I have questioned weather or not to take Nexium, because it worked for me a couple years ago when I was having some stomach issues. This time around, the biggest problem i'm dealing with is light-headedness, loss of appetite, and nausea. (I also have some pain in my bottom after sitting for long periods of time, which radiates to my testicles, but I get almost immediate relief when I stand up. This is just a site note, I can get through the day with this pain)

I have gone to "real" doctors and have had multiple blood tests, a swallowing test, 2 CT scans on my chest and abdomen, and everything appears to be normal.

I am for sure having an issue with reflex, but my only solution for this has been honey/lemon before I eat anything, but I dont think its strong enough.

I was lead to believe again about a month ago that I should change my diet, and have been eating gluten free since. There was a week in there, that I started feeling AWESOME, and everything started going downhill again. I've been pointed in this direction: Open Original Shared Link

Thats all I got so far, I will do a full writeup of a post in another thread, but I just wanted to drop a note seeing though as I feel very similar to you and questioning prescription drugs as the next step. Need this reflex and lightheaded-ness to go away!

-Eric

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