(ABC News) — A drug used for treating high blood pressure has been linked with a number of severe gastrointestinal side effects, according to a report from the Mayo Clinic.
Between 2008 and 2011, 22 patients taking the drug olmesartan, sold under the brand name Benicar, suffered symptoms similar to celiac disease, including chronic diarrhea, vomiting, intestinal inflammation and weight loss. Fourteen of the patients had to be hospitalized.
Doctors tried putting the patients on a gluten-free diet, the typical solution for treating celiac disease, but to no avail. When patients stopped taking olmesartan, their symptoms improved dramatically.
Dr. Joseph Murray, the Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist who treated the patients, said the problem is most likely very rare.
“The message to people taking this drug is that they should not stop their medications,” Murray said in a press conference. “If they’re having GI problems, they should talk with their doctors.”
Olmesartan is an angiotensin II receptor blocker, or ARB, a popular class of drugs used to treat high blood pressure. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, pharmacies dispensed the drug to 1.2 million Americans in 2010. About 68 million Americans have high blood pressure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Murray said the side effects appeared “almost exclusively” in patients taking olmesartan, not other ARBs.
Doctors are skeptical that the findings apply to most of the people who take olmesartan or other ARBs. Dr. Franz Messerli, director of the hypertension program at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, said just because the side effects stopped when patients stopped taking the drug doesn’t necessarily mean that the drug caused those side effects.
“Only re-exposure [to the drug] can confirm that the GI side effects were indeed due to olmesartan,” he said.
And many doctors say that GI side effects from the drug are very uncommon.
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I hope I never have to switch to a new BP drug. The drug I’ve been taking for the last 10 years is the only one I can tolerate. It’s scary when you realize the side effects to many of these prescription drugs. I am hoping that one day I won’t have to take BP meds, but unfortunately it’s hereditary, so I may not have a choice. The problem with many of these drugs is that they treat one condition, but sometimes or often create another problem. I wish and hope that some day they can invent prescription drugs that don’t have such horrible side effects. I’m highly sensitive to most prescription, and even otc drugs. I took Aleve recently when I pulled a back muscle. I had to discontinue Aleve after just 2 days. My stomach began to ache badly, and I also had chest pains and headache. Too bad because Aleve really stops the pain. I take one Aleve tablet a day, or every other day and that doesn’t seem to bother me much, but it does help a little, and a little is better then nothing at all.
Contrary to popular belief, HBP is only a genetic predisposition. You can control how those genes are expressed through diet and exercise. Many people including myself, have come off their meds this way. I can’t overemphasize the importance of diet and exercise to counteract hypertension. In short, it works, I went from 20mg of Lisinopril and 5mg Amlodipine last November to OFF ALL MEDS last month–BP is now 120/65. I consume a plant based diet and supplement with Fish Oil, CoQ10 and B-12. I’d also recommend reading “The Spectrum” by Dean Ornish MD
So, Benicar causes gastrointestinal problems and when patients stopped taking Benicar they felt much better. However, this does not mean that the cause of gastrointestinal problems was Benicar. What does this mean exactly? What other proof is needed?
I do not take Benicar I take Ramipril, probably the only BP medication I can tolerate, that also causes gastrointestinal problems. I have been taking it for about 5 years and I now live with chronic gastritis and all of its symptoms. What can I do? If I tell the doctor, he will say it’s not the Ramipril and give me another medication for gastritis, which I will have to take for life.
Since I have been taking Benicar HCT,I have been having congestion in my esophagus and the doctor keeps telling me my lungs are clear.Has anyone else had this problem?
Larry: What do you mean about “ … congestion in my esophagus ” Could you please elaborate little more on the symptoms. I have been taking Ben 40/HCT 12.5 for a while and I may have similar issue to what you experienced.
I am taking benecar for a year and have acid reflux and stomach pain and feel horrible.What can we do about those situations?Hope to get some idea’s what to do and where to go.All those meds take 3 the side affects are so bad
Yes I also started having acid reflux /GERD and stomach problems ( Burning sensation / chest tightness more often starting around June 2011. I checked at that that time, and those symptoms were not heart related. I have been taking Ben 40/ HCT 12.5 for over 4 years now. Not sure if it was a directly or partially caused by Benicar as I also have been taking CCB ( Amlodipine 5 mg) since 08/2011. Could it be the Benicar or the CCB, we don’t know or could it combination of both. Doctors normally will not help out with these issues.
i take ramipril 5 mg blood preasure meds. have to drin k lots of water with it. hav ing lots of problems with my stomach. i am using resperate and iam hoping to get off some of my blood preasure meds. i think what ever you take for blood preasure it will affect you stomach. thanks
You should easily be able to get off the low dose of Ramipril with diet and lifestyle changes. If that doesn’t do it try adding Magnesium in 200mg increments. 500mg starts to cause loose stools according to my doctor. You might also consider 100-200mg CoQ10 and 2-4g of Fish Oil.
I have been taking Enalapril, then because I was complaining about caughing for many months, it was changed to Ramapril, then Lasortan. Caugh still there a lot. Lungs seem clear according to X-ray. But I also was thinking that the caugh has something to do with the esophagus, or what. Would also like to know if anyone has an answer for this.
although my BP is not high, I was put on Enalapril (as a precaution, as I am diabetic)and suffered crippling abdominal pain. Not the drug said my gp. Try a different brand– no difference. Try taking it at night–spent the night rolling around the bedroom floor in agony. I found that if I took a quarter dose, the pain was just tolerable, and continued like this for a month or so, until I decided that it just wasn’t worth it, as my bp was only high in the doctors office. ( it wasn’t even high there to start with!) I was then put on a diuretic, which put my BG up horrendously (it’s never come down to it’s previous levels, either) So then it was the turn of an ARB This was fine for a while, until I started getting palpitations. So my dose was doubled, and the palpitations doubled too. When I stopped taking the drug, the palpitations stopped. The doctor is still convinced that all these side effects were in my mind, despite eventually (after having stopped taking them all) having found that all these effects are well documented; — the diuretic even carrying a warning (in very small letters) inside a packet claiming that the drug was suitable for diabetics. I appreciate that my doctor is only trying to do the best for me, but I have come to the conclusion that in this instance, the best for me is NO BP treatment
The pharmaceutical industry (and the FDA) are failing miserably at providing safe and effective medications for this condition, sadly.
I am currently on Lisinopril 7.5 & Bendroflumethiazide 2.5 as I stopped taking Amlodiphine (it has given me rashes all over my body). Has anyone got the skin desease Lichen planus as a result of Blood Pressure medication?