What are the symptoms of mesalamine allergy?

A mesalamine-allergy/intolerance is described as a dramatic worsening of uc symptoms. Like going from 2 formed, non urgent bms a day, to suddenly 6-8 very urgent diarrheas a day; very dramatic change. Usually happens when 1st trying the med. As it's medication-induced, stopping the med for 48-hours makes symptoms dramatically better. about 5% of us have said intolerance. Easy to skip meds for a day and see.

Thank you for your replies. He is 17 y.o. I have had UC for 18 years.

June'18 - hospitalized with abdiminal pain and very high levels of lipase. First BM with blood on the day of admission; nobody paid attention; nobody paid attention to the fact that I had UC and there might be a connection; everybody was focused on the lipase.Diagnosis: pancreatitis.

A few more stays in hospital due to abdominal pain, diarrhea, no blood in stool, lipase off the charts. MRI and ultrasound of pancreas did not show anything.

He was referred to and seen in the Provincial Children's Hospital. Diagnosis: Chronic Pancreatitis.

December'18 blood in stool, diarrhea, exhaustion (3-4 bm/day). Doctors finally decided to check his faecal calprotectin and it was elevated.

Jan'19 colonoscopy and endoscopy, UC of the whole colon diagnosed. MRI of small intestine. A tiny red dot of inflammation of the stomach; nothing significant, they said.

Feb'19 started prednisone (starting at 40mg for two weeks and then tapering off for 8 wks); 2-3 weeks after he started the prednisone they included Mezavant as maintenace medication. He had diffculty swallowing the tablets and was not very consistent. They switched him to Asacol.

April'19 about a week after prednisone was finished and he had established a good regime of taking tbe Asacol, he had a very bad episode of diarrhea, abdominal pain, and so on.

A very bad flare-up had started, we thought (10+ bm/day, blood 35% of the time, abdominal pain, bathroom visits at night).

Stool culture test was done and initially it was negative (30 April-7 May). He was switched to Pentasa oral and suppositories. There was slight improvement but temporary. The idea behind Pentasa was that he can dissolve the tablets in water or food and be more consistent (his doctors at theChildren's Hospital are 1350km away, there is not paeediatric GI here and they were still concerned about the initial reports of his inability to swallow the huge pills; I communica via phone/e-mail with the nurses, they talk to the doctor and send me the info).

22 May. I got a call from the local Health Unit that his stool was tested 10 days later and it was positive for Yersenia. Sulfa-trim was prestibed and started on 24 May for 7 days.

In the meantime he had got worse. Watery diarrhea, throwing up, complete exhaustion, nausea, bathroom visits at night, 10+ bm/day. Missed school. 3 days after he started the antibiotics he got better. But the two episodes of him throwing up and pooping simultaneously happened after he had started (1) and after he had finished (1) the antibiotics.

Yesterday he took only half a dose of Pentasa. The prescription is 8x500 mg tablets (dissolvable) a day. Manufacturer Ferring.

If it turns out he is allergic to it, what other medications are available for maintenance?

If he cannot tolerate mesalamine then it's some form of immunosuppressive meds. Either thiopurines (azathiopurine/mercacaptopurine/imuran) or biologics (humira/remicade).