Recent studies suggest that misdiagnosed cases of celiac disease were actually the side effects of Benicar and may have caused patients to suffer long-term gastrointestinal (GI) damage.

While the studies feature the strong correlation between Benicar and chronic diarrhea, the data also hints that the misdiagnoses that doctors made from this medication’s side effects for months or even years, may have resulted in long-term gastrointestinal injury. On a positive start, the research suggested that the Benicar-induced diarrhea symptoms often dispersed after the patients ceased taking the medication, and that some gradually returned to normal bowel movements.

The study also indicated that the medication caused permanent and severe injuries to some patients’ GI tracts, such as villous atrophy. This condition involves the deterioration of the intestinal tract, which prevents the absorption of nutrients and reduces digestive capabilities. If left untreated, villous atrophy can cause patients to suffer malnutrition, and a weakened immune system.

The first study observing these complications was published in July 2012 by the Mayo Clinic, identifying at least 22 patients from 17 different states who were treated for celiac disease while taking Benicar. However, the report stated that once patients stopped taking the medication, the diarrhea normally resolved on its own.

Warnings about the risk of Benicar chronic diarrhea symptoms were first made public in July 2013, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a drug safety announcement to warn doctors and patients about the risk of Benicar-induced sprue-like enteropathy, a condition associated with chronic diarrhea, nausea, weight loss, and other GI problems. The FDA went further on to state that these complications could surface months or even years after patients start using the Benicar.

Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil) is a popular medication prescribed to lower the blood pressure of high risk patients. It was approved by the FDA in 2002, and is manufactured and distributed by Daiichi Sankyo and its American partner, Forest Laboratories. Despite being on the market for more than 10 years, many patients and doctors are just learning about the possible link between Benicar and extreme diarrhea side effects such as sprue-like enteropathy.

The complications of this medication have led to numerous misdiagnoses, cases of avoidable injuries, and other severe adverse effects patients suffered. As patients are learning of this, many are filing legal action against Daiichi and Forest for not using adequate language to describe Benicar’s side effects, and for failing to mention the possibility of chronic diarrhea and gastrointestinal damage. Many of these patients state that they never would have taken Benicar if they had known about these difficult side effects.

Misdiagnosis of Benicar Problems

As mentioned before, many cases of complications associated with Benicar have risen recently due to patients being misdiagnosed with celiac disease. In these cases, some of these patients had their symptoms identified as unclassified enteropathy, which was used to describe cases when the precise cause of the condition could not be determined. Since the connection between Benicar and chronic diarrhea has been alleged, the Celiac Disease Center has suggested that Benicar may have been responsible for 22 percent of all cases of previously unclassified sprue-like enteropathy.

In another report published earlier this year in the medical journal Case Reports in Gastrointestinal Medicine, researchers from the Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center observed the link between Benicar and enteropathy, could make up good portion of patients who had been diagnosed with unclassified sprue.