Recently, a subset of celiac disease patients may have found a simple answer to explain their stomach symptoms.

Celiac disease is a condition that causes the lining of the intestines to become inflamed and cause can patients to exhibit various gastrointestinal symptoms, including crippling stomach pain, bloating, and chronic diarrhea. Extreme cases can cause dangerous weight loss and malnutrition when the intestines become so irritated that they can’t absorb nutrients from food. Celiac disease is part of a constellation of several related diseases, including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and vilious atrophy.

Many cases of celiac disease can be treated and managed with a very strict exclusion diet. While avoiding gluten has become something of a diet fad, for people suffering from celiac disease symptoms a gluten free diet is a necessary way of life. In people with celiac disease, gluten can be the main trigger for the inflammation that produces celiac disease symptoms. However, a significant subset of celiac disease patients continue to suffer celiac disease symptoms even when they’ve stopped eating gluten and other no-go foods. But a new potential cause of these atypical cases of celiac disease came to light last year, leading to allegations that Benicar side effects may cause celiac-like symptoms. 

FDA Benicar Side Effects Warning

In July of 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Safety Alert, based on data collected from the Mayo Clinic. The Safety Alert stated that a common blood pressure drug, Benicar, may cause symptoms that closely mimic celiac disease. The FDA’s statement claimed that many patients who suffered from “sprue-like enteropathy,” another term for celiac disease symptoms, radically improved after they stopped taking Benicar. Though the FDA did not recommend that patients stop taking Benicar without talking to a doctor, the FDA did advise physicians to try taking patients off the drug if Benicar patients exhibited the signs of celiac disease.

The Mayo Clinic initially reported their concerns to the FDA in 2012, after the famous medical center noticed a group of patients with celiac disease symptoms who didn’t quite fit the celiac disease diagnosis. These patients had all the classic celiac disease symptoms, but did not respond to changes in diet, and had blood work that did match celiac disease. These cases were something of a mystery until physicians noted that all of the patients were taking Benicar. Of these 22 patients with Benicar sprue-like enteropathy, 14 had been hospitalized due to the severity of their celiac disease symptoms allegedly caused by the blood pressure medication. One patient had lost a total of 125 pounds, since they couldn’t absorb nutrients from their food.

Over the last year, many Benicar lawsuits have been filed by patients who suffered from celiac disease symptoms after taking Benicar. Benicar lawsuits typically allege that the makers of Benicar knew, or reasonably should have known, that Benicar could cause celiac disease symptoms. Some of the plaintiffs in Benicar lawsuits alleged that they suffered celiac disease symptoms for months—or even longer—before the FDA’s announcement tipped them off that Benicar could have been the cause of their celiac disease symptoms. Benicar lawsuits typically seek to recoup the cost of medical care, lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering experienced by Benicar victims.