In the summer of 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the blood pressure drug Benicar could cause Benicar side effects that closely mimic celiac disease symptoms. Some of these alleged Benicar side effects are painful and even debilitating.

Celiac disease, a Benicar side effect, includes a constellation of similar disorders that includes sprue-like enteropathy, villous atrophy, and irritable bowel syndrome. This group of disorders causes painful stomach bloating, chronic diarrhea, and other painful symptoms.

Most disorders like celiac disease can be treated by carefully controlling the patient’s diet and excluding certain food ingredients like gluten. However, there is a subset of patients that suffer from these disorders who do not respond to the standard exclusion diets and continue to suffer in spite of treatment.

The FDA’s announcement may have shed quite a bit of light on the situation for some of these patients, some of which have allegedly suffered for years before realizing that their blood pressure medication could be the cause of their apparent celiac disease symptoms.

According to the FDA’s Drug Safety Announcement from June 2013, Benicar side effects could include sprue-like enteropathy, a generic term for disorders like celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Specifically, the drug seemed to cause changes in the intestines that produced similar symptoms, including severe chronic diarrhea and related symptoms.

In some cases, the problems with the digestive tract were allegedly so severe that patients suffered radical weight loss and weakness because they could not absorb enough nutrients from their food to function normally.

The FDA’s announcement states that patients taking Benicar who experience sprue-like enteropathy should consider (after consulting their doctors) changing medications, since Benicar side effects may be the real cause of their apparent celiac disease symptoms.

Benicar lawsuits have been filed by patients who took Benicar and allegedly suffered what they believed to be celiac disease symptoms. These Benicar lawsuits allege that the makers of Benicar were aware — or reasonably should have been aware — of the serious risks associated with the drug, including the possible risk of sprue-like enteropathy.

These Benicar lawsuits further allege that had patients been aware that Benicar side effects could mimic celiac disease, they might have simply switched medications instead of suffering from painful symptoms like chronic diarrhea.

Allegedly, some patients suffered for years, believing that they suffered from an unusual case of IBS or celiac disease. These Benicar lawsuits typically seek to recoup the cost of medical care, compensation for pain and suffering, and legal fees.