Benicar Illness and Weight Loss: From the Doctor’s Mouth

Rochester, NYDr. Joseph Murray is a gastroenterologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, New York. Three years ago the respected physician took to You Tube to expound, in his own words various issues related to sprue-like enteropathy and Benicar side effects. Just the week prior, in the first week of July 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came out with its safety warning about the potential association between olmesartan (Benicar) and Benicar Illness and Weight Loss indicative of sprue-like enteropathy.

There is little doubt that Benicar is an effective medication designed to rein in hypertension (high blood pressure). Dr. Murray says as much. He also notes that for those patients without any symptoms of sprue-like enteropathy or celiac disease—a condition that carries a similar profile to that of sprue-like enteropathy—there is no reason for those patients to stop using olmesartan.

Especially, if Benicar is successfully keeping the patient’s blood pressure in check.

However, it is those patients suffering Benicar side effects that benefit from the words of Dr. Joseph Murray.

Just as there is little doubt that Benicar is effective at controlling high blood pressure, conversely there can be little doubt as to the severity of symptoms for those individuals at risk for experiencing overwhelming Benicar side effects such as severe dehydration and diarrhea, Benicar weight loss and other nasty side effects that often lands a patient in hospital.

“The syndrome can be associated with damage to the intestine that can mimic celiac disease,” Dr. Murray says, in comments posted to You Tube in July, 2013. However, he adds, such symptoms that are not associated with actual celiac disease do not “typically respond to a gluten-free diet.


“These patients can become quite ill, and often hospitalized.”

Dr. Murray notes that the FDA decided to extend its warning about Benicar Illness and Weight loss following analysis of reports to its Adverse Events Reporting System (AERS). This, in addition to the 22 cases of sprue-like enteropathy associated with Benicar that the Mayo Clinic itself identified in 2012.

In a telling commentary on the apparent risk associated with Benicar, Dr. Murray opines that should a Benicar patient present with symptoms appearing to mimic celiac disease, it would be prudent to consider a potential connection between the two, “and I would suggest [discontinuing] the medication.”

Dr. Murray finds no reason for Benicar to be discontinued in the absence of any celiac-like symptoms, due to the drug’s effectiveness for treating hypertension, “and there is no reason for them to change their treatment.

“Now, if a patient has been diagnosed with celiac disease whilst they’ve been taking olmesartan (Benicar),” Dr. Murray continues, “they should revisit with their gastroenterologist in light of this information, to see if there could be a connection between their diagnosis and the olmesartan medication.”

Allergan plc and Warner Chilcott Limited said in their Form 10-Q Report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May10, 2016, for the quarterly period ending March 31, 2016, that the Company is named in approximately 1,410 Benicar lawsuits.