Drug Ratings for WELCHOLAverage Rating: 2.7 (50 Ratings)
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Results are sorted by Date Rating Was Added Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 |
Charts & graphs: Reviews Summary for WELCHOL | Top 10 Adverse Effects (reported to FDA)
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR WELCHOL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
  | F M | | | | |||
| 2 | High Cholesterol, statins allergy | Very painful heartburn. I had my gall bladder removed a couple of years ago. I am allergic to statins so my cardiologist wanted to try me on Welchol powder. I get severe heartburn that even makes my throat and the back of my tongue feel like it is burned. Antacid meds don't help either. Ready to quit taking this! | F | 63 | 3 weeks 3.75 gm | 11/1/2016 | 5 | Diarrhea, Crohn's | Works like magic. It also help with keeping cholesterol down | F | 71 | 8 years 1200 mg 3X D | 7/3/2016 | 1 | High Cholesterol | Mild headache, gas, diarrhea, joint and muscle pain, severe sinus drainage, severe fatigue, loss of appetite. | After only 8 days of using this medication, my quality of life has gone to ZERO. After only 8 daysI have discontinued it and hope to recover soon. I lost 5 pounds, can't sleep due to gagging and choking on the sinus drainage that continues non-stop day and night, have no energy and can only think about getting home to sleep, oh but I CAN'T. Based on ratings it seems this works well if you had your gall bladder removed, but I can't live like this for a marginal reduction of cholesterol if any. The only thing worse about the statin I used prior, is less leg pain. With Welchol everything hurts. | M | 57 | 8 days 3.75 MG 1X D | 5/27/2016 | 2 | Lower Cholesterol | Constipation and painful gas. Even after passing gas I have pain in my intestines. | If the side effects do not stop by end of next week I will stop taking. I am in work all day in a cubical and this is not easy to deal with! | F | 58 | 5 days 625mg 2X D | 4/15/2016 | 2 | Cholesterol | Constipation and joint pain. Especially in legs and feet. | Lowered cholesterol but had to stop because of join pain. | F | 52 | 1 years 625 mg | 1/24/2016 | 3 | Cholesterol | Cramping, bloated feeling. Itchy anus, became very irritated. Seemed to help lower cholesterol, but may have elevated triglycerides. | Expensive, grateful for good insurance. | M | 56 | 9 years 625mg * 6 | 1/10/2016 | 4 | High ldl | Slight muscle cramps in my lower legs. I had a couple of nightmares. My stools got harder, so I started eating prunes, which helped a little. I thought that I might become constipated, but stopped the med due to the cost. | I had gotten terrible leg pains after taking lipitor for one week. I refused to take another prescription statin and instead took Red Yeast Rice. When my ldl started to go up, I asked my doctor for an alternative, which was Welchol. The drug store charged me less money for my 1 month supply. The next month they wanted to charge me about 3x as much. I could barely afford the original amount and definitely could not pay the higher fee. I got my insurance to agree on letting me get a half month supply. After seeing my doctor, 6 weeks later, she gave me 5 mgs of Crestor. After a month of that I quit due to multiple bad side effects. I am going to just keep working on improving my diet now. | F | 61 | 6 weeks 2500 mgs/d | 12/2/2015 | 1 | high LDL cholesterol | I got headaches two nights in a row. Had severe pain all down my left leg and in the night after taking the third dose I had a bloody nose? I also noticed a small dark red bruise on the inside of my right elbow. I am going to try diet and acupuncture and Chinese medicine! | F | 71 | 3 days 3x. 675 | 6/23/2015 | 1 | too much bile acid due to gall blad | Vitamin deficiencies even with supplementation, brain fog, muscle pain and weakness, chronic fatigue, hair loss last 2 years, started to have eczema symptoms. Did not help cholesterol. | Worked for bile acids, eliminated diarrhea | F | 50 | 4 years 625 | 4/11/2015 | 4 | high cholesterol | None | Beats statins for borderline issues. | M | 60 | 15 days 3750 1X D | 3/16/2015 | 5 | High Cholesterol | None! I love this drug. I mix it with lime perrier at dinner and it tastes good. It gives me a slight boost of energy for a few hours afterwards. No GI problems with it. Love it!! | M | 70 | 2 months 3.75 g 1X D | 12/13/2014 | 3 | high cholesterol | poor sleep and heartburn to the point that I had to eliminate the evening dose. mild to moderate leg and foot cramps. | I am a 65 y/o MD. Can't tolerate statins at all. Am an active runner and biker. Had to stop both these activities when on Statins (severe side effects). No major side effects with Welchol but cholesterol is still above 200 on it even when I was taking the full 6 pills a day. Not as effective for me at least, as statins. | M | 65 | 1 years 1.8 G 1X D | 11/30/2014 | 3 | High cholesterol,High Triglycerides | I have constipation,concrete like stools. Bleed like a sieve when I go. I have ALOT of muscle cramps in my legs. The cramps start in the thigh,then go down to my foot. When that lets go,it will start in the other leg. The next day,my legs are very sore and my gait is unbalanced. I don't tolerate statins, the leg cramps are similar to Welchol. I take 1,875 Mg in the morning,and the same at night. | F | 49 | 1 years 1875 MG 2X D | 11/8/2014 | 2 | High cholesterol type 2 diabetes | Constipation, Gas, ringing in the ears, sore throat & stomach ache | i mix with water- it's so thick that my spoon nearly stands up in it! | F | 58 | 3 weeks 3.75 G 1X D | 9/28/2014 | 1 | high colesterol | I haven't had a good night sleep since I started. Severe heartburn. | M | 65 | 5 days 3.75g | 9/28/2014 | 1 | High Cholesterol | Upset stomach, bloating, nausea, weight gain. Taking Welcohl on recommendation of my doctor as I am not able to take statins due to liver problems. | I hate this medication, but will seek doctor's recommendation. High cholesterol and 2 previous heart attacks make it imperative to keep cholesterol low. Statins are not a viable alternative due to previous extremely high enzymes when on stantins. | F | 73 | 3 months 3 tablets 2X D | 9/3/2014 | 2 | high cholesterol | Nausea, dizziness, weakness in legs. overall feeling of not feeling well. Quality of life is not worth these meds. Am seeing my internist tomorrow and will stop these meds. | F | 63 | 3 months 6 tablets | 8/27/2014 | 1 | high cholesterol & high triglycerid | Nausea, gas, upset stomach after eating & taking welchol. EXTREMELY WEAK & TIRED. | F | 57 | 10 days 625 mg | 8/14/2014 | 1 | Cholesterol | Severe leg cramping in left leg calf and in upper hamstring. Could barely walk after three days and could not sit. Had to take pain pills to sleep. Symptoms improving after 2nd day off. | M | 41 | 3 days 3.75g 1X D | 8/2/2014 | 5 | gallbladder removed | Its great! After surgery I had problems with bile overload and had cramps and diarrhea. Now when I take one pill a day I'm just like a normal person. | F | 32 | 2 years | 4/6/2014 | 1 | High Chol. | After being poisoned by 2 statin drugs(prevstatin and simvastatin) my Dr. gave me a RX of Welchol. $240. for a box of powder packets! I'm a VERY sensitive person with drugs, I would've loved a free sample first. There is a site where you can get a free sample of this drug. I was warned to only take a pinch of it, on a empty stomach .... OMG ... I took a 1/4 teasp. I was sick/nausea, achy, spacey all day. Then I took a 1/8 teasp. with food, much better, but then my ears started ringing loudly and I had horrible insomnia while trying it. I also thought I had the flu(tired,achy body, upset stomach), but now reading the other posts, I think it was another side effect of this drug .... I'm afraid to try and take it again. There just has to be a better way than these drugs! You have NO quality of life while on them. | F | 60 | 7 days 1/8 teasp 1X D | 2/17/2014 | 3 | Cholesterol | As with the previous review, CONSTIPATION!!!! I normally go once or twice a day,but with Welchol, if I'm lucky. Once a week or once every 2 weeks. Like concrete,even with fiber. | F | 48 | 2 months | 10/6/2013 | 5 | Dr. recommended | Welchol has made me normal again, able to live without looking for the nearest bathroom. No side affects as of yet. Just more energy and no longer losing weight. | I love Welchol. I went from a size 20 to a size 12 in like a 4 month span from constant diarrhea. My regular dr. couldn't find anything to account for it and sent me to a specialist. I suffer no side effects that others have experienced, thankfully. My energy is back and the headaches and shakes I was having due to diarrhea are gone. | F | 54 | 18 days 625 mg 6X D | 5/31/2013 | 2 | High cholesterol | Stomach cramps. Ringing ears. Flu symptoms. Bleeding gums. Constipation. | M | 70 | 9 months 3200 mg | 5/11/2013 | 1 | High LDL | CONSTIPATION, bloating, nasua | 46 yr old petite female. Family history of heart disease. Total cholestorol of 255 LDL 156 HDL 80 Triglycerides 94. Not bad but doc concerned about LDL. Tried statin last yr. Horrible joint pain. Changed diet to exclude almost all dairy (my beloved icecream!) and changed workouts. HDL went up, Tri's went down, LDL still high. Thought we'd try this little pack of powder once a day. Did not read the side effects as like most, I tend to think I "might" be having an effect? Five days in and OH MY! Thought I had a touch of the stomach flu going around but everyone with the "bug" was rushing to the potty. NOT ME! Stomach upset, bloating, nasua, and miserable. Up until last week, you could set the worlds clock on my daily BM's. Constipation is beyond anything I've ever experienced! I've always felt bad for family and friends that have dealt with this but I now know first hand how horrible this is! Three days after last drinking a packette of WELCHOL I am still not "normal"! Stool so hard it might as well be concrete! It's the little things in life we take for granted. Tried prune juice with butter, no luck. Hoping this will "pass" soon and I get back to living a normal life. I'm ok with living with high LDL. If I pass because of heart disease so be it. I will pass happy and enjoying life! Not sucking down one drug to do one thing and taking four more to counteract the one! Not to mention, I've had to skip my workouts because I'm so bound up! I | F | 46 | 5 days 3.75g 1X D | 4/11/2013 | 5 | Bile Salts diarrhea | Sometimes I feel bloated and have muscle aches. | I had my gall bladder removed in 2011. I take one of these as needed when stomach is acting up. It has really helped. I spent half of my time staying close to a restroom. Not anymore!! | F | 54 | 2 years 625mg 1X AN | 3/23/2013 | 5 | chrone's disease | headaches once a week. muscle weakness\soreness. impotence | This drug was prescribed for regeular diarreah and 15+ trips to the bathroom a day. My life was ruled by locations of the closest facilities. Im very active and my work is very physically demanding which led me to discover this muscle weakness and need for extra sleep daily once on welchol. An issue with my mojo was also directly noticed! Other than an occasinal C.D. bout this drug has changed my life to fewer than 5 restroom breaks a day! WHEW! I can now live a mostly normal life which I lost to C.D. 20 yrs ago! | M | 33 | 1.5 years 2X D | 11/18/2011 | 3 | High Cholesterol - genetic | constipation, indigestion, constantly stopping up toilet! | I took only half the dose given to me because I am very prone to side effects. It did lower the numbers even with half the dose, but not enough. I can't imagine if I had taken the full dose of 6 pills. | F | 51 | 3 months 3 pills 1X D | 7/23/2011 | 2 | chronic diahrrea | Awful bloating, gassy, generally quite uncomfortable. | This stuff does control my diahrrea so that I can now leave the house and live a more normal life, but I feel as if I've been stuffed all the time an can eat only a few mouthfuls before I feel terrible. I hate feeling like this! | F | 68 | 3 months 625mg 1X D | 12/30/2010 | 1 | high cholesterol | muscle ache, joint stiffness, stiff neck, headaches, dry cough. | It took a month for all the side effects to manifest....not a day goes by without the stiffness, and I have been awakened in the middle of the night by an extremely stiff neck and headaches. | M | 57 | 45 days | 1/25/2010 | 2 | High Cholesterol | Constipation, gas, bloating | I read the normal dose was six 625mg pills a day. My dr put me on two twice a day. I was taking it because of high cholesterol/LDL and I am a 15 year CABG survivor and cannot tolerate statins. I am normally very regular, but this stuff made me plug up like concrete. I felt bloated and had bad gass, and when I did go I bled like a stuck pig. After two episodes of that I gave the drug up and regularity returned in a few days. Also no more rectal bleeding. I'm trying to control my numbers now with diet and Niaspan. | M | 60 | 2 weeks | 11/24/2009 | 4 | High Cholesterol | Right in the very beginning I had constipation but that stopped. Now I have none. | My numbers have decreased but not my triglycerides. I will continue to use and see if that improves. | F | 52 | 3 months | 4/8/2009 | 5 | high cholesterol | Moderate gas and constipation...much worse at high altitude. | It works. My cholesterol and LDLs have dropped to very low levels and I can eat pretty much what I want but still watch my diet. | M | 63 | 3 years | 3/13/2009 | 2 | High Cholestrol | I had no side effects while on Welchol. | It didn't lower my cholestrol at all. The LDL totals went up big time (bad) along with HDL (good). I watch my fat and sugar intake. If this drug had worked I would have stayed on it. I didn't even mind the 6 horse size pills a day. I can't tolerate statins. They make my brain numb and my muscles weak. I felt very good on Welchol, but that's because it wasn't doing anything. | F | 54 | 6 months | 3/11/2009 | 5 | IBS & Post Gall bladder surgery | A slight tendency toward constipation, but considering the prevalence of diarrhea previously, I can live with it. After decades of suffering, I count this a miracle drug. | M | 2 years | 2/13/2009 | 1 | High cholesterol | Constipation, gas, ringing in ears | I was glad to see someone else above complained about ringing in the ears as a side effect of Welchol, because that's what I experienced. Besides the constipation and bloating that are a noted side effect, about 10 days after starting Welchol I started to get the ringing in my ears -- at random, multiple times a day. I finally stopped the Welchol due to the constant constipation and gas problems (just not worth the discomfort), and lo and behold the ringing in my ears stopped about a week later. Haven't had any ringing since (and never had any before), so I'm sure it was the Welchol. Just like statins, too many side effects. Would not recommend. | M | 52 | 4 months | 9/14/2008 | 5 | Gallbladder Removed | None. | Gallbladder was not functioning properly; thus, it was removed. It continuously leaked into my intestines causing irritation. I used Welchol to bind excess bile and flush it out my system. I used it for about 8 months after the removal of the gallbladder. It worked great for me. | M | 35 | 8 months | 7/18/2008 | 2 | high total cholesterol and high LDL | constipation, gas and general GI discomfort; sore throat; and ringing in ears which started about one week after starting Welchol and continued until I stopped. | Had tried statins several years ago but had way too many serious side effects. My cardiologist recently convinced me to try Welchol for three months, but the GI distress plus the new ringing in my ears (which I never ever had before) forced me to stop after the three months. Did reduce my LDL, but only slightly. Not worth the side effects. | M | 60 | 3 months | 6/22/2008 | 5 | IBS-D | none | Stopped my IBS-D and the pain and cramps on day one. Only had three attacks in 6 months. I can travel again and eat things I never have been able to in years. This has changed my enjoyment of life, have suffered 30 years with this until Welchol. | M | 55 | 9 months | 5/20/2008 | 5 | BILE SALT DIAHHREA - NO GALLBLADDER | NONE | I had my gallbladder out in 98. They put me on Questran. That was horrible - terrible constipation! Then they put me on Welchol - still binds the excess bile in the digestive tract but no side effects. Best of all no bile salt D and I can eat all the fat I want. 3 tablets after breakfast and dinner. They are BIG pills, but I don't care. Gave me my life back. I can however see how someone with a gallbladder could wind up with too little bile in their system from these pills and wind up with terrible side effects / that however was not my situation. I had too much bile to start with. | F | 42 | 5 years | 2/9/2008 | 1 | high cholesterol | Took it for over 3 years but the last 8 months I was having continued bowel problems. Constipation and such and then my colon started hurting and was full of discomfort just before I relieved myself. I've stopped it now and feel much better | M | 58 | | 2/6/2008 | 5 | biliary problems | weight gain, stiff neck, weird dreams, legs hurt | F | 46 | | 10/20/2007 | 1 | High lipids | Gastritis, abdominal pain, nausea | Stopped taking it when I got Ischemic colitis | M | 64 | | 8/6/2007 | 2 | High lipids | Extreme gas, loose stools, abdominal pain. | During treatment I ended up with ischemic colitis and was hospitalized. Do not know if it caused it. Once stopped, however, my colon settled down and is now OK. | M | 63 | 90 days | 6/21/2006 | 3 | High Cholesterol | None that I am aware of. | Took in conjunction with Niaspan and Lipitor. Niaspan and Welchol alone did not seem to reduce cholesterol significantly -only when Lipitor was added was significant reduction seen. So I don't know to what extent Welchol is helping. | M | 44 | 5 years | 5/11/2006 | 5 | Stomach Troubles | Ocasional muscle and joint aches. | My gall bladder was removed 3 years ago, and 2 years ago i developed many problems because of it, I could no long er eat meat, because anything with fats in it would upset my stomach. Now, it's like everytihng is back to normal, I feel normal again. this is my miracle drug! | F | 21 | 3 weeks | 7/20/2005 | 1 | for high cholesterol | sick after every meal to much bile and constipation and also muscle weakness | M | 76 | 2 weeks | 3/27/2005 | 4 | high cholesterol | I don't notice any major side effects other than an upset stomach once in a while. | I have only been taking it for one month but it seems fine for my body. No pains or complaints yet. | F | 22 | 1 months | 1/5/2005 | 1 | cholesterol | upset stomach | F | 50 | 20 days | 11/18/2002 | 1 | High Chlosterol | Dy throat, dry cough, dizzy, headache. All over bad feeling | F | 60 | 2 months | 7/5/2002 |
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