pain in hands and feet with flare, enthesitis?

anyone here get enthesitis when they flare?

wsnt sure what is was until i looked it up today. it describes me perfectly. its pain around joints where tendons insert. I have it in my hands and feet like crazy right now, holy smokes. I read it happens in IBD when colon is involved, or in ankylosing spondylitis.

it hurts to move around the house and even type this! i dont want to take nsaids for obvious reasons, anyone have similar problem and what do you do for it?

I have enthesitis big time. Remicade and then Humira helped for a while. Due to an adverse reaction, I am no longer on either. My rheumy is treating my enthesitis by drawing off the fluid and injecting cortisone. The problem is that in small areas like fingers, to be effective, the injections must be done after or during ultrasound. Fortunately, he one of few to do this. My GI and rheumy are also experimenting with different NSAIDs. At my last GI visit, he said my quality of life was too important and that if the NSAIDs flared my CD, he'd fix it. My guts have been in remission for almost 2 years. I know many others are not as fortunate as me. Because of my gut remission and the severity and how wide spread the enthesitis is, I am willing to experiment with the NSAIDs. Biggest problem so far is not the gut but leg swelling. The docs think my kidneys are not handling these meds well. It's all a crap-shoot.....

mine seems to be hands and feet at the same time, both sides.

ides and blue meanies, do you guys have colonic involvement? does it affect all your joints at the same time or just some?

do your symptoms come on only with flares or are they always there?

When I have gotten this, it would effect both parts at the same time. For example, both ankles or both shoulders would hurt. It would come and go. I might have pain in both my wrists for a month or two and then it would go away for a little bit of time. Then I'd get it in my knees or a few weeks and then it would also gradually go away. It went on like that for years and years. My Crohn's is in my colon. Now I am on Humira and I rarely get that kind of pain. If I do, it lasts only a couple of days.

I too, have had this pain and swelling. It began about 16 months ago in some of my finger joints, advanced to wrists, ankles, back and neck.  I went on prednisone for "arthritis" or spondylitis and that helped after a week or so, but was on 40 mg. I then started remicade, (now on humira), have weaned down on pred to 5 mg and am having some slight joint pain and swelling at this dose. I am holding out on increasing my pred again. I think the humira and remi helped the condition to subside whatever it is. They ruled out RA with the blood test. Try to keep a log of sx/treatment, I almost forgot about the neck pain and that was the worst of all. I also was having a flare at the time. Good luck.

I have AS and I am on remicade , but even that does not stop the pain all the time. I still take motrin from time to time, when its really bad. I dont take them a lot but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

 OMG...i have been in sooo much pain for a little bit over a month, I have pain in my shoulders, and knees..my Ortho doctor gave me injections, then sent me for an MRI & CT SCAN, thinks its possibly osteoarthritis, wants me to get a DEXA SCAN and see a rheumatologist...not sure if this is just part of a flare up or what is going on?? I have been on Humira since Dec 07, but sometimes I just don't think its working good enough...I just want to feel normal again, even if its just for a few days.....

kelly

The enthesis can occur when the crohn's is not so active. Not all my joints are affected. Usually it's just a few spots at a time. Like when I go to turn a door knob it hurts. I have noticed that it's really bad a few days then eases up for a few days and then goes away for awhile. Mine is definatly a tendin problem, not a joint problem.

poo - I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. I am HLA-B27 positive, have sacroiliitis, and enthesitis. [One can have AS without being HLA-B27 positive.] My joint and tendon problems are NOT related to my flares of Crohn's. As I said in my first response, my guts are in remission yet I am still flaring with the enthesitis. My CD was located only in my terminal ileum, no colon involvement. Not all of my tendons flare at the same time. I tend to have it either on one side of the body or the other.

My enthesitis has caused extensive calcification of several of my tendons. This causes lots of pain and movement problems. I have significantly calcified Achilles tendons, quadricep tendons and bicep tendons to name a few. My current "hot spots" are my fingers and knees and to a lesser extent, my elbows.

so ides,

did your enthesitis onset coincide with a flare? do they get worse with flares (i kno AS can take on a life of its own with respect the CD)

for me its affecting literally every joint in my entire body right now at the same time, it is unbelievable, though the pain is only mild-modest right now. anybody part i use much becomes affected. I thought it was only hands and feet at first, but its everywhere.

i've never had symptoms like this before, or other typical sx of AS (that im aware of). i have chronic low back pain and stiffness from a prior lumbar surgery, so cant tell if thats a symptom or not.

you seem to know alot about the sponylidities - what do you think?