crohn's & bladder pain?

Hi All,

 

Does anyone ever get bladder pain with a Crohn’s flare up?  I am trying to figure out if the pain I am having is from Crohn’s or a kidney stone.  At present I have not been diagnosed with Crohn’s because the biopsies from my 2 colonoscopies came back with indeterminate colitis (chronic inflammation).  Pillcam showed nothing of concern but my blood work was strongly ASCA positive.  Typically, my symptoms are bouts of diarrhea, joint pain, moderate stomach cramping during and after bowel movements (typically subsides in a few hours with tylenol), occasional rectal bleeding, and fatigue.  I am currently only taking sulfasalazine which I have been on for 1 month.  Now the pain that I typically get, while it sucks, does not stop me and I am able to move on with my life within an hour or so.  But his past Thursday the pain was intolerable.        

 Basically on Thursday morning I woke up felt just peachy.  Went to the bathroom and had a BM that was perfectly normal as far I could tell.  But when I tried to stand up I doubled over in pain and I felt as though I was going to give birth to something .  I thought at first that I had really bad gas but the pain persisted.  The pain was in my lower stomach/pelvic area and when I had additional bowel movements or tried to urinate the pain got worse.  So then I began to worry about it being my appendicitis or that I some other important organ had burst inside of me.  I called my primary care and they saw me right away.  I had to have my husband drive me there as I could barely walk.  As soon I got there my Doctor sent me to the emergency room.  The docs in the ER really did not tell me much and said that I must be having flare up of my colitis…even though I have never felt pain even close this from my colitis.  They only ran a few blood tests and a urine test…no xrays or anything.  They told me there was blood in my urine, gave me some pain meds via IV and sent me home after about 8 hours…after which I still had pain.  The next day I felt as though I had muscle soreness in my stomach (but not the kind you get frome exercise) like if I tried to walk it hurt when my feet hit the ground with each step and my stomach felt like it was being pushed out…overextended.  As I started to think about what happened the day prior I figured it may be that I passed a kidney stone (I had kidney stones last year but had a lithotripsy to break them up…so pain was moderate).  But what led to the discovery of my kidney stones last year was the blood in my urine.  It is now a few days later and I still have pain on and off and I do notice that when I eat I get a sharp pain for about a half hour on my lower right side…and I am also in the bathroom shortly there after.  So I am wondering if this type of pain and lingering pain is typical of Crohn’s disease?  I also have a sharp pain in my buttox when I sit down.  But what is making me think kidney stone is the fact that there was blood in my urine and my bladder hurts.  Can Crohn’s cause bladder pain?  I am just so confused and appreciate any info you all can provide. 

 

Thank You!    

I have bladder and kidney pain at times. Check you'r potassium level. Too much and the linning od my bladder infames as well as the kidney's. I have to be very careful with fruit and juice. Not to mention drinks like gadorade[sp].

But blood in the urine is strange. Is it bright or tea like color?

I'd make an appointment.

rj

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.  I am seeing my GI on Thursday evening so hopefully he can figure out what happened...though I am not sure how much he can tell a week later.  As for the blood in my urine...I can't actually see it, it is showing up in testing.  When I had a kidney stone last year I knew it was there as the color was unmistakable.  So I guess I just have to wait it out and see.  I still feel kind of crappy but I get better each day...I usually bounce back rather quickly but this time it seems to be taking forever.

Good that you are seeing a doctor. Bladder pain (and the feeling it was being pushed down) happened to me 10 years ago when I first got Crohn's; it was one of the first symptoms I had, and I had spotting as well. After that, the pain progressed and they didn't know it was Crohn's yet. It turned out that there was a big infected mass in the ilieum, and it was pushing down on the bladder (and the surrounding organs were inflamed as well). The bladder itself was fine, however. We are all individuals here with unique Crohn's stories, so this could have nothing to do with what's going on with you, but I just wanted to share, because it's still a possible reason. I'm having my first real flare-up in 10 years, and I know this, because I feel the same type of pain (with a few altercations), and the feeling of my bladder aching and being pushed down. So, some sort of xray or ultra sound might be worth it to see if there is any mass there!

And inflamed bowel could be causing pressure. I have heard this suggestion a couple of times..
Still check for stones, they are high risk with both kinds of IBD..

Matthew

I am in a flare right now, Yersterday, I would no sooner leave the bathroom , walk down the stairs, and say to my daughter."darn , I have to go again.!" but the pain I was having wasn't cramping as usual , it was bladder pain and burning. ....exactly like something was pushing on my bladder. There was no blood in my urine...but some blood in my stool. I often have symptoms such as these with a flare...there are times when I just can't pee even tho I feel the urge to go. After I've had a few #2's ...then I can pee again. Very strange. When I have flares, I've been known to have urethral strictures, which need to be dilated with a catheter and balloon. My GI has never explained the connection between the two...but they definately go hand in hand....and I have also had kidney stones...
Right now I'm also experiencing sores in my mouth wich are extremely painful....and a sinus infection. Seems like every orifice in my body is protesting very loudly.
Good luck with your bladder problems and colitis...hope everything gets better for you really soon.
Love and prayers
Tired old Mary

Hi Gingergal,

I did get the results of my ct scan and everything was normal.  Which is good news but it sheds no light on to what is going on with me.  I am still having problems and the past few days have been really bad.  I actually let out little groans of pain when I have bowel movements....which is quite troublesome when in the public bathroom at work .  I have an appointment next week with my GI so we will see what additional fun he has in store for me.  Did you get your CT results back? I hope all is well.

Hi Brig,

Thanks for sharing your experience.  I hope you are feeling better soon. 

Hi Amanda,

Thank you for your reply and I will keep IC in mind should I experience this issue again. My Urologist did do the hydrodistention to see if he could ID the source of the bleeding but he did not see anything. However, he did not think the bleeding was coming from the kidney stones and was uncertain what was causing it. Of course my IBD really started to act up a few months later so the cystocopy that I had was done over a year ago and before my IBD got bad. I have actually been doing dipstick tests ever so often and at present there is no blood in my urine so I have no clue what is going on. I am actually thinking edometriosis at this point as my doctor has brought it up a few times. I have been having really bad nausea over the past week and I see my GI tomorrow...so hopefully he will give me some direction.

Best Wishes

Oh how helpful!  For the past couple months I had bladder trouble where it was really easy to accidentally wet myself a little and I would be like "gotta go gotta go gotta gooooo" maybe 3x per hour on some days.  I thought it was maybe a tumor (I am good at getting those near my bladder) and recently found out it wasn't, so I was like well I didn't have an infection either so what gives?

Nobody I went to for the bladder issue knew that bowel problems could cause bladder issues.  The fact that I am back to having no bladder problems now that I have to go #2 too often again explains a LOT

I love this forum :D

I am going thru many of the same symptoms and doctors can't seem to find out what's wrong with me. All my troubles began approx 8 yrs ago with what I thought was a really bad UTI - with extreme back pain and nausea. Got treated with CIPRO for weeks...pain would come back and go after having sex...over the years..the pain would return and on the CIPRO again. Pain free for a few years and then BANG get hit with a big attack of vomiting that rushes me to hospital by ambulance (the stomach pain was that bad)..and after TONS of tests & tests, I'm diagnosed with Crohn's. Was Crohn's the problem since the beginning? Maybe. They also said that I had a cyst that broke which caused a lot of the pain.

Back to last fall - again experiencing weird pelvic pain after PAP test (!). Pain stays with me for almost two months. This time with blood in urine (dark brown). CT scan again. They see a bit of inflammation on intestine but nothing else. ARGH!!! Blood in urine eventually goes away. Now, it's back again. Seems to appear one week before my period and then goes away. Especially visible in urine after a bowel movement.

I am 42 yr old female. Non-Smoker, healthy weight, who has not had a violent vomiting attack in 3 years (yay!).

I am so fed up. I am going to go see Doc again next week. I hope it's nothing serious.

It could be Intersistal Cystitis.  You could have blood in urine with this condition.  My mom has this condition and I may :(  I have a urologist appointment tomorrow :(  It's possible that the Crohn's disese has flared up your bladder.  Here is a wonderful Intersistal Cystitis (IC) website.  http://www.ic-network.com  Also check out the IC diet at http://www.ic-network.com/diet/  Try the elimination diet and see if some of the symptoms subside.  Here is the IC cookbook http://www.ic-network.com/icchef/ In the meantime if you are in a lot of pain here is something that will help for a little bit.  Do not use this a lot because it can mess with your sodium levels if you do it too much.  Take one teaspoon of baking soda and mix it in a cup of water.  Tray Evian water, Deerpark or Arrow, these are the most bladder friendly water.  Tap water may aggrivate the bladder if the Ph balance is not a 7.  If you have IC or think you may, immediatly eliminate all acidic foods, sodas, chocolate, spices, fruits (except for pears and blueberries which are bladder friendly), anything with yeast (this means bread :( ), and any foods with potassium.  If you can't bear to live without some of the foods, take Prelief with every meal that contains something on the must avoid list and limit your intake of them.  Here is a wonderful book to read: You don't have to live with Cystitis by Larrian Gillespie, M.D.  Very informative book about IC.  I hope by now you are much better!

I had bladder pain