Lower back pain linked to...??

Whats been of real concern to me lately is my lower back pain - it just won't go away no matter WHAT I do. The high doses of Pred I was on seemed to make it tolerable for a while but now that I'm on just 5mg, its defiantly back in high gear. I've been dealing with UC/Crohns for about 8 years now, and I've hardly ever dealt with LOWER back pain (I usually have had a lot of upper back pain when I'm dealing with flares). And when I'm on my menstrual cycle that pain a long with my EXTREME cramps (which btw NOTHING except STRONG painkillers has ever healped) makes me MISERABLE. It really dissables me when both hit me at once - a flare AND my monthly visitor. I'm not having a flare right now and I'm having lower back pains..mainly when I'm on my feet and moving around, which of course make it almost impossible to continue being on my my feet and moving around.

I feel like I've tried everything - I did non-stop Chiropractic for almost 3 months and am doing specific excercises now for lower back. I've been trying so hard to find other ways besides painkillers to get rid of the pain.

I had my 3rd Remicade infusion ever since I started it up again on Friday and told my doc about the pain. She kept me at 5mg of Pred (no tappering) and told me to call her back at the end of the week to report how the pain is. So far its been worse since I've spoken to her even after the Remi. I'm just scared shes gona automatically blame the pain on the Remi not working when it might have nothing to do with that.

Any comments?

Jessi

I had really bad lower back pain for a few months and really bad stomach cramps. Nothing was helping it either. All my test came back normal, my docs didnt know what to do. Finally they admitted me for more testing and found I had an ulcer. I would check to see if that is what you have. After being on meds for a few days I was begining to fell better. Hope this helps.

I would get an intense pain in my lower back during Remicade infusions and I was wrongly dx'ed with fibromyalgia because of all the joint pain Remicade caused. I would have such sever pain in my back that no one could touch it even slightly, I'd go through the roof! But, now that my CD is back and i'm flaring again...i have joint pain again, i'm not on Remi anymore. I do have lower back pain..mostly on the sides like kidney area. i blame it completely on the CD. the worse my CD gets the worse the joint pain is. My fingers, wrists and elbows hurt really bad today. I had went on Celebrex and Xanaflex for my problems back when I was on Remi...it seemed to help out.
Good Luck!
-Jeny

..Don't have a colon..so cant be from that! :P And honestly I reeeally don't feel like I'm having a flare at all right now. Thats what makes this all strange - cause trust me, during flares, NOTHING seems strange - I have all sorts of pains!

..There is one more thing I left out though...: In the summer I got in a pretty bad car accident. No broken bones, just badly bruised and cut up (went to the ER that day) but my car was totalled and I was shaken up badly. Now comes the confusing part..try to keep up with me: At the time I had just stopped my Remi that I was getting once every 6 wks, cause I wanted to try other things and it seemed like it wasn't helping as much anymore. A month before I stopped it, my doc had put me on 6MP, then I stopped the Rem. Then, of course, EXACTLY on the 6th week when I was due for my usual remi infusion but wasn't gona get one cause I had decided to stop it, I get in the accident. Lol..so at the time nobody could figure out weather my pain (lower back pain had become extreme at that point) was from the 6mp not working, or the accident. My rhuemy just gave me a few months worth of Tylenol with coedine at the time, probably guessing it was from the accident.
But either way 2 months later I was hospitalized while being on the 6mp for a bad flare - which included swollen and dissabling joint pain along with having diarrhea and cramps. And although my back pain wasn't gone, I think it was under control with the Pred. But now that I'm moving around more, its back. My rhuemy hoped that the remi would/should make it go away.

I think everyone here about covered it. I don't think you're Remicade has had time to kick in good yet. I'm on Humira and under pretty good control right now, however, the back pain comes and goes as it pleases. Freaky disease! Pain killers and a heat pad is all that saves me. I also keep a check on my temp when the aches come around. I usually discover I am running a low grade fever too. And yes, the monthly visitor is an absolute killer! I've found my anti-spasmotic (Nulev) helps me through that week also in addition to the pain killers.