Arthritis and Crohn's - help!

I am curious what others' experiences have been with arthritic pains and Crohn's. I have been in remission for 4 years. Valentine's weekend, I noticed a strange, click-like sensation in my right foot as I was trying to put on my shoes. Later in the day, the pain became more pronounced and the outside of my right ankle began swelling. At first I thought I'd somehow injured it or had been bitten by something and that it would go away. It persisted and kept going about my normal routine. I also began having intermittent and migratory knee pain between both knees. The pain and swelling would often shift between the outer and inner ankle and sometimes occur on both sides. Two weeks later, I drove over 200 miles round trip to see my grandmother. The next morning, my ankle was huge, I couldn't get it in a shoe and I was in so much pain I had to go to the ER. X-rays were normal. Swelling continued throughout the day but went down with elevation each night. Went to an ortho who drew fluid to test for gout. It was negative. Had an MRI that just showed extreme inflammation all around the joint, but no damage or root cause. about a month ago, my right jaw began hurting, too. Some suspicion of lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, but ANA tests were negative. Finally had colonoscopy last week that showed two areas of inflammation in my colon and confirmed Crohn's is active again. Small bowel exam was normal. Prior to my last flare, I had arthritic pains in my knees and shins. I am now taking prescription Mobic (and NSAID) to control the pain, along with Turmeric, fish oil and Osteo-biflex and Pentasa, but the swelling persists.

GI wants to begin a regimen of Remicade asap.

Anyone else have arthritic pains with their flares? And any success with remicade to resolve it?

Thanks.

Hey hicks - I didn't/don't do anything...except wait out the swelling. 

When the swelling is REALLY bad, it'll take about 2 weeks until I can a) move my ankles and b) walk without crutches or without hopping.  Then for another 2 weeks I'll have a limp or have some pain in my ankles when I walk but by that time my ankles can MOVE around enough to where I CAN walk and drive.  But at their worst, there is NO movement in my ankles.  Stiff as a board and hot to the touch.

Luckily I have a job where I can work from home if I need to.  It's easier to rush to the bathroom on swollen ankles and crutches at home than it is at my office.  So when my ankles are so swollen that I can't walk or drive, I work from home.

The Rheumatologist told me that she "believed" the kind of swelling I'm experiencing is NOT affecting my joints...that was one of my worries that if I allowed the swelling to continue WITHOUT taking a drug like Remicade/Humira that one day my ankle joints/bones would deteriorate and I wouldn't be able to walk again.  But she was certain that my joints were fine (since the X-rays showed healthy ankles) and it was "simply" swelling of the tendons around the ankles which made it appear/feel like my joints were the parts that were swelling.

Currently, my left ankle is swollen but I THINK it is from standing for 4 hours applying makeup to a group of teenage girls at a youth retreat this past weekend.  The swelling is not (yet) painful and I can still walk.  In this situation, I do take 2 Asprin/day for 3 days which usually helps.  Asprin has not (yet) bothered my stomach and I have the OK from my GI to take Asprin in small amounts when my ankles swell.  It usually helps.

There are resources to get assistance for Remicade. I posted them but let me know if you need them.