Crohn's/Pregnancy and Arthritis

I was dx'd with JRA as a child - got it at 2 years old, full blown flare and multiple joints by age 8. Suffered with the RA for years and then was dx'd with Crohn's at 16. The docs told me the Crohn's was there "first" but the arthritis manifested itself first. That sounds a bit confusing, but since it's all auto-immune related I kind of look at them as almost one and the same.

I'm a little unclear from your post - does your daughter have Crohn's? Or are you just suspecting that she might have it? There are many symptoms of crohn's so she doesn't have to have bloating and cramping to get the diagnosis. Does she have other symptoms?

I have 3 children and I always go into remission when I am pregnant and then flare about 3-6 months afterwards. I find that breastfeeding helps ease the drop in hormones and thus ease the onset of the flare. It doesn't prevent the flare, but helps.

I have had a lot of success with controlling the Crohn's by following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet - it's basically a "food elimination" diet. I don't know if it helps the arthritis or not because my two diseases play off of each other - when one is quiet, the other is active and vice versa. I rarely have them both flaring at once. I've also been GREATLY helped by taking biologics (Remicade for 6+ years and then Humira for 2 & 1/2).

There are quite a few people here who have been helped by food elimination. I hope they will come and respond soon.

Stef

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

My daughter has had positive RF tests etc. although at first they did say she was something of 'an enigma' in the Rheumatology Department as she was unlike other sufferers. Doctors do not tend to investigate symptoms, merely to stick an elastoplast on them and hope for the best.

Having read about the connection between digestive problems/Crohn's and antibiotics given when a child, I wondered if it is possible to have Crohn's without the 'digestive problems' but have the arthritis which I have seen as a possible symptom. I know the gut is implicated somewhere here as the largest part of the immune system is in the gut lining. I think the immune system gets out of balance during pregnancy when it alters to avoid rejection of the baby. This could be why symptoms can disappear when pregnant. With my daughter the pregnancy and the IVF drugs triggered RA and/or Crohn's. I just wondered therefore whether people are diagnosed with Crohn's with symptoms of joint pain/stiffness and weightloss. Kate was back in her pre-pregnancy clothes directly after giving birth and only put weight on over her tummy area. I didn't know about the biopsy. She has had a colonoscopy which was done after she lost weight when on the elilmination diet.

Food elimination DOES help with Kate's joint pain. She finds that acidic foods (tomatoes and red meat in her case) cause her stiffness. However, because she was losing too much weight cutting out lots of other foods she gave up. She also found out she had joint damage so has taken the easy route. She has found lately that eating tomatoes and cheese inadvertently say in a takeaway, causes joint pain. I have heard of the SC Diet with regard to RA. Diet is obviously the way to go with both diseases as they are both autoimmune.

Re. Humira. Do doctors stop prescribing it after several months of normal blood tests? It worries me as I have seen lawsuits against it in the USA. I would have thought that if a patient appears to be in remission that they would stop the Humira. I am hoping for that!

Ann1e