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Joint Swelling and Mesalamine

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 9/20/2007 5:53 AM (GMT 0)
Hey guys,

       I have been increasing the dose of Lialda steadily to 4.8 grams. When I increased to 3.6, I started having some joint pain in my fingers, and toes. Now at 4.8, my right knee is starting to swell a little and hurts a lot!! My GI symptoms are almost completely in remission and I've never had arthritis with my Crohn's so I'm pretty sure its the mesalamine.

Could someone verify that this is mesalamine? Is this an emergency or should I just lower the dose?

Thanks guys, I've started my first post-college job (my dream job!) and all is well except for this :)

Posted 9/20/2007 3:37 PM (GMT 0)
I've never heard of joint pain as a Mesalamine side effect. However, I've often had arthritis flares just as my bowel symptoms go into remission. Not before does not, unfortunately, mean NEVER. I'd say its arthritis but get a doc to look at your joints..


Sincerely,
Matthew
Posted 9/20/2007 4:11 PM (GMT 0)
I had much the same reaction when I was on Asacol. I had flu-like fatigue, low grade fever, and I could not put ANY weight on my knees. I had to be carried to the bathroom (and I had D!). I have never had any problems with my knees or other joints before or since. It was scary until we figured out the pattern was a peaking of pain shortly after I took my meds. THat's how we narrowed it down. Stopped the meds, and the pain went away.
Posted 9/20/2007 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
Haha cool. Well my joint pain isn't that bad and the swelling is very subtle. I can still walk around and I'm ok. I'm lowering the dose back to 2.4g and I will see what happens.

As a side note... I've used colazal for 5 years and I never had any problems, though it definitely makes your stools more "crumbly". I'm wondering if its either the dose or the fact that Lialda,Asacol release more of the mesalamine into the TI and thus more is absorbed into the blood stream.

Matthew, joint pain is a very well documented side effect of mesalamine; however, I was curious as to whether it could cause swelling. I know Crohn's can, but wasn't sure about this.
Posted 9/20/2007 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
Ok... new issue. The swelling seems to have gone down and the join pain is too, but now rashes or itchy spots are popping up and "jumping" around my body on the joints that we previously inflamed. How weird is that? Anybody had this? Its not even that annoying, just kind of scary b/c a patch of skin will get itchy, disappear, and then reappear somewhere else in a matter of hours.
Posted 9/21/2007 3:03 AM (GMT 0)
I had an itchy reaction to pentasa. I switched to colazol and the itching went away. My doctor said that some people are allergic to thedispersal mechanism ingedient in the pentasa. I wonder if something similar is happening with your lialda.
Posted 9/21/2007 7:16 PM (GMT 0)
Only joint paint I ever had from a 5 ASA drug was azsulfadine. But I guess its possible..

Matthew
Posted 9/21/2007 8:11 PM (GMT 0)
Well good news, issue resolved. Just as quick as it came upon the dose increase, it faded with the dose decrease. The join pain, rashes, and swelling is gone, but not I'm left with deciding whether I should just switch back to Colazal :)
Posted 8/26/2012 8:17 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, I have the same problem with Mesalamine. knee pain, tired .....
Posted 8/29/2012 10:37 PM (GMT 0)
Is joint pain supposed to be common with Medsalamine, or is more of a Crohn's effect?

I am on asacol and have been feeling some joint pain/weakness in my shoulders, and more recently fingers and knees.
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