Another Summer Another flare, side effect questions

Hi everyone, I was here a lot last summer and, after a year of not total remission, and trouble finding a good doc, I ended up in the ER with a 103.7 fever that was impossible to keep down. I ended up admitted for a week. Thankfully it eventually went down after a few days but I was so anemic that they decided to do IV iron which i notoriously have trouble with. I ended up with terrible back pain after each infusion and the night of the 2nd infusion I had such bad back pain, chest pain and heaviness that they had to call a rapid response team and I got sent through more tests than I can count. They also started me on Pred. again and Librax because the cramping was so bad i couldnt keep food down. So it was a crazy week but I got through it and at 40mg of pred. the Crohn's isnt really a problem. However, since I had the iron and started all these meds I've had this weird weakness in my right arm/ hand and legs to the point that its hard to write and grasp things at times. I thought maybe it was the IV but that was a week ago it was removed and it hasnt improved plus its in the legs as well. Has anyone had a similar reaction to any of these meds? I know pred can cause muscle weakness but I wouldn't expect it that fast. Thanks for any insight!

Hi Gumby, thanks, I had the swelling after the iron too and don't know if it was that or too much fluid. I kinda felt like I was drowning a bit with the fluids so I'm thinking it was that but who knows, its so hard to tell. I went back to my hematologist yesterday and she still isn't sure what to do with me since she thinks I'm too high risk for any more iron infusions. Luckily my anemia has improved so we're going to wait and see. Unfortunately my heart rate is still wacky so I ruled out anemia as the source of that.
Other than prednisone, I'm on asacol and Librax. I think I have it narrowed down to the librax causing me wacky side effects and not sure whether it has improved my cramps or whether its just the prednisone working. I've come to the conclusion that my body hates everything medicine-wise that I put into it.
It was a rough week, but honestly it was a great week because I had been feeling so sick for a long time and I couldn't get any docs to help me and finally I found a bunch at the hospital that were paying attention.

Hi Gumby, So glad you are feeling better! I will have to go back and check out your older posts. I hate the fatigue that comes with this disease, it puts a damper on everything. I'm feeling the best I have in I don't know how long thanks to prednisone and not letting the little things ruin the feeling. This is the first time in at least three months I've been able to be outside and have a breeze hit me without getting severe chills. I start tapering it down tomorrow so hopefully all stays relatively quiet. My heart issue is possibly two different things. One is nearly exactly as you describe and probably related to the flare because everything they could possibly do has checked out fine. The other "wackiness" is what i'm starting to get now. As my flare comes under control my heart rate alternates between crazy fast and slow. Eventually most of the time it is normal but has periods of odd rates and totally unpredictable events though usually when i am calm and sitting still, where it gives a long pause that leaves me pounding my chest thinking I am going to pass out. Its followed by a long series of weak beats. I've had it happen when I'm sitting in my college classes and all I can do is sit there, hope it starts up again and that no one notices me pounding my chest! One Holter monitor test I had last winter possibly picked up something like an extra beat that may over load the heart and cause it to pause, but I have to pursue it with the new doc that I saw when I was hospitalized. Don't know what else they could do though since everything else looks fine but freaks me out when its happening and that doesn't even get it to go any faster.

Yes, I saw last year that spotted something on the holter and took me seriously and I was supposed to do a follow up with stress test but then the crohn's got me side tracked. Now I saw another Cardiologist when I was in the hospital and since he is more closely associated with my GI doc and I have to follow up with him any way after the hospital visit I'm going to bring up my other concerns and see if he can figure things out. If not I'll go back to the other doc thats a little more out of the way. My anemia is a lot better, I came in to the ER at 7.5 and friday it was 11.5. The hematologist said my iron itself is still low so we're just going to keep doing blood work and see what direction it goes in. Hoping it keeps going up!