Joint Pain

Lately I have been having severe joint pain. I thought it could have been because I gained a lot of weight back after losing so much while sick, but it's not just areas that would be affected by that. Everything hurts--my feet, my knees, my neck, my wrists, my hands, etc. My hands hurt after holding a book for just a couple minutes and cramp up. After sitting or lying down, it's hard to walk at first. My question is if this could be related to the meds I was on? I'm not currently on anything but was on prednisone for a long time (1.5 years or so). Could it be related to UC (or Crohns or whatever I have)? Or is it likely something completely unrelated. My primary doctor sucks but I feel like I should see him anyway because this came on so suddenly and is pretty severe

Pam...I have extreme joint pain involved with my ulcerative colitis. RIght now I started flaring about 2 weeks ago and the joint pain has been unreal. My wrists, fingers, ankles, heels, and knees hurts. My dr gave me percocet because its really hard to function when I hurt this bad. Also I have 3 kids ages 7, 2, and 3 months. It is painful to hold my babies somedays which makes me sad.

I have been to a rheumatologist and they say it is just my system attacking itself because its autoimmune....its pretty much like a fake arthritis because it doesn't actually damage the joints but it hurts just the same.

Are you flaring right now?? When im not flaring my joint pain is soo much better.

Hi Pam,
Join the club and like you I have a pouch. Same thing just happened to me about a month ago and still going strong. I am not in any flare that I know of. I went to my doctors and my sed rate is up and I tested positive for arthitis. But, I also went to the orthopedist and he took an x-ray that showed no arthirtis. They want me to see a rheumy. In the meantime I am in so much pain, my wrists, knees, fingers, you name it. And yes, holding a book causes pain. I have found hot baths in sea salts helping a bit. Keep in touch, I would love to know what they find out about you. This disease sure sucks.

I had joint pain due to tapering off pred. It eventually went away.

And, yes, it is both sides of my body
My son is 19 months old and it is very difficult to carry him or to get on the floor to play with him

Pam222.
Do you have any rashes on your body? Hands or feet? The pain you described, with first step after inactivity, is known as post-static dyskinetic pain and is commonly seen with enthesitis. This is an inflammation at the junction of the tendon attachment and the bone. Do you have pain in your heels? The reason I ask is that there is not a joint in the heel and may help distinguish the pain. Do you have pain along the top of your wrists or is it more located at the bony prominences? Enthesitis has been described with use of Remicade and Humira and so your pain could be secondary or a side effect of these medications. Joint pain has been described with active UC and/or Crohn's. Your primary doctor may not have too much to offer you in this regard because most primary docs do not deal very often with the TNF-a blockers(Remicade and Humira). How are your symptoms now? If this is secondary to the Remicade and/or Humira, your symptoms should go away as time goes on. The literature states that most pain gets better with the passage of time for 80% of patient and it is recommended to GI's/Rheumatologists to treat these symptoms with supportive measures like NSAIDS, physical therapy, rest, ice, compression...

34 yo male, physician
Currently in remission
VSL#3/Yogurt, Modified SCD diet (gluten free, dairy free (except yogurt and some hard cheese))

I never had joint pain until I started on remicade.  It has gotten worse the more they up my dose. I have been checked out by a rhumitologist and they said I have no inflammation in my joints etc. etc. I truly believe it is the remicade.  I know the RA lady said that people with UC get joint pains from their UC and that there is usually inflammation associated with that. Maybe have that checked out. Hope you feel better. You seem to be having such a bad time with everything.

I used to have joint/muscle pain and rashes. Lately I've been making some anti-inflammatory diet choices that have basically eliminated those issues (and I'm back to extensive running and rowing again, woohoo!).

I experience joint pain too, not as severe as what yours sounds like. Could be related to the prednisone, I am on still and have been for the last 8 years... It has impacted my bone density greatly, although taking lots of vitamin d and calcium has helped with this.

Nitemare said...
I too suffer from joint pain as well, I believe it's the UC but take 200 mg Celebrex /day and is finally calming down now
Pam after reading your profile I feel very fortunate, you are far too young to have gone through all that.
I think your Dr. should be shot, Sorry but personnel opinion.

thanks. Neither my doctor nor my surgeon did anything wrong, though. there were a lot of complications and issues but not their fault.