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Arthritis & Joint Pain-UC related or something else?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 3/13/2011 3:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone!
I've been experiencing arthritic pain in my wrist and hands (knuckles). It gets worse in the evening hours as well as the morning. Doing simple activites such as typing, writing, etc, becomes bothersome. It hurts to even move my hands. I use sign language withmy family so you can imagine my concern! I've had bouts of arthritis before, but not this bad in my hands. I don't have any symptoms in other parts of my body. I am scheduled for m y Remicade infusion on Thursday. I plan on stopping the infusions eventually (few months) due to cancer risks, etc. I am only 32 years old and don't know what to do. Does anyone else have this problem with colitis or could this be a separate issue?

Thank you in advance!

Heather
Posted 3/13/2011 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
I have joint pain with my IBD. I have never taken Remicade, and I've heard that some people get joint pain around the time of their infusion, so maybe that's something you can explore. But about 25% of people with IBD have joint pain as a part of their illness.

My GI wasn't helping me with mine so I went to see a rheumatologist. He is very interested in getting my GI to address my IBD more aggressively, because the gut inflammation is thought to be what's triggering the joint inflammation. My GI finally decided to add sulfasalazine to my meds and that has worked well. I would tell you that I haven't had pain in my hands since December 2009, but that would be untrue because this weekend my hand pain returned. I have no idea why, but this weekend my gut acted up too. Most people believe those go hand-in-hand. Perhaps your relief from the remicade is wearing off and that's why your hands are hurting now, just as you're gettting ready for your next infusion.

My hand pain was probably the most significant part of my disease from 2004 until now. I've also had shoulder, elbow and knee pain, and I've got arthritis in my sacroiliac joints. You are not alone by a long shot.
Posted 3/13/2011 5:22 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for your insights. It makes sense that my joints are more painful now with the infusion date being close by. My main concern is being dependent on the infusions. I wish there was a holistic way to take care of the join pain. Thanks again.
Posted 3/13/2011 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
I had horrible joint swelling and pain, so bad that I couldn't walk at times....I did five Remicade infusions, and it cleared it all up. Stopped Remicade after the five infusions and have been fine for over a year with no more joint pain
Posted 3/14/2011 1:16 AM (GMT 0)
I've never been on Remicade, but I have had definite on and off horrible knee joint pain that comes and goes, floaters in my eye sight that I have to wait to disappear and the whole low-grade fever and nightsweat thing (BESIDES the usual pain and gas and urgency, etc., etc., etc.!!)
Posted 3/14/2011 2:11 AM (GMT 0)
Among my many symptoms were drenching night sweats, eye inflammation, and crippling arthritis in my ankles, knees, elbows, fingers and wrists. Could not make a fist at all and barely climb stairs. But those manifestations came on quite suddenly when I began to flare, and completely disappeared when I went into remission.
Posted 3/14/2011 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
Joint pain was my worst symptom with having UC. The joint pain is what originally brought me into the gastro (with combination of D as well). It would get so bad my husband would have to carry me - swelled knuckles, arms throbbing, couldn't lift shoulders or move neck, knees, ankles...couldn't walk. It was awful. I was diagnosed with UC and started on 40mg of Prednisone...I'm in the process of tapering right now (down to 25mg). My SEVERE joint pain has gone away, however, I still feel sore from time to time in my back and arms...some say that can be a side effect of tapering Pred?? I hope this is helpful. You aren't alone with the joint pain.....
Posted 3/15/2011 5:48 PM (GMT 0)
Here's a tip for alleviating some of the joint pain ... I have had UC for 14 years... done all the drugs ... was in remission for almost three years till I got recurring staph from a spider bite while at my kid's baseball tournament. Currently in hell tapering off prednisone again (UC under control after 5 months though). Down to 20mg from 70 mg. I go down in 2.5mg increments. This is one of the worst flareups ever. The joint pain in my legs became debilitating when I got under 30mg to the point I was unable to walk and had to crawl to get to the bathroom, or wherever. I didn't know if it was joint or muscle as my gastro said it could be proximal myopathy. Anyways - I coach a lot of sports and have tried to stay on top physical therapy trends. I was absolutley dying in pain and decided to wrap my legs and knees with tight wraps and voila, much of the pain went away. I had my wife run to the store and get a neoprene knee brace and instantly I was able to walk again, pain levels not totally gone, but down at least 70%. Then it moved to my hips, ribs, shoulders, elbows and arms. Again the wraps worked extraordinarily well in reducing the pain, that coupled with massage from my wife at least once a day. I have found that compression socks and leggings work very well for reducing the joint and muscle pain in the legs, they are not cheap, but well worth the investment. For the hips ... the old pro football player trick works well ... get some control top pantyhose a size or two too small and cut them off above the knees .. again works wonders. Shoulders are tough because you need a wide ACE bandage and have to have someone wrap it right, but again it works.<!-- Edit -->
Posted 7/4/2011 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
I am 32 years old and have had UC since i was 14. other than some lower back pain my joints have been fine untill recently. Im in a flare but have been for awhile now and then one morning i woke up with my index finger on left side hurting. I thought i had slept on it wrong as it went away during the day. The next morning it was back again but way worse, it was swollen and did not get better during the day. That same day gradually my wrists started to swell and hurt,  my knees, toes, shins, shoulders started to stiffen and throb, i could barely walk by the end of the day, I went to emerg. and the doctor told me it was more than likely due to my colitis, he prescribed me some celebrex which i never took because i believed that the side effects were not worth the risk. I used Soothanol x2 from north star that is all natural and i tried voltaren gel. I also used a heating pad. I dont know what helped or if it just went away on its own but it only lasted 2 days and went away as quickly as it came. The only drug i am on is sulfasalazine.
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