BACK PAIN AND UC

Newbie here. I was diagnosed with UC about a year ago and it's been controlled by balsalacide and A "low residue diet" which I hate. I've been slacking off on the diet lately and am recently in the midst of a "flare up" with lots of bleeding. Recently, I've begun to have back pain which I thought was from a osteopinia diagnosis I received several years ago (I'm a 59 y/o overweight white female). This time, however, the pain started in my lower back and has now seemed to go up my back on both sides of my lower spine. It's okay if I don't move but is very sore if I try to walk. Could this be related to the UC flareup? I've been reading some sites that suggest that it could. I'd appreciate some help. Thanks.

Thanks.  I think this is a strong possibility.  Any suggestions about what I can do about it?

Hi tchrmgr
I was about your age when I was diagnosed with UC and remember being in a lot of pain, as though I could feel the entire length of my colon. Hurt a lot when I walked.
My first gastro doctor was not very helpful and insisted that I take prednisone. I refused and now, 10 years later, I am very happy about that decision.

In my opinion, you're going to have to bite the bullet and alter your diet to the extent that you're not contributing to the inflammation. I did not know how to do that at the time and ate only yogurt and chicken broth. My second dr put me on balsalazide (Colazal) and mesalamine enemas and said probiotics were good. Otherwise, he was not helpful.
It was a long time before I could leave the house for more than an hour.

Getting rid of the inflammation is the key to achieving remission and preventing colon cancer down the road.
You are very lucky to have found this website. There are many knowledgeable people who contribute VERY useful info here.

tchrmgr said...
<span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder_rptForumDetails_ctl01_lblMessage">Newbie here.
I was diagnosed with UC about a year ago and it's been controlled by balsalacide
and A "low residue diet" which I hate. I've been slacking off on the diet lately
and am recently in the midst of a "flare up" with lots of bleeding. Recently,
I've begun to have back pain which I thought was from a osteopinia diagnosis I received several years ago (I'm a 59 y/o overweight white female). This time, however, the
pain started in my lower back and has now seemed to go up my back on both sides
of my lower spine. It's okay if I don't move but is very sore if I try to
walk. Could this be related to the UC flareup? I've been reading some sites
that suggest that it could. I'd appreciate some help. Thanks.

"I'm a 59 y/o overweight white female"


You answered your own question (overweight).

I feel like it may be UC related because I'm a lot younger than you. I'm 19 years old and I'm around 5'2, 117 pounds and I've been getting some horrible lower back pain lately. I usually take a tylenol and I use a heating pad. Those are the only things that put me to sleep when I'm in pain. When I'm awake during the day I can manage the pain but when I'm sleepy, the pain feels as though it got amplified.

Best advice:
Gluten Free, low residue (low fiber) diet, lots of filtered water, rest, no alcohol, very low fat diet. Lay off caffeine.
Probiotics are a must. I use heat for my sore joints/muscles as I dislike cold. However, cold packs might
be what you need most as when we are flaring it is an inflammatory response and heat might make it feel worse. When I go to the sauna my joints feel much worse, but feel like my body needs to sweat occasionally.

Take tylenol, or Tramadol and then narcotics if its really bad!!
Then, mesalamines and rectal steroids. Or whatever you and your GI decide.

Hang in there with the diet!! Its hard to start but once you see results you will stick to it. Even though my joint/muscle pain is still bad, its not nearly as bad as it was a year ago before I started the Gluten Free diet. No joke. For me its been very important.
good luck.

It's amazing that as the symptoms of my recent flare up subside, so does my back pain. I had no idea that there could be a connection between the two.

ItsAlwaysSomething: I agree with you that I have to "bite the bullet" but I have no idea how to proceed. I'm getting so much somewhat conflcting information regarding the Low Reside Diet, Gluten Free Diet, Paleo Diet, Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Diet, the Specific Carbohydate Diet, etc. I'm afraid to eat anything and am subsisting on poached eggs, boiled chicken, and rice. I can't eat like this for too much longer. Can you give me an idea of a typical daily menu? For me, of course, raw fruits and vegetables are out, along with any form of sugar, corn, potatoes, chocolate, dairy, fats, coffee, gluten, etc. What's left??? Thanks!

Digest Gold is an enzyme. I tried all different types of enzymes and this one did not irritate my colon. If you are in a bad flare this enzyme could irritate you. Most important thing I learned was to listen to my body. Digest Gold is made by Enzymedica. Do not take this enzyme at the same time you take an antibiotic or steroids it makes them stronger. I take them apart by 2 or 3 hours. It has no effect on Asacol but may interfere with colazal so take colazal before your meal and the enzyme afterward.

I am on a diet but once in a blue moon I treat myself to McDonald’s or Dunkin Donuts. This enzyme helps digest foods especially forbidden ones. But do not over do it with junk food. If you want to take it everyday take it with the meal that has the most carbohydrates. Take one a day after you finished eating.

The only thing worse than the colon pain itself was the crazy back pain I used to have during the worst of the flare. I'm tall and my toilet is low so every time I had to have a BM it would just irritate my lower back even more. I had to ask home care to give me a raised toilet seat because the back pain was brutal. Sometimes I'd be lying in bed fast asleep and suddenly my lower back would spasm. There is NOTHING WORSE than being awoken from a dead sleep by severe stabbing bowel or lower back pain, oh my god!

Unfortunately, the back pain only went away when the colon inflammation went down, sorry to say. Sometimes doing back stretches helped a bit. I tried a heating pad but heat + inflammation did not go over well for me. The heat radiated to my colon and caused more bleeding.

I'm sure that some kind of over the counter or herbal salve rubbed on there could've helped but at the time I was so weak I just didn't bother. Also, I just figured that my back pain was due to the toilet seat. It wasn't until later that I found out UC and lower back pain go hand in hand. Wish I knew.

During the peak of a bad flare (always flared just bounced back and forth from moderate to severe) I would get really bad lower back pains (I still get some but it's so minor compared to before when flaring severely) I assumed it was from sitting on the toilet so many times/day and often for a long periods of time as well...whatever the combination of causing that lower back pain, I'm glad it's minimal now that my crohn's colitis is in remission but I suspect the IBS-C I'm dealing with still is possibly playing some roll of minor low back pain I still experience on occasion.

I also just started using the squatty potty and since that puts you in a good squatting position I think it might also be adding a bit to the back pain, I'm able to expel my BM's much easier now and don't have to spend a lot of time on the toilet thanks to using the squatty potty...but my lower back pain, although dull at this point could be a result of years of flaring moderately to severe (23 years basically before finding remission with Humira).

Heating pad works well for me...I hate cold so I never ice lol but it might be a good idea to do both (alternating between the 2 that is).