sore sternum

Could be costochondritis.

Did you recently have a cold or a bout of coughing or exercise with weights that exercised the chest/upper arms/back?

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If it's something new not attributed to exercise or a cold/coughing, and continual without relief, you should call your doctor and ask to have a chest x-ray.

Please keep us posted how you're doing.

q

If it doesn't get better in a few days then talk to your GI again.

yeh its completely gone :D the human body confuses the hell out of me :(

really? kazbern, didn't know that? i had some jaw pain a while back could of that been connective tissue pain?
what would a rheumatologist do to help these things, if its the reason behind it.

A rheumatologist will figure out whether your joint pain is due to another condition, like rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondilytis, or whether it is due to your UC. about 25% of people with UC have joint pain associated with their illness. There are ways to deal with that (namely, sulfasalazine). However, given that you have UC you have a higher risk of developing another autoimmune disease, so it's worthwhile to get this checked out.

I'm not sure how the healthcare system in Australia works, so my advice assumes you have access to a rheumatologist. If you don't, you should talk to your GI about the joint pain and make sure s/he hears you. It took my GI about a year to really understand what I was saying. It was a miserable year, a year in which I mostly didn't have use of my hands. Now I'm all better.