Anyone being diagnosed with enteropathic arthritis?

Hi I'm a 36 year old female with mild uc diagnosed 4 years ago. It I well controlled with pentasa.
To cut a very long story short I was diagnosed with arthritis in both my hips a couple of weeks ago and due to a variety of other symptoms (plantar fasciitis, achilles tendinitis, psoriasis in the family and stiffness/pain in lower back) I have been referred to rheumatology for possible enteropathic arthritis.
Has anyone got this? How common is it with mild Ibd?
Thanks all

I had a pretty mild/moderate case of IBD, but the arthritis was horrible.

Enteropathic arthritis affects about 20% of people with inflammatory bowel disease. The good news is that it does not damage joints. The bad news is that it can be hard to resolve effectively.

I use sulfazine for this and it has worked well for me, but it is a hard medicine to tolerate for some people.

A rheumatologist is a great idea for anyone with joint pain associated with their bowel disease.

AS definitely puts you in a different treatment pool from enteropathic arthritis.

I have never heard of enteropathic arthritis affecting the spine. Definitely affect peripheral joints and perhaps sacroiliac joints. I've had pain in all of them - including hips and shoulder and jaw, but not spine.

This is why it is so important to get a rheumatologist on board. It took my rheumy 2 years to eliminate AS as a cause of my joint pain, so Vicki, adjust your expectations for next week's meeting.

I'm negative for BLA-H27 but that does not eliminate AS for me. My rheumy finally took AS off the differential diagnosis list when he could find no evidence of arthritic changes in my SI. I do have osteoarthritis at L5/S1 but I think he felt that was due to age etc.

I was diagnosed in '03 with uc. This is my first forum post ever. I am very upset right now because although I've been dealing with the average blood, urgency, pain, rashes, etc for ten years, I've now been thrown a new one and doctors seem to not have a clue. Starting in May this year I started getting joint pain in both knees. It was so bad and now spread to both hips that by September I could only work a few hours before I could hardly walk. Starts off good in the morning and by noon, knees feel swollen and stiff. Hips ache with every step. Went on prednisone 40mg tapered off slowly two weeks ago finished. Within 15 hours full pain is back. Had adverse reaction to sulphazine and now I've been on asacol 800mg 4 * day for two weeks now., pain is worst it's been. Can hardly walk up or down stairs. Have to lift my legs to get in my car. I quit gluten, sugar, processed foods, grease etc for a year, and since then have had no regular symptoms... Thought I was in remission! Now this. From what i'vevread they call it peripheral arthritis but everything I've read says it only lasts for a few weeks. It's been 6 months ( prednisone worked very well while on it for one month)! Has anyone else experienced de-mobilizing joint pain while in seemingly remission? Btw I had lots of x-ray and blood tests which I've been told don't show arthritis in bones. I have 3 month wait to see a rheumy... My delivery business needs me to be functional.... I'm very worried

Sulfasalazine made an overnight difference in a painful joint that has plagued me for 2 years and was told I would need surgery. Easy does for 6 weeks healing now that suflaz is allowing it to heal.

Paradiso, welcome to the forum. I am sorry that sulfazine didn't work out for you.

As far as I know there is no time limit to the arthritis flares. I ended up taking 60 mg of pred for a month when I had an all-over-my-body flare including pain in my jaw and shoulders down to my ankles. This was after months and months of random pain in my hands and elbows and hips that would come an go without warning.

The first rule of treating enteropathic arthritis is to get your bowel disease under control. You mentioned that you got the UC diagnosis more than 10 years ago, but have continued to struggle with rashes and diarrhea etc. This does not sound like good control. What have you been doing to try and achieve remission of your bowel disease?

I hope you are able to get into a rheumatologist's office soon.

Thanks for the advise Victoria35 and kazbern, I got ahold of my doctor yesterday and I asked for some additional suppositories, as well I'm calling the only rheumy in my area, to see if I can get on a cancellation list. I probably haven't been taking the best care of my self these past 10 years. I just felt that if there was no cramps or blood loss... It must be in remission. Definitely not the case. Also the gastro I spoke with at my last scope a year ago said everything looked good ( although I still had an ulcer ) and said I could stop my meds once it cleared up! Not kidding. Here in British Columbia we have a real lack of good doctors. It's 8 months to see a gastro and a year to see a rheumy. I'm actually seeing an internal medicine specialist. That's why it's only a three month waiting list.
It's a beautiful place to live, but you pay the price.

I would pay to go private if I could, but it's illegal for doctors to do so.... I think. If anyone in Canada knows of any private specialists in B. C. Let me know. I will keep you posted though... It might take a while though:)

I would not give that 2nd opinion a 2nd thought. honestly. What does he attribute the high CRP to? and what does he do to distinguish myofascial pain from inflammation?

When I saw my rheumy he could feel the inflammation in my fingers & elbows.

I did however also think about going back to my family doctor for thoughts. I'm just scared I will be even more confused :)