So weird.... swollen feet and joint pain!

Hi folks.

I saw a young and new GP yesterday (looks like he's in his thirties) for the first time (my previous family doctor retired). He gave me a prescription for prednisone (the classic 40 mg/day dose) and send me for some blood work which I immediately had done in the clinic within which he works.

I feel quite a bit better now than I did a few days ago. Truth is, I began to feel slight improvement on Monday already, before using anything except painkillers (Tylenol over the past week, and then Tramadol after getting a prescription from an ER doctor on Sunday). I thought about not using the prednisone and just seeing if this improvement would continue on its own, because who wants to use prednisone if it isn't necessary? I decided to use the prednisone, however, because I just can't afford to lose more time and I think "waiting it out" would likely be a much slower recovery than using prednisone. Well, I can already feel improvement (which I partly attribute to the prednisone, and partly to the inertia of my body beginning to improve after hitting rock bottom on Sunday). I think the blood test was checking for inflammatory markers.

I'm not sure lyme disease was a serious concern, as I am in Canada, further north than New Jersey. Also, my symptoms are not particularly compatible with the illness. Again, my intuition tells me this is directly related to my UC and its recent activity.

So, it looks like I'm crawling my way out of this hole ever so slightly. I can now walk lightly, as opposed to the worst of it all when I was in constant pain even while lying on my back with my feet and legs elevated on a couch. Slowly but surely, I'll be out of this thing soon enough I'm sure.

Thanks to everyone for chatting with me in here.

kjea74 said...
I also have experienced the joint pains, it got so bad, I also was once in Er for it. . No Doctor, including my GI could give me a reason for it. After zillion of tests and drs I finally saw a different GI and a rheumy, that confirmed it goes along with my Uc. They did have to put me on short dose of prednisone to send into remission, and switched me from Asacol to sulfasalazine. That really worked for awhile. But since joint pain is again coming back, They might have to switch me to humira. For some seems joint pain is right before flare, for me, it happens more often than a UC flare. Lovely autoimmune diseases...I hope you get the answers you need, and good luck!!!

I'm curious, was joint pain always associated with your UC flare ups, or did it arise later into your UC "career"? I was diagnosed with UC in 2006, and here we are in 2013 and this is my first time ever experiencing this joint pain and foot swelling (extreme pain in knees during flexion, and even worse in my feet). I wonder if this will now be a regular thing for me during future flares.

kazbern said...
Robert K. I am glad you are feeling better. In the context of your questions to others about the timeframe when joint pain began relative to diagnosis, I will share that my rectal bleeding began in 1999, but my joint pain didn't become a problem until 2005 (Hurricane Rita is the timeframe I remember because I had to travel to my brother's wedding and the stress of all that - I live in Houston and we were right in the main risk area for hurricane landfall - was quite extreme).

It was 2004 that I had parvovirus B14 (Fifth Disease) so maybe that event triggered enteropathy arthritis for me, who knows.

We kind of share that in common, as the delay was similar for me. I was diagnosed with UC in the summer of 2006, and here we are seven years later and my illness has sort of morphed in terms of its symptoms. The difference is I'm 31 and don't anticipate getting diagnosed with any type of long-term arthritis (crossing my fingers while knocking on wood, of course).