HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Diet, back/joint pain, and other crap

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 5/21/2018 6:16 PM (GMT 0)
So, I've been trying to figure out what is going on with my gut. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (I believe proctosigmoid, the last scope showed proctitis) about 12 years ago and have done different things. I've been having bloating, nausea, gut pain, and sometimes I swear I need earplugs from the gurgling and bubbling coming from my stomach.

No severe flares in a long time, I was off Lialda for years with no problems. I've gone back on it recently and I feel as if it's gotten worse. The smell, the mucus, the consistency of my 5-6 BMs a day.

I guess my question is, can it be a UC flare without blood and all the severe hospital-stay quality symptoms? In 2014 I was hospitalized 4 times for flares. Ironically, I was taking Lialda that whole time.

I also have a plethora of pain issues including hereditary neuropathy and spinal arthropathy. I really am a hot mess. My knees sometimes get super swollen and a little painful as well and I'm wondering if the arthritis and joint pain is related. The back pain is constant so I don't think so, but I thought I'd ask other people!

As for diet, omg. I've done gluten free and paleo. I'm starting to keep a food diary to try and track down what might be causing issues. Is there an easier way to find sensitivities? I believe I've tested negative for Celiac. Sometimes when I swear I'm having a flare, they tell me it's not because there's no blood and I'm not shooting water out my bum.

I'm about ready to do a clear liquid diet until I can figure out what is causing so much upset. No new foods, or meds, or supplements. Maybe I should add slippery elm bark or something, I don't know. Any input is welcome. And yes, I have an appointment scheduled! smile
Posted 5/21/2018 6:36 PM (GMT 0)
" can it be a UC flare without blood and all the severe hospital-stay quality symptoms?"

Yes. Flares can be fun-sized, moderate sized, and nightmare sized. No two are alike, we can have one type of flare and then a completely different following it.

"I'm wondering if the arthritis and joint pain is related. The back pain is constant so I don't think so, but I thought I'd ask other people! "

For some of us, joint pains are directly-correlated to the state of our UC flare/remission. Flare plus bad joint pain is a double-doozy. Remission = relief from pains. It's often related but not always (can be wholly independent of each other: UC-status and pains). Inflammation from UC can be a systematic thing, with collateral damage elsewhere within the body, as the presence of inflammation changes blood composition (more white blood cells, etc.) and they are going body wide, not just the troubled large intestinal area. Joints, eyes, sinuses, skin, and/or other things can be collaterally affected due to a UC flare.

"Is there an easier way to find sensitivities?"

Have you tried an elimination-diet? For example, eat the same exact thing for a few weeks as a baseline and then gradually add food back one-at-a-time, and look for reactions.
Posted 5/21/2018 6:39 PM (GMT 0)
The first thing you should do is test for infection with a poop test, generally done at home with a kit that is sent by you or dropped to your doc to send for testing.

If it is infection then RX meds including prednisone aren't going to help, neither will diet.
So get that done ASAP and while waiting for results you can investigate other things (diet, RX enemas).
Diet modification is very hard to figure out, so many elements. I only did it because nothing else worked.

Do you think restarting Lialda caused your worsening of symptoms?
Posted 5/21/2018 7:47 PM (GMT 0)
I've been paying more attention to how my body reacts to foods, and I know for sure dairy is one, possibly sugar.. I had only 1/2 cup of ice cream and my gut was actually moving from the gurgling and roiling. I didn't know which end it was going to come out. Blech. Which totally sucks because I love cottage cheese after a workout. But I digress.

I wasn't as tuned in to my body in previous flare-ups, but I've always suspected Lialda wasn't doing much and possibly made it worse. The doc said no, but I don't really believe everything they say. Nothing I've ever had is what they'd call a textbook case.

I'm definitely going to track everything I eat and how I feel afterwards. I've had to eliminate dairy a few times and reintroduce months later. Then I'm good for another two years, three.. so weird. I'm thinking this could also be IBS, although I've had heartburn despite the Prilosec and heartburn is usually a precursor to a flare. Joy.
Posted 5/21/2018 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
As an experiment, skip lialda for 48 hours and see if you feel dramatically better. about 5% of us have an allergic/intolerance reaction to lialda, which is described as a dramatic worsening of your UC symptoms (like going from no urgency and 1 solid bm a day to suddenly 6-8 urgent and loose bms). The inverse is true, stop Lialda and you should dramatically get better as the medicine is 90% topical and quickly cleared from your body in 24-36 hours.

If there's no change in symptoms, then it is not the lialda (most likely outcome that 95% of us would experience) and I would resume Lialda as prescribed.

Had sulfasalazine been mentioned in-place of lialda? I ask as sulfasalazine does treat Rheumatoid Arthititis in addition to UC, and therefore helps with joint pains too. A two-for-one, possibly for you. Just know Sulfasalazine can cause headaches, in some.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply