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Joint pain- Ulcerative colitis

Posted , 10 users are following.

megan1
megan1

Hi Im 18 years old and was diagnosed with UC 3 years ago. about 18 months before my diagnosis I had hip swelling/ inflammation which became progressively worse and eventually affected other joints in my body, the joint is very painful and very hard to move due to both stiffness and pain.

This all came before any bowel symptoms but was told when I was diagnosed that they were most likley linked.

Once I started medication the joint problems subsided and my colitis was under control, however the last year I have noticed my colitis is not as well controlled as it used to be although not bad enough to consider it a bad flare up.

I have also experienced the same joing problems in my knee this time. I was just wondering whether anyone else has experienced joint problems whilst their colitis is reltaivley well controlled or if this may signify a bigger problem.

thanks

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • fargo
    fargo

    Posted

    Hi Megan,

    I am so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. How are you feeling now? What medications are you on?

    As a doctor who has this disease myself, I have also done a lot of reading into enteropathic arthritis. Unfortunately, having hip involvement is a poor prognosis. Being female however is a good prognostic factor!

    The important thing is to have your UC under control to manage the arthritis. You should ask your doctor to do an HLA B27 test and an MRI of your spine if you haven't. These tests will help them assess the severity of your disease and manage medications accordingly. Best of luck!

    Fargo

  • Mtbr
    Mtbr megan1

    Posted

    Try eliminating sugars / Doing so saved my joints

    I'm in my 30's and I've had moderate / sever ulcerative colitis for 9 years and about 2 or 3 years after my first symptoms I started experiencing severe joint pain that would migrate from joint to joint (knees, knuckles, shoulders, toes, ankles, inner hip/groin, as well as in my back and chest muscles. The pain would last severely in one joint/area for a 1-4 days often being debilitating (sleepless nights, extreme pain, inability to use joint) then would travel to another joint usually then travel to the other or go dormant for a time then flair up again. 

    After almost giving up on trying to fix the problem I saw a pattern (a few days after gorging on Halloween candy) that the flairs were directly associated with my consumption of processed sugars.  It was amazing after cutting candy, soda, and high fructose corn syrup and other processed sugars out of my diet for about a month the joint pain stopped completely. 

    I found can eat natural sugars no problem such as in fruit and juice and have no problem. Once again the pain literally stopped after about a month and hasn't returned for now years. 

    However, if I stray and start to each too much processed sugars I can feel it creeping in once in full force for a time after straying from my strict no sugar rule). Those little reminders and one large reminder have allowed me to stay "bad" sugar free and pain free. Before when I had the pain I used high and low doses of prednizone but even prednizone didn't completely help me. It wasn't until I stopped the sugar and stayed off it that I found relief. Also, I've been able to stay predizone free as well). Although my colitis is still an issue (mostly managed by Asocal / Asathiaprine) the joint pain is past. 

    I hope this helps and I highly recommend you try this as it saved me so much pain. On a related note I also try to stay away from too much fake sugars (diet drinks, etc) as I have found that these have caused me some trouble although not nearly as much as processed sugars. 

    Good luck!!!

    • mike45436
      mike45436 Mtbr

      Posted

      Hello! I have a nagging issue of joint pain coming and going from joint to joint, sound very similar to what you are doing. So I am cutting sugars way down if not completely. I quit soda, candy, ice cream. I had a quick question, was it just the processed stuff like high fructose corn syrup, cause I like what the grocery store calles natural lemonade and I saw in the ingredeants that it has sugar in it. Would I need to cut this too?? Thanks and let me know if your success has continued!!!
  • OctoberV
    OctoberV megan1

    Posted

    Hi Megan.  Thank you so much.  I never had joint pain before until now.  I was trying to figure out why my lower back and hip joints were hurting me.  I thought I did something to my back.  Thank you.  However, now I'm just physically exhausted with absolutely no energy.  I need some serious help with that one.  Any suggestions on how to get my energy level back up?
  • danielle_43534
    danielle_43534 megan1

    Posted

    Hello I was diagnosed in 2012 and when I started experiencing the joint pain I didn't realize it was related to my Ulcerative Colitis now I have joint pain everyday and bad abdominal pain and often flare ups this is a very frustrating disease

  • carpediem1821
    carpediem1821 megan1

    Posted

    Hi Megan and to everyone on this post,

    I have similar symptoms to the ones you discribed (Ulcerative colitis and back pain (both started roughly around the same time). After doing some research of my own I came accross an illness/condition that would explain both symptoms that otherwise would seem unrelated. It is called "Ankylosing Spondylitis":"“Somewhere around 5 to 10 percent of individuals with AS also have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis,” said Joel Taurog, MD, professor of internal medicine and immunology in the division of rheumatic diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas."

    (Quote from this link: http://www.everydayhealth.com/ankylosing-spondylitis/inflammatory-bowel-disease-and-ankylosing-spondylitis.aspx)

    More about ankylosing-spondylitis:

    http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ankylosing-spondylitis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

    I'm not going to explain much else here as I'm not a qualified person but the links that I have attached above explains the relationship between both illnesses.

    I hope this help you guys and other people that might see these posts in the future.

    Good luck!

    Javi

  • danny68966
    danny68966 megan1

    Posted

    Hi Megan I have been battling UC for years and I know what you are going through I was put through the ringer and became very ill on several occasions with low blood levels I have tried all of the treatments and I have recently had another flair up, Idid some further research online and found that licorice has positive affects and I am amazed with the results as it has stopped the flair up in its tracks. .I recon you should give it a try as you have nothing to lose. ..it only takes a few pieces a day to make a difference
  • danielle_43534
    danielle_43534 megan1

    Posted

    Hi I was diagnosed with UC in 2012 I didn’t start experiencing my joint pain until 2017 I go through days and periods where I am in severe joint pain and barley able to walk and I have linked my joint pain to my flare ups I am in the same boat as you I have no clue how to subside these symptoms 
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