I was diagnosed with Crohn's 1 year ago after living a pretty much pain free 26 years of life. I'm currently 27 which I'm told is the average age to be diagnosed. Having a sister with Crohn's made it easier to seek out the right doctors and get diagnosed, then treated.
Since my diagnosis I was been put on Asacol (3-400mg 2X a day), it seemed to do the trick, for a few months. About 5 months in I started having arthritis flare ups about once a month and they would last about a week. My wrists, ankles and knees would be unusable for several days and impact my active life severely. I was told that if it was tied to my bowel inflammation so if I got that under control then the arthritis would subside with it. I have been put on prednisone twice in a year and although my immediate symptoms got better, over time it returned.
My doctor put me on Sulfasalazine in addition to my Asacol (1-500 mg 2X a day). Since starting this medicine 2 months ago I have not seen ANY decrease in joint pain, but rather increased pain. My migratory pain has gone from occasional to constant. I have seen 2 GI doctors and a Rheumetologist to try and find a solution to this. I have recently started a gluten free diet and despite having no significant stomach discomfort, my joints are keeping me almost immobile. I have also started getting acupuncture recently to try some alternative practices that might help.
I'm feeling pretty helpless at this point and don't know what direction to go in. My doctors seem pretty stumped and most things I have read say to control bowel inflammation in order to control arthritis flare ups. Does anybody out there have any suggestions? Should I be recommending different medicines to my doctor to try? I appreciate and welcome to all opinions and ideas...
Since my diagnosis I was been put on Asacol (3-400mg 2X a day), it seemed to do the trick, for a few months. About 5 months in I started having arthritis flare ups about once a month and they would last about a week. My wrists, ankles and knees would be unusable for several days and impact my active life severely. I was told that if it was tied to my bowel inflammation so if I got that under control then the arthritis would subside with it. I have been put on prednisone twice in a year and although my immediate symptoms got better, over time it returned.
My doctor put me on Sulfasalazine in addition to my Asacol (1-500 mg 2X a day). Since starting this medicine 2 months ago I have not seen ANY decrease in joint pain, but rather increased pain. My migratory pain has gone from occasional to constant. I have seen 2 GI doctors and a Rheumetologist to try and find a solution to this. I have recently started a gluten free diet and despite having no significant stomach discomfort, my joints are keeping me almost immobile. I have also started getting acupuncture recently to try some alternative practices that might help.
I'm feeling pretty helpless at this point and don't know what direction to go in. My doctors seem pretty stumped and most things I have read say to control bowel inflammation in order to control arthritis flare ups. Does anybody out there have any suggestions? Should I be recommending different medicines to my doctor to try? I appreciate and welcome to all opinions and ideas...
I had the same joint problems as you in the same areas but this was put down to an allergic reaction to the medication I was on, is this at all a possibility with what you are taking? Have the docs looked at this? If this has been ruled out then perhaps they need to look at the joint pain as a seperate issue on it's own and not try to tie it into the crohns, as already mentioned it is possible to have two autoimmune diseases, although if you did that just would just suck. I hope they manage to get this sorted for you soon
