Hello everyone, I am relatively new to the forum and thought I'd share a little about my story because it may be a little out of the ordinary. I've had a history of recurring bouts of colitis since my college years. Later while in graduate school I had back pain of unknown cause. It was then that a Dr. introduced me to the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis. A few colitis flares and colonoscopies later and a new diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. Not too many people at the time put together the back pain and the gut symptoms. I was able to get the colitis into remission with Asacol but the back pain persisted. Finally a rheumatologist gave me the diagnosis of enteropathic arthritis. And although I hadn't had the bad colitis symptoms for many years, I developed a partial bowel blockage and had a small bowel resection this past spring. Currently my gut seems ok but I've had additional arthritis manifestations including back pain and pain in my hands, feet and knees. I recently started on methotrexate to try and help with the arthritis.