Horrible knee pain caused by prednisolone?

[Akerstrom]

Hello everybody

My girlfriend was recently diagnosed with UC and has taken Prednisolone for the last 8 weeks. She is now in hospital with really horrible pain in her knees. They got sore 3 times over the last couple of weeks but it went away with pain killers. However yesterday she woke up with severe pain and couldn´t move her legs at all because it was just too painful, so she was taken to hospital by ambulance. They gave her 10mg of morphine but it didn´t help the pain. Then they gave her all sorts of other pain killers and the pains got a little bit better. (She never took any of her other meds yesterday, prednisolone and asacolon). X-ray showed no sign of anything wrong and all other tests were normal. One doctor said it could be because she has UC but it just sounds weird because her bowel has been really good for the last week..

Today she was feeling better, could walk a few steps on stiff and swollen legs but after falling asleep in the evening she woke up to the same horrible pain again. She has been seen by at least 7 different doctors since yesterday and they all have different opinions about what causing her the pain but none of them has said it could be BECAUSE of the prednisolone. After googling and reading about this evil drug I really think it´s the prednisolone side effects that cause the pain?!

She was on 40mg 4 weeks ago and is now taking 20mg(decreasing 5mg every week) She wants to come off them soon as possible but then I also read about all the bad things that can happen(including joint pain) if you go off them too quickly so too say the least I´m now confused.

If any of you have a simular story or any advice of what to think about this I´d very much appreciate it. I´m also wondering what painkiller is the best to take with these leg pains? Yesterday all doctors had different opinions but she was given tramadol once and that seemed to work better than for example morphine but hard to know when it was such a mix of pills during the day.
The good news is that her bowel has been really really good for the last week after a couple of months of running to the toilet.

I´m happy I found this forum and take the opportunity to wish you all the best.
Thanks

 

[Becca1991]

Was she on calcuim pills while on prednsione as prednisone can thin the bones down

 

[Akerstrom]

Thanks Becca. Yes she is on calcium. Her bones are in good condition said the doctor. Thanks

 

[Crohn's 35]

Hi there :welcome: to the forum. Yes I have had knee pain from it but only lasted a minute or so..Usually whilst walking or exercising. She should be tested to see if she has an underlying problem or she is one of the few who can't take pred. Along with Calcium, she needs Vitamin D3 it is the most absorbable. Many people who get diagnosed are low in Vitamin D , which is a disease fighter. Anthor trick for painful legs is tonic water and juice, yeah takes strong but has good effects and natural. Let us know how she gets on.

 

[D Bergy]

I am currently on Prednisone, an hopefully will be tapering off soon, if this Lialda stuff works.

It makes my hip hurt a lot of the time. It is actually my worst symptom now. I do not know if it is a direct result of the Prednisone use, or the immune suppression aspect of it that allows a bacterial infection in my hip to grow. I have had some trouble in the past with this but not to this degree.

No answer here, but it is not unheard of.

Dan

 

[muppet]

Knee pain isn't necessarily from Prednisone. It's a common extra-intestinal symptom of both Crohn's and UC.

 

[Akerstrom]

thanks for all your replies so far. Really appreciate it

 

[Mum 45]

Predisone Knee Problems

I don't have Crohn's but I am posting because I did take Prednisone for only 7 days (40mg/day) and no tapering in or out ( because doctor didn't tell me).

After finishing the course I developed terrible knee pains in both knees (which I have never had before). This has been going on for 6 weeks now. Sometimes I can hardly walk and the pain is very bad. Wearing support bandages helps. Doctors say no after effects for short courses but clearly this is related to Prednisolene. Wasn't given calcium. Just waiting for this to go away!

 

[innvag89]

I'm currently in the exact same situation as your girlfriend. I've been on the 40 mg for 10 days and started tapering to 30 mg for the last 4 days. The last two nights, I've woken up with EXTREME knee pain that extends into my calves and shoots into my lower back but stays concentrated mainly in my knees.
Please keep us updated on this because I'm afraid of it getting to the point of inability to walk, because the pain is definitely starting to get there.

 

[Francesca]

Hi,
A few years ago I was given Prednisone for my neck. I was on two step down treatments. I got up from my desk chair and could not move my leg and the pain was unbearable. I didn't do anything to promote that pain. I saw my family doctor that day who sent me for an MRI. It showed that my quadracep muscle seperated from my hip bone. After researching this I found that it is extremely difficult to cause that type of injury just sitting at a desk and that it is most commonly found with hockey goalies (so you can see the extreme nature of the injury). I didn't do any such movements to promote the problem.

I stopped the prednisone and called my pharmacist to ask him how long prednisone stays in the body after stopping it. He told me two weeks. After two weeks mysteriously the pain went away and my hip was fine. I told my doctor I will NEVER take prednisone again.

Fast forward a few years... I went to see my family doctor but instead saw a nurse practitioner. I went over why I was initially there but then told her I had a red mark on the back of my thigh that was itching me for over a month and wasn't going away. She prescribed a steroid cream. She said that it shouldn't bother me like the prednisone because it's topical and not in pill form.

I started to use the cream last week. A few days went by and my knee really started to bother me. I couldn't understand why all of a sudden my knee was bothering me. Then day by day it got worse, until today, both of my knees hurt terribly.

I Googled the cream I was given and read it's just like prednisone. Neither years ago or last week did my doctor tell me to take calcium with this. If they had I would've taken it.

So I threw the cream away and will never take any other products with prednisone or steriods in them.

I am 100% convinced that prednisone does indeed cause knee and hip pain and literally chews away at the bone. It is a horrible drug that should not even be on the market at all.

Now I wonder how long it will take for my knees to be okay. I'm really concerned about this since I never had any problems with my knees before and didn't do anything to promote this type of pain.

So there's my story about knee pain and prednisone. Yes, I believe 100% it caused what is happening to me.

 

[gracie allen]

Yeah!!!!! it's really horrible to bear the knee pain my uncle had this problem he used some medications for the pain but didn't get the relief from pain. I discussed with my friends about this knee pain and they suggested about the supplements then i given some supplements info do him he used one of the supplement he got something relief from the knee pain.....

 

[Trish22]

I have this problem,it does manifest from Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis,when mine starts its usually in the ankles and knees,they then usually start me on 40mg of Prednisolone and it starts to become worse once I am on the pred,I usually have to have a steroid injected in to my knees, I had tests for this and it came back as Seron Negative Polyarthralgia,it's a CD and UC extra manifestation and a lot of the time re acts quite badly to Prednisolone,but unfortunately that's the only way they can fight the imflammation that leaks into the joints,I ended up being on Prednisolone for two years because of this,and now my skin has ended up paper thin.I certainly know the pain it causes,I have been in floods of tears with the pain,and as a Crohnie cannot take aspirin or Ibuprofen so it becomes a catch 22 situation.
Hope this sort themselves out pretty quickly for you, but I would certainly mention the above diagnosis I was given,this was after various blood tests and a CT /MRI scan.

 

[723crossroads]

My sister was on pred for yrs. because she had ulcerative colitis and ended up having her colon removed. But since that time, she has arthritis so bad in both knees and has had several knee surgeries too. The Pred did not help her obviously as she had her colon out. They said it was so bad it was miraculous she didn't have cancer. I don't believe in some drugs when the risks are worse than the disease. Some may disagree with me, but if you have had cancer, you certainly would not want to try a biologic that could cause cancer!!! I try to go the natural way as much as possible with everything.