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Joint pain and Crohn's

My Butt Hurts

Squeals-a-lot!
I have read that there can be joint pain assocciated with Croh's disease.
Yippee. Just one more thing to add to our list.
Has anyone else joint problems??
I don't know if I should just chalk it up to Crohn's and live with it, or get it checked out. (I know, I know - see a doctor.....)

It started out in my ankle, and felt like a sprain, then it went to my toes. Now my toes are sometimes sore, and sometimes feel tingly. Not like my feet are asleep, but like I've come in from the cold, almost burning. Sometimes they ache so much I feel like I'm an old woman. And get this - the pain was there (varying day to day) for about 3 weeks, then I was fine for week, and now it's back.

Anyone else??
 
Yep. Joint pain is just one of those things I have to live with.

For me it's my hands, knees, elbows and my jaw (though I'm not sure if my jaw is the same thing). It's usually just an annoyance, but some days I have to grit my teeth walking up the stairs.

I've never had tingling before, though. Does your whole foot hurt, or is it just the joints?
 
my left knee is nearly always causing me a hell of a lot of pain but i think that may be due to a injury through sport and ive had poor knees for around 2 years now on and off so i doubt it is anything to do with crohns.

my shoulders however are quite sore and i suspect this is crohns. the pain comes and goes, often in different amounts of soreness.
 

Kev

Senior Member
Hi MBH Well, I didn't write the book on IBD, but I'd say your description of those pains are 'textbook' examples. I described those exact same pain symptoms on this site several times way back; and I recall a lot of folks replying that theirs were carbon copies of mine. Went thru the whole.. 'not quite like pins N needles, more like chillblains or frostbite.. pieces of sharp ice inside, or glass' Anyway, the way you described it is classic. That's what you got alright.

Thing of it is, (the whole.. I know, I know, see a doctor) DOC is the only one who can give you anything for this. So, it's either suffer thu it, or see the Dr.
 

butt-eze

Superstar
I've had problems with joint pain as well. I even went to a orthopedic doctor, had x-rays and a fine needle biopsy. Nothing came of it. The only conclusion is that it is just crohn's. It comes and goes and you're right about feeling like an old lady. I say many days that I feel like I'm 82, not 28!!!

I have discussed my joint pain with my pulmonologist and I have the option of seeing a rhuematologist. The problem is that I am intolerant to Remicade and therefore not so thrilled about taking any other meds that are for rheumatology issues.
 
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Gemma

Guest
i also suffer with joint pain and i have also been told its a side illlness of crohns, i always have prescription pain killer in especially in winter with the cold.

Also steriods can cause bad joints.
 
yup me too. my knees have always ached, and these days all my bones ache, particularly my neck, ankles, & forearms. i've also had the tingly thing.. in fact i had a nerve test at the hospital years ago which proved nothing. to me, its less tingly and more like "buzzing" which travels up from the centre of my foot up to my knee. weird.
 
K

kg0603

Guest
That's interesting Wiles. My jaw hurts off and on too. I thought it was because I tend to grind my teeth. So, makes you wonder which is causing it.

I tend to have joint aches too. Right now it seems to be mostly in my ankles and shins. Some times walking even hurts.
 
I

Ilysha

Guest
My pain is in my shoulder. Any time I eat something I shouldn't or I'm in need of my remicade my right shoulder blade gets an incredibly deep pain, more than my right side colon pain. They call it "referred" and pain killers don't work for it. I don't know if that is similar to the joint pain you are experiencing, but thought I'd share anyway.

Good luck to you! Let us know what your doctor says.

-Ilysha
 
Joint pain is my worst problem, because even when I don't have gastro issues, I can tell I'm in a flare because of the joints!

Right now I can only open my mouth about a centimeter and a half because I have arthritis in my jaw. and my shoulders and back often hurt, my wrists get sore, my knees get arthritic... My left ankle tends to swell up to the point where I can't walk on it, and the joints in my foot ache. And my left sacroiliac joint (off to the side from the base of the spine) will start to hurt so that I can't walk, bend, twist, or basically move in any way. It happened yesterday when I was home alone, and I couldn't move.

So yes, I would say that joint pain is DEFINITELY related to Crohn's. Isn't it nice how it's supposed to be a bowel disease, but we get all these other little goodies too?
 
S

Shane

Guest
Me too, mostly knee joints. Has kept me bed-ridden for days at a time in the past, with unbearable pain.
 
K

killerzoey

Guest
Joint pain was my first symptom. It is extremely erratic but often in my right hip and buttock, lower back. Occasionally jaw. Those pains can last days or weeks. Short-term weird pain comes and goes from my knee and ankle.

I haven't had as much joint pain in the last month or so. Could be just a random cycle of relief, could be related to the Low Dose Naltrexone I've been on since September.
 
Hey, My Butt Hurts, are you saying your Butt is a joint?
:lol: Sorry, could not help that one. Anyhow, you mention that sometimes you feel like an old woman, but, for me, that old thing kinda confuses the issue. I am not far from 60 and I think a lot of my joint pain, and assorted other pains, are really just age related, more than having anything to do with my Crohns. Heck, just about everyone I know has all sorts of joint pain, and none of them have Crohns. I tend to think that joint pain is just something we all have to deal with more and more as we age, and in exchange for still being around, that is not such a bad trade.
 
I would not write this in stone, but I believe it is true for the most part. Much of what is causing joint pain and some arthritis is caused directly by bacteria or some other pathogen. When you suppress the immune system it only adds to the load of bacteria that is present. This is not just my thinking but the thinking of many people smarter than me. This is the most common cause of joint pain in my opinion. Antibiotics were used in the past for relief and it was effective quite often.

This also is true with Lyme disease, as my wife has it and there is a direct correlation between her bacterial load and joint pain. There is also a kind of Arthritis that is caused by joint misalignment or physical damage.

In both cases inflammation is usually the cause of the pain. Inflammation from having Crohn's could also cause this without a pathogen present.

This is what I have gathered from our experience and from what I have found from other sources. Maybe not 100% accurate, but accurate enough to work with for resolving the problem.

Dan Bergman
 
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