Knee issues?

[Lam123]

Hi everyone,

The last few weeks my knees have been bothering me on and off. They mainly hurt with doing stairs, when I walk it's actually not too bad. I'm due for humira this weekend so I hope this helps.
Question, if I get joint issues when I'm not in a flare, could the arthritis like symptoms still be a result of crohns? I think I am in remission, I had a tummy ache a week or so ago, but have been feeling pretty good. The only other thing going on is that I'm exhausted. I have been applying ice which helps short term.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ronroush7]

I think it might be a possibility. Ask a rheumatologist.

 

[Lam123]

My gi was going to send me to see a arthritis dr but then said that what I am taking now is the exact same thing a rheumatologist would recommend.

Is it possible the crohns is a little active but I just don't quite feel it?

 

[ronroush7]

Sometimes the Crohn's can cause invisible damage we are not aware of.

 

[Lam123]

What do you mean?

 

[ronroush7]

It can be causing damage inside our body but we can not see any symptoms.

 

[Cross-stitch gal]

My knees caused me pain as a teenager and I ended up going to physical therapy for a bit to help. My knee caps are faced crisscrossed rather than in the middle toward the correct foot like they should be. They gave me certain exercises to do to help (along with icing) and that worked for awhile.

As an adult the pain came back and I ended up doing the physical therapy again for a few weeks. They added some weights to hopefully add some strength to my legs. I've forgotten how to do those exercises. But, occasionally my knees still hurt a bit. Icing does help a little and once in awhile I wear a knee brace to kind of take the stress off the knee and give it a little support.

 

[Scipio]

Your doctor is correct that Humira is for treating rheumatoid arthritis as well as IBD. The two uses together make Humira the number one drug in the world in terms of revenue generated for the company. In fact for many of those anti-TNF biologics the rheumatic uses are major use (revenue-wise) and the IBD use is the minor use.

 

[rose93]

I was just about to post the same and then saw your post! I've been having real problems with my knees lately, they've been so painful I've struggled to walk. I take methotrexate though which makes me think it's probably not arthritis as its also used to treat that.. My joints aren't swollen or red either so I can't understand why they're so painful. Maybe it's just to do with not being able to absorb nutrients properly due to Crohn's. Hope you get some answers soon and the humira helps with your symptoms.

 

[Beach]

I used to have a good amount of knee problems. What worked for me at ridding the pain was a combination of ideas. I'm unsure of what worked, or worked best, but this is what helped me.

I changed my diet. The big dietary change for me was avoiding grains, in particular avoiding wheat. I've seen testimonial articles of others mentioning their arthritis improved after avoiding wheat.

I began light leg weight lifting. I'll do a couple times a week a few sets of dead lifts.

One of the odder ideas I do is called earthing or grounding. It's where one walks barefoot outside on the earth. There are also grounding pads for inside the house. I'm chuckling mentioning this idea. Hard to say why this helps, it could be my feet and knees feel better without shoes on. It could be energy medicine/acupuncture as some mention. What ever it is it has worked well for me. I've seen others on this sight mentioning earthing too.

You can view a nice short video on grounding here:

"Grounding" / "Earthing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XumPQLTzPWI

I have not tried this idea myself, but have been reading recently that the little known medication low dose naltrexone (LDN) can help improve some types of arthritis. LDN also helps with improving IBD conditions. Some information on LDN can be read in the treatment section:

http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=32