Side effect or normal progression of disease?

[hlmurray99]

Up until now I've really been lucky to not have as many systemic (for lack of a better word???) complications from my crohn's. I really just have fatigue, general achiness, headaches (which may or may not be related) and of course the abdominal pain and issues.

The last week or so I've been noticing my feet (especially my ankles) are often very sore. I notice it especially when I get up to walk initially but luckily the pain often subsides eventually. Now the balls of soles of my feet are sore. The last couple days my hands are giving me trouble and now tonight my entire lower legs just ache. Quite uncomfortable (although not necessarily painful).

Is this normal for crohn's patients or could this be a side effect of humira (started right after my last injection, which may or may not be at all related)? I've been on humira since December I believe, so I know I'm not allergic, but not sure if maybe I'm developing some issues with it or if this is just typical crohns fun.

In case anyone is curious, I have not done anything too strenous recently so I can't think of anything else to blame on it.

While I'm busy boring everyone, does anyone else have a lot of trouble the day after an injection? I seem to always have a really rough day the next day with achiness, pain, fatigue, headache. I'm starting to dread taking it. I never really thought about it so I never mentioned it to my doctor, but I wonder if this is normal.

 

[PsychoJane]

Hello!
Whether this is normal or not is rather hard to determine. Arthralgias are known as a side effect of Humira and they don't seem to be too rare either. The way I see it is that humira is designed for several issues (arthritis, psoriasis, crohn, S.A) and it seems that it leads to side effects that are somewhat mimics of the diseases it treat. Weird? I know... and I mean, this is only how I see this treatment behave. It does not act strictly on the gut and therefore I wonder how much it can create imbalance where it comes to other area where our bodies are initially stable. But this is only my theory, nothing deeply researched.

Anyway... I also used to be feeling pretty bad on the day following my injection. Migraine and tiredness would be frequent but I would not be in pain (well beside the migraine... which is pretty painful on its own). I also had rash at my injection site for a few days going.

If I were you I would bring up to your doctor that you are having these symptoms and stresses the fact you never had them before (if it is the case). I know my doctor often wants to blame it on Crohn and not on the treatment but I've had it for long (crohn) and certain symptoms are clearly side effects to me and not the other way around so sometimes it worth listening to yourself and make it clear. Usually, they won't be discontinuing the treatment unless it really bothers you and they can sometime bring some other treatment to alleviate the side effects.