When Does the Pain End?

[Jajabinks]

Hello everyone,

I am writing today because I am dealing with chronic pain now for about 4 months. I have symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis but have yet to be diagnosed. In the meantime, I have been placed on muscle relaxers. It worked in the beginning but I cannot take them in the day because they make me very sleepy.

Anywho, my sex life is really suffering. I have Tramadol which I take once in a while but 50mg does not cut it. Will my sex life ever be the same again? How does everyone manage in this area with their arthritic symptoms?

 

[theOcean]

You have to be careful with muscle relaxers as well, because they're usually NSAIDs and can't be safely taken with Crohn's. Which one are you taking?

I get arthritic symptoms when I'm in flare, but that's usually the only time it happens. It may mean that your current medication (Pentasa) isn't enough for you. You might want to contact your GI and ask them about starting an immunosuppressant, and possibly leaving your prednisone taper where it is if not increasing it a bit until you stabilize. The prednisone should help treat that, too.

Otherwise, if the arthritis is a problem even outside of flare, you might want to consider visiting a rheumatologist. But the route they go is often the same as Crohn's: adding immunosuppressants, like I suggested above, or adding a biologic, which would also help your Crohn's.

 

[nogutsnoglory]

I agree with theocean that you might benefit from an immunosuppressive or biologic that can help your crohns and AS symptoms get better. I think with regards to sex and pain, that it won't be like this forever and when you are not flaring and have good meds controlling it you will be feeling much better.

 

[Maya142]

Agree with all of the above - treating both diseases will help with the pain. Tramadol won't help disease progression at all, whereas drugs like Humira and Remicade would.

Both my husband and my daughters have AS and with the right treatment, it's possible to live a relatively normal life. In fact, I wish we had gotten my daughters on biologics sooner, I think we might have been able to prevent a lot of joint damage.