Chest Pain with colitis?

Hello, everyone! My 19-yr-old has been recently diagnosed with UC after having symptoms from October '11 through June this year. I have been reading these boards a lot.......so much great support and info. Now I am asking for help/advice.

She started/tapered off pred in June/July (6 wks). She also started Asacol. She had bad chest pain/went to ER in July; they couldn't figure out what it was. Later, a doc diagnosed VitD deficiency, so she started on a high dose once a week, and the pain subsided. Now, we tried Rowasa a week ago, and the chest pain returned. The docs do NOT think it is related to the meds. Every time we tell a doc about it or ask for tests, they say they don't know what it is and to keep taking meds.

Do any of you have chest pain with UC?
Have you been told you have costochondritis?

I see it for Crohn's but not mentioned for UC.

All help/advice is appreciated. She returns to college soon, and this is super stressful. We are trying the VSL3 along w/the Vit D. She tried fish oil, but it made her stools more frequent/loose. Next week she sees a nutritionist; we are limiting/cutting out most milk, sugar and fiber right now. Oh, and Asacol, 3 pills 3x/day. The Rowasa we stopped again as the chest pain increased.

Is the chest pain just a coincidence or ????? Thanks again for all advice.

Ironically, or not, I just got home about 20 minutes ago from an overnight hospital stay due to chest pain. I got a cardiac work-up and everything came back fine, so I don't know what it is. Sort of feels muscular, sort of feels hiatal hernia-ish. I think they erred on the side of it being cardiac since I'm over 40 but I do wonder if its UC related. I've never been on prednisone, just colazal and canasa.

Chinamom

Joanna, garylouisville, Chinamomto2 and bananagirl, I just shared your responses with my teen, and we are thankful for the quick responses. We have more or less ruled out gas, plus reflux, but those are good ideas to think about. At the hospital ER they gave her some type of liquid to drink, and the doc said, 'If the pain goes away, it's acid reflux; if not, then that's not it.' The pain stayed. Sigh. It is helpful to get all this support and ideas. You all brought a smile to her face tonight.

We have armed ourselves with a bunch of books about UC this summer. Since she has only been on the Asacol since June, I say keep at it ... but she really wants to work on the foods/probiotics/etc, too. The VSL3 is making her gassy, but it's just two days of taking it!! I think teens are even more impatient than I am sometimes.

Again, many thanks to you all. A good evening to you all.

haha no problem colitiskid. i'm glad she is trying a lot of things. tell her to stick with the VSL. it made me very gassy for 2 weeks, but after that, i was ok. also, the paleo diet has been really helpful for my UC lately. i don't know what her diet is like, but she could give it a try if she is having symptoms.

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Joanna, 22
diagnosed @ 17 with proctitis, UC at 21
currently on: 25 mg 6mp, zofran, 10,000 iu vit D, 1 tsp terramin clay, renew life probiotics
failed: canasa, rowasa, entocort, prednisone, remicade, lialda, welchol, bentyl, LDN, cipro, flagyl, l-glutamine, vit E enema, 8 fecal transplants, VSL
diet: started paleo 8/17/12 after abandoning almost 5 years as a GF vegan. hoping for remission!

colitiskid, ouch nut allergies would stink! is that mostly nuts like almonds, cashews, pecans, brazil nuts? are coconuts and avocados included? i actually find it really easy to be on paleo and not have nuts, but i do include avocados. i do eat seaweed wraps that have some nuts inside but it's mainly for extra calories.

i did the same thing as you guys last summer! i got out practically EVERY book on UC from the library and just bombarded my brain with information. it will kind of make you go crazy since some books promote diet and natural healing and then it will be bashed in a book about medication.

oh and something else i forgot to mention. i have started using magnets as in "magnet therapy." i don't know if you have heard of it before but i was speaking to somebody with UC about it. we both say cramping and pain are our main symptoms and what i do is tape magnets to my belly as well as the soles of my feet. this has helped my cramping a lot. i know it sounds weird, but if you googling it, it's used a lot for arthritis patients, and since costochondritis is an inflammation in the sternum area, she could try taping a very small magnet where she fells pain. i use neodymium magnets that i got for $15 on amazon.

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Joanna, 22
diagnosed @ 17 with proctitis, UC at 21
currently on: 25 mg 6mp, zofran, 10,000 iu vit D, 1 tsp terramin clay, renew life probiotics
failed: canasa, rowasa, entocort, prednisone, remicade, lialda, welchol, bentyl, LDN, cipro, flagyl, l-glutamine, vit E enema, 8 fecal transplants, VSL
diet: started paleo 8/17/12 after abandoning almost 5 years as a GF vegan. hoping for remission!

I get chest pains when I'm tapering Prednisone. Seem to be worse till I get to about 10mg but of course that's when my UC symptoms come back so I end up going back up in dose again. Mine are more like palpitations but it also can hurt and even wakes me up in the middle of the night. My doctor said its normal when you are tapering Prednisone.

I've also had chest pains that turned out to be gas but I never would have known at the time the pain occured. It seemed the chest pains happen way before you actually feel the gas sometimes. 

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UC - diagnosed 1994, in remission for 10 years, currently trying to get over a flare
Meds: Prednisone 10mg; Imuran 150mg, Colazal 3 pills/3x day, 2 mesalamine enemas a day, 2 probiotics/day, iron, calcium, folic acid, L-lysine, Zyrtec, Yasmin, multi-vitamin, evening primrose oil, zinc

Thanks to everyone who posted advice/ideas today. Bananagirl, thanks for the ideas about magnets. No, we hadn't heard of them or read about them, yet. And she can eat avocado...for a while when on pred she ate a lot of it; now that she has seem to have more control of the situation, she isn't as 'in' to avocados as before. But other nuts, no, no almonds, no walnuts, or pecans, or cashews, or pistachios....none of it. She can tolerate peanuts, but the others mean a stick w/the epipen and call 9-1-1. She has had that allergy since childhood....

She was only on the pred. for 6 weeks....but from all the craze to read about this UC and what it means, I am learning that pred. can affect her for a long time after.

Thanks, Sherbear46 for sharing about when you had chest pain, and xeekk, too, and MNBeachgal. Yes, I don't think I'd have her try Tylenol.....won't that upset the colon?

All her labs from yesterday are okay. And she's on a huge dose of Vit D bec. one doc thought that might cause the chest issues. Yesterday's test shows she has gone from 17 up to 60 on the Vit D test, so while it's good news, then it means it's not a lack of Vit D that is causing the pain. I hear you xeekk that she will just have to wait it out. She really wants to exercise back at college in a couple of weeks, but I'm pushing her towards yoga (and telling the instructor she has colitis!).... and meditation and the like. She is taking a health/psych class fall, and maybe that will give her some insights into positivity. It is so hard to be positive.

Thanks again to all of you. This is a great forum even if it's me/Mom posting and not my teen. Oh, and I gave / gifted her a membership to the CCFA....but I don't think she has researched that site, yet. As you say bananagirl, there is SO much information out there..........we're still quibbling over the possibility of vitamins, ginger, tumeric, glutamine....overwhelming choices and can't bombard the system all at once.

A good evening to you all..................

Thanks for that tip, xeekk. I will write it down; we get so much info, it's hard to keep it straight. The doc did write in her report that my teen can take Tylenol if the costochondritis pain gets to be too strong. Guess that's one smart doc! She's the one who ordered the initial colonoscopy last fall..... but then docs couldn't diagnose/figure out colitis until the really bad flare in May/June.

Thanks again. I appreciate your wisdom/knowledge.