Arthritis with UC?

Hey guys,
first I want to say that I am so thankful that we have such a forum!
So a bit of history from last year I started having IBS-like symptom and April this year I started seeing blood on the stool that totally freaked me out. Went to see the specialist in July and got diagnosed with proctitis (mild UC that only affects rectum). Got depressed but eventually learned how to handle it and started living a normal life again. Then a month after the diagnosis I started feeling discomfort in my right leg knee in Aug. It's been like that for almost 3 months and recently my upper left bank (should blade) starts feeling discomfort. Now I can't even walk long before the knee feels a bit painful. I am waiting for some blood test result (Rheumatoid factor).

I feel so bad these days. it's like I got over one thing and another thing came again! I am 32 years old and was healthy before. I did a bit research on the Internet and seems there may be some relathionship between arthritis and UC. Does anyone here have Arthritis because of UC? Weird thing is in Aug I actually felt pretty good and proctitis didn't bother me that much (almost like normal) and that's when the arthritis symptom kicked in. I heard if it's caused by UC, it should be like UC is worse, arthritis is worse and vice versa.

I am so frustrated...

Darrian said...
Anyone knows the difference between Rheumatoid Arthritis and UC induced arthritis?

UC kind doesn't have destructive effect on tissue my Rheumy Dr. says. I have had a couple of gout like nasty arthritis flares associated with my UC. Steroid shots in the impacted joint and pred have been used to get it under control. That and vicodin for pain... At worst I can barely walk without help. Hope you don't have that.

Google "reactive arthritis" there are kinds that correlate with ibd.

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i had UC related arthritis for about 3 months with this flare (still going after a year grrrr)

then it just went away out of nowhere.

i looked like i was 80 when i walked up and down stairs. my knees and ankles were shot.
they hurt so bad and were all swollen.

i lost like 40lbs from this flare and i was super skinny with fat ankles. kinda funny looking.

it did go away tho and havent had any other symptoms since

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50mg prednisone 1x day morning

50mg imuran 1x day night

2x 500mg mesalazine 2x day + night

2.5mg endone (oxycontin) every 4-6 hours

Hi Darrien. From my knowledge, there are quite a few different things that may be causing your aches. It is possible that you are suffering from UC or Rh arthritis, but there are another couple of possibilities that can be added if you have been taking prednisone.

Prednisone has a bad habit of stripping calcium from your system when it is used, so your bones really cop it. The longer the use, the worse it gets. The other thing is that coming off prednisone has a large number of side effects, one if which is joint pain. Again, the longer you were on the prednisone, the worse it is and the longer it can lasts.

You might want to consider supplimenting your calcium intake and trying out glucosamine which is great for aching joints.

Finally, with prednisone comes depression for many people, so beware moods where the world seems to feel so much worse then it really should be. I found prednisone depression to be extremly difficult to deal with.