Hi

hi

hi i'm julia & 19 years old. i was just diagnosed with crohn's disease on june 18 2010. i think i've had ibs my whole life that turned into crohn's. my whole life i thought it was normal to have 4 or more bowel movements a day. in april, i had a terrible flareup & went to the hospital. (i have no insurance so it makes everything tougher) they did a CT scan & said that there may be some colitis in my bowels. they gave me some pepcid & vicodin & sent me home. i really didn't think i would have any problems & i was all better. but everything got 1000x worse. i had & still have terrible joint&back&neck pain, stomach aches, diarrhea & vomiting. on june 14 i had another terrible flare up, went to the hospital & was hospitalized. during my hospitalization i had a colonoscopy & endoscopy & it confirmed i have crohns. my gi prescribed entocort 9mg & nexium 40mg. my first appt. is july 8. everyday i wake up in terrible pain from my back neck & joints. it feels like i got hit by a car & i can hardly move. everything feels so locked up&stiff. ive tried everything such as tylonel, hot bath & light exercise. im wondering if anyone else has joint&back&neck pain from their CD. thank you & i love all the threads here & this is my first time on a forum

HI Julz welcome! Sorry you had to be here but you found a forum who is friendly and we give you our experiences because we know how you feel, and all about the drugs you are on. Because you are on Nexium, it is a good idea to get adequate Calcium and Vitamin D3 because it robs your calcium. Entocort is mild and as of yesterday I am back on it again. WE all have joint pain, we have our very own arthitis, isnt that nice. Just dont resort to ibuprophen or naproxin, I know it is hard but you will get your gut into pain again.

Use heating pads sometimes they help. Ask us any questions and we are all here to support you. Glad you are here with us too!

Welcome aboard. :hang:

Thank you so much Jettalady for the welcoming. It was very scary to hear the doctor say that i have crohn's but i was pretty much expecting it. I just hate all the symptoms that come along with it. The joint pain has been pretty unbearable lately. My knees just kill me all the time especially when the weather's bad.

welcome to the forum. our story is pretty similar, it just took me a couple more drs visits before i was admitted. due to my joint pain, i don't even think they checked for chrons, they kept on prescribing me NSAIDS that was making my smyptoms worse and so on. i am fairly new in my diagnosis as well, i was diagnosed at the beginning of the month. it can be scary, i know i'm still dealing but there is great support, wisdom and caring here to help you through your journey.

Hi Julia
and welcome

Sorry you're a Crohnie! but at least now you know what you're dealing with, and it ain't IBS!
I have joint pain too, it's a killer! It's eases with steroids, but can't stay on them forever! been on Pred, now on Entocort too. I take paracetamol for the pains every 4 hours and codeine phosphate at bedtime, for 2 reasons, it knocks me out and it stops any D.
glad you found us, lots of friends here for you
lotsa luv
Joan xxx

Welcome, sorry to hear your story, but at least you get some relieft with actually knowing what is wrong. Like Jettalady said we pretty much all suffer with joint problems, mine is my hands and they get so bad I can't clench my fist, which I find really frustrating. To be honest I have never done much about it but exercise. Sure people here will be able to give you some really good advice.
Jo x

Hi Julia, welcome to the forum. I don't have any advice for you but I'm sure you'll find some great help here. Good luck.

Hi, I find exercise helps with pain as does not eating certain foods (theres a sticky somewhere i think) basically sweetcorn, popcorn, anything with seeds or nuts, wholemeal bread and beer. Best to dind stuff that does agree with ya stomach and introduce foods one at a time to see what triggers it off. If it does try a little bit again just to make sure. When ok you might find u can have everything but when bad its a different story... good luck

Hi Julia and :welcome: to the forum.

Thank you all so much for the welcoming.

Hi Julia,

Welcome to the forum.

I can totally relate to the joint pain. Having Crohns has accelerated the deterioration of my left knee joint. It is just completely shot. No good. DOA. I mean it too. I have to get a total knee replacement. I watched it deteriorate over about 3 months - comparing one x-ray to another. It's pretty darn scary to actually see how your joints fall apart in just a matter of months.

But you live in West Virginia! There is not a state in the US that is prettier than West Virginia. Where about do you live over there in "almost Heaven"? I see you had a CT scan and you have a GI doctor, so I know a few places where you don't live - you know what I'm talking about? But girl don't tell me you live in Beckley - I'll be too jealous.

I found that when the flare gets under control, and your stomach and poop problems start healing, the joint pains also start to ease up. Those are called "Extra-intestinal Manifestations" (EIM's) of Crohn's Disease. There's probably maybe just a teensy few that haven't had joint problems.

Rygon has some good advice. Exercise is helpful, but not like a maniac. I'm beginning to find out that you have to ease up slowly - slower than regular folk - when you start an exercise regimen.

Most importantly, take care of your physical and mental health, read up and learn some of the foods to avoid - experiement cuz not everyone has the same problems with the same kinds of foods. Also try to keep distance from negative people, places, and things.

Good luck and welcome.
Joseph