Introduction:
Joint Pain Remedies for Colitis:
I’ve been looking for a solution to my joint pain. Seems to be pretty common among UC’ers. My GI doc said that it usually involves symmetric joints (both knees or both elbows for instance) and is not isolated to a single joint. It also usually involves the larger joints. In any case, it’s horrible to live with (worse at times than Ulcerative Colitis symptoms) and I’ve been looking for a solution that does not involve Prednisone or the biologics like Remicade or Humira. My GI doc took me off Asacol and started me on Azulfidine which is basically the same drug, but has a sulpha component that is not in Asacol. He says Azulfidine can sometimes help UC-related joint pain but might take a few weeks to work, so he wanted to also put me on Preds. Interestingly, and as noted by many others, I am not experiencing any UC symptoms, but the joint pain is out of control. I feel like an old man.
My GI doc says that when the immune system attacks the intestine lining, it creates antigen-antibody pairs that then move through the blood and lodge in the joints causing inflammation. It seems to me that this is a different mechanism than what causes other arthritic conditions and may be why the common joint pain remedies don’t work like MSM and glucosamine.
I found this link that talks about some possible natural remedies to the joint pain. This guy is to Crohns as Adam is to UC (but Adam’s site has much more info and sharing). Still, it’s good info and I am going to try to reduce my meat intake (difficult since I rely heavily on protein for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and increase vitamin D.
Question: What is everyone else doing for their joint pain?
Pete’s Colitis Medications:
Been doing the SCD for 3 months now and loving it. Prior to that was taking Remicade but now off that after my new GI doc said I would not need to continue use of biologics (was just about to start Humira, too) if I would take my Asacol religiously. I did a really bad job of taking my meds before things got really bad in 2010 and almost lost my colon (and my life). Soon after, I found the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and have been symptom free. Not going back to the SAD (standard american diet) as SCD has also improved by blood sugar and cholesterol levels. By the way, I plan to keep the colon.
Father of 4 and husband of one awesome lady. Web developer / programmer with lots of life to live and doesn’t need UC cramping my style. 43 years old and had IBS since college and diagnosed with UC in 2001.
