Joint Pain
Tue, October 20, 2015 12:56 PM
Hey all,
My Mum is 49 and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when she was around 24. She has had multiple surgical procedures, the last one being around 10 years ago. She has had part of her colon removed as part of surgery.
In her case, she's been a house wife since her issues began, and has been a great mother to me and my brother. She has never been well enough to work, though her flare ups have become a lot less freqeunt the past few years.
Her main issues now are low immunity, fatigue, weakness and most recently arthritic-like joint pain.
She has taken a wide range of medications for all her health complications.
Now I'm an adult (24) and better able to help her, I want to engage with the problem and be of some assitance to my Mum. The concern right now is the joint pain she's suffering from, she's been so bad at times she couldn't walk up the stairs. Her Dr. just prescribed her some painkilers, including the opiate Tramadol which raised my concern a bit. However, I feel as if medication in the case of her joint pain is perhaps not the best source of managing the issue. Is there anything I could suggest to her from a nutrition or lifestyle perspective to help?
Any information or resources would be very much appreciated.
Integral.
integralJoined Oct 20, 2015
Fri, October 23, 2015 3:12 PM
Aching or pain in the joints (without swelling) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is called arthralgia. Between 10% to 20% of people with IBD have joint pain at some point. Arthralgia can occur in various joints of the body, such as the knees, ankles, and hands. IBD-associated arthralgias do not damage the joint. Arthralgia is often relieved by treating the active symptoms in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
Arthritis, or inflammation (pain with swelling) of the joints, is the most common extraintestinal complication of IBD. It may affect as many as 30% of people with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Although arthritis is typically associated with advancing age, in IBD it often strikes younger patients as well. In addition to joint pain, arthritis also causes swelling of the joints and a reduction in flexibility.
It is not always easy to determine if the arthritis is linked to the intestinal condition. In most cases, doctors manage the symptoms of peripheral arthritis by controlling the inflammation within the colon. To learn more check out the fact sheet on ARTHRITIS AND JOINT PAIN at: http://www.ccfa.org/assets/pdfs/arthritiscomplications.pdf
Joined Oct 12, 2017
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