Ouch !! Crohn’s Disease Arthritis …… Truly Uncomfortable.

Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

DNA Spiral

Investigations show us that suffers with chronic bowl disorders, such as Crohn’s disease, are prone to developing other associated conditions which can include liver disorder, fissures, fistulas, and arthritis. The most widespread of these conditions, with typical estimates showing as much as 25 to 26%, suffer with arthritis.

Flare-ups of Crohn’s Disease Arthritis can often occur at the same time as a flare-up of Crohn’s disease but unfortunately can continue, sometimes for up top 10 weeks before any remission or improvement is felt.

The two types of arthritis most often encountered by IBD patients are peripheral and spinal arthritis. We’ll investigate and discuss these in more detail in another article.

Polyarticular Arthritis

There is also another form of Crohn’s disease arthritis and that is the rather rarer instance of polyarticular arthritis that closely resembles rheumatoid arthritis and it can affect a patient in the long term and often remains unaffected by bowel disease. To be sure, Crohn’s disease arthritis can also take the form of spinal arthritis and also sacroiliac arthritis that can often not be differentiated from spondylitis (ankylosing).

Often, doctors are able to establish that Crohn’s disease arthritis is affecting patients when they notice either symptoms of bowel disorders or joint disorders, and it is also common for Crohn’s disease arthritis to begin during the very first year of suffering from Crohn’s disease; more so in children. And in as many as it is believed seventy percent of cases, Crohn’s disease arthritis occurs when a flare-up of an intestinal disorder is taking place.

Nevertheless, actual diagnosis of Crohn’s disease arthritis can occur many years after the patient has become affected by arthritis and it can become even more pronounced when some symptoms related to the abdominal region are noticed and also when tests on fecal matter turn out as negative.

To treat Crohn’s disease arthritis, medications are used and the most common of these medications are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as sulfasalazine and methotrexate.

Still, doctors generally test patients of arthritis to ascertain whether their condition is not in fact that of Crohn’s disease arthritis, and in fact, according to tests performed on patients with symptoms such as repeated pain in the abdomen, diarrhea as well as dysentery, most patients showed signs of Crohn’s disease arthritis because of being affected by the aforesaid symptoms.

Colitis Arthritis

Finally one condition often encountered by those with Crohn’s disease is Colitis and I’m afraid to say, yes, there is an arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease.

Usually only involving some of the larger joints, such as the ankle but sometimes a wrist or knee the flare-ups coincide with Colitis flare-ups.

What does all this teach us? I believe that the more you understand about your condition. The more you are inquisitive about the associated conditions that happen as a result of your Colitis or Crohn’s disease the better placed you’ll be to manage your condition. It is the management of your illness that will allow you to regain your lifestyle, to minimize the flare-ups and therefore minimize the associated conditions that cause such discomfort.

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