Knee Pain

Question:
I'm 16, and last night woke up with terrible knee pain. I'm on 50/60 mg of prednisone, and 4400 mg of asacol daily. It's the first time I’ve woken up from sleeping for joint pain. Is this from the medicine, and is it normal? I'm calling my doctor about it on Friday, since that's when I have to call him and tell him how things are going. If it is normal, is there anything to do that would help to ease the pain? I took a bayer last night, but it took about 2 hrs. before the pain started to ease enough that I could go back to sleep. So, needless to say I didn't get a good night sleep because of the knee pain. I've had uc for 1 month now. And my energy is still very minimum. Found out last night my great-aunt died too. Her funeral is on Saturday. Well, one good thing is that our 10th grade state wide testing is done with tomorrow, only have one 45 minute section to take left. The 10th graders at our school have taken it Tue and Wed mornings, Thur. will be 5th hr, and we will be done. Yes!!! Less stress for me. Well, that's about it. Hope everyone is doing good out there, I read the posts daily, but don't respond that much. This group is so supportive, and helpful.

Answer:
I find that I get pain in my knees when ever I'm going through a flare. My knees also get very hot. I am unsure as to whether it is a function of the medication or the Crohn’s. I am currently on 50mg oral prednisolone, 2 colifoam enemas, 12 mesalazine tabs(3000 mg) and 100 mg Imuran daily. I encourage you to see an orthopedic Dr. for a proper diagnosis. I have avascular necrosis from prednisone. AVN is a bone destroying disease caused by prednisone. I have it in my knees and ankles. The knee pain could be either arthritis developing (1/4 of people with IBD have arthritis in connection with it) or pain from prednisnone withdrawal. Also, make very sure it's joint pain you're feeling and not muscle cramping as the doses of prednisone you're on can cause potassium depletion. Make sure that your dr checks your blood potassium levels as this can be a dangerous side effect of prednisone. When on high levels of prednisone it's a good idea to get extra potassium by drinking milk or oj if tolerated, or by eating bananas and potatoes. asacol seems to have stopped most of my hand, finger, wrist and knee pains...the joints were swollen so badly at one point it looked more like arthritis than anything else...but this stuff is really helping with that aspect of ibd yes...stress makes it worse in that its hard enough to deal with a chronic disease which people know little about...and which doesn’t show...meaning people think you are making it up or something...I think stress also creates a problem stomach anyway...but how do you argue with the people (who don’t of course have ibd ) who say its CAUSED by stress? I really resent that...my ex mother in law used to say that to me...and then say that I was making my self ill because I wanted an excuse to not work...yikes...there is a huge difference between stress making anything…even a common cold...feel worse...and actually being the cause... anyone else have others say that to them? I really wish we could educate everyone about this...it’s like we get blamed for being ill...like we are all a bunch of whiney hypochondriacs...if they only knew the real us...and if they only understood ibd...you take care.How long do you have to be taking prednisone before you get this sort of disease?? Or get the life long side affects from taking it?? It would help me to know....My son is almost off the prednisone finally, he is now down to 5mgs and doing great so far...(keep fingers crossed!!) There are documented cases of AVN from ONE DOSE of IV prednisone. I was only on pred for 6 months! Uninformed Drs. and patients will tell you AVN only comes from long term use of prednisione - but that just isn't true. What is true is the longer you are on pred, the higher doses you are on, and the use of IV prednisione increase your chances of getting AVN. Your odds go up after long term use, but you CAN get AVN from short term use. I DID! AVN is most likely to effect hips. Knees are second, followed by ankles then shoulders, elbows and wrists. My joint pain (in my thumb) is driving me crazy. The Asacol doesn't seem to make it better or worse. I am down to 3 a day - and really don't want to bump it back up (was up to something like 16 a day...). Glad it helps you. I would like to know too! I am down to 5 mg every day and I feel like an old crippled person from all the joint pains it has affected my knees, wrists, elbows and back, I also am suffering from severe mood swings. I can't seem to control them one day good next day bad. I have collagenous colitis. How long after you are off prednisone does these go away? I've been off all steroids since December 19th. So far the mood swings are gone - they have been replaced by mild depression (from dealing with the fact that this is a chronic condition). The joint pain is better, but not gone. My hands seem to be my worst point. My knees and legs are fine. Be sure you taper VERY SLOWLY now that you are down to 5 mg. That's a low dose and you might want to wait a while to let your body adjust to this level. Ask your doctor. My doctor says it takes 2-4 months for all the symptoms of steroids to go away, longer if you have been on them a long time (I was on them for 1 1/2 years). Good luck and keep us posted.