Re: Input?

nocolon-2000Member

I posted this on the Facebook group but thought I'd put it here as well since this is home base for many of us:

Okay pouch-poops....errr...peeps....

I have had low back pain since last Saturday. Just to the left of my spine maybe a vertebrae or two below my waist....or maybe three or four...I don't know.

As the week went on, I also have pain radiating out to my hips when I walk. Not constantly but longer distances.

By the end of the day my lower back feels stiff and like a solid plate. If that makes sense.

Today...new symptom. Really bad spasms in my pouch when it's more full. I haven't had these spasms in a LONG time. Maybe even since the months after takedown. Or if I've waited tooooo long to empty and had something high in fiber.

I have a primary doc appt on Monday afternoon. I want xrays of my pelvis/back.

After the spasms today, I am starting to think it might be in my pouch.

My greatest fear is that something is going on outside my pouch.

Any thoughts?

I am a UC/now-Crohns poucher and take Azothiaprine and Culturelle daily. I already have arthritis in my lower back and bursitis in my right hip. I've not been to Crossfit since last Thursday for fear of further injury.

I've been having issues off and on since I got a flu and pneumonia shot the day before Thanksgiving. Could there be a connection there?

I would love a week or so off work, but not like this.

Help? Suggestions? Ideas?

1/23/158:47 PM

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Jan DollarModerator, RN, retired

If your pain is more in the upper buttock region, rather than the lumbar, it is sacroiliitis. Sacroiliitis is associated with UC, and may or may not be associated with active bowel inflammation. If it lasts over 3 months, then it is more likely to be enteropathic arthritis, a form of spondylitis. I have this and was diagnosed a decade after colectomy. But, I stress that it is too early to assume this. You need months, not weeks of back pain. Most acute low back pain will resolve on its own within 3 months regardless of what you do or don't do. That was when I was referred ro a rheumatologist.

It could also be sciatica or another nerve impingement problem. I have nerve root impingement in my neck and lower lumbar that is related to extra spinal bone growth from my enteropathic arthritis.

Plain x-rays won't show much if this is inflammatory arthritis, but they are pretty much a mandatory first step. Make sure they get films of the SI joints. I do get increased arthritis symptoms when I have pouchitis, so they definitely could be related symptoms. A course of antibiotics would sort that out. That certainly would be the easiest thing to do, and if you are lucky, poucitis treatment takes care of all your symptoms.

Good luck!

Jan

1/23/1510:53 PM

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CatinthehatMember

It might be a good idea to have blood test for sed rate and c-reactive protein. The low radiating back pain sounds like the way my polymyalgia rheumatica started. Over a period of months, it spread up my back into my neck and shoulders and head. At first my doctor sent me to physical therapy which did not help. Finally, it got so bad, I went to the ER where they did the blood work which showed the inflammation and put me on prednisone. (I never had experienced such a rapid reversal of symptoms as I did with the pred. But then I was hooked on it for a long time). I was in my 50's at the time and it usually occurs in older people. This also was about 8 years before my colectomy.

Your symptoms could be any number of things, but you might want to ask your Dr. about this. Good luck!

1/23/1511:16 PM

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