It seems to me there was one of the meds that might cause joint issues?  I think it might have been cipro or flagyl?   Others may comment on this.  I am much more inflexible and have muscle pain/joint pain -- not severe -- but I am curious if a medication could have contributed?

Duck, I don't know what all this is, but perhaps a rheumatiologist would know enough to put it all together?

Could be meds you are on. But, I definitely would ask for a referral to a rheumatologist enteropathic arthritis (a form of spondylitis) causes inflammation at the insertion points of tendons and ligaments. What you describe fits. It is frequently diagnosed as something else and the diagnosis delay is often decades.

I have been on biologics for over 10 years because of it, and my diagnosis was 10 years post colectomy. By the way, ALL of my labs for arthritis were negative and imaging was not particularly telling. Good thing too, because once the calcification sets in, it is permanent!

Jan

Thanks all, I guess this isn't as common to IBD as I thought. As a side and to clarify, I'm not on any meds and haven't taken Flagyl or cipro since my colitis days 15 years ago. Are there long term side effects you are referring to from these? 

Jan, did it take so long for a diagnosis because this form of arthritis isn't so well known? My blood tests always show high inflammation markers but it's always dismissed as being so from UC.

It takes a long time for a number of reasons. One is that general practitioners are not very familiar with it. Even the ortho surgeon and podiatrist I went to did not consider something global like enteropathic arthritis. My primary doc finally referred me to rheumatology when I had months and months of persistent low back/upper buttock pain.

Another reason is that usually not much shows up on imaging until there is a lot of damage and labs are often negative. Having a rheumy who does a good history and can "connect the dots" is very important.

Jan