Tendonitis, Crohn's, EN, and Behcet's Connection

[Guest guest]

Dear Group,

I struck gold! Here is a link that connects the dots:

http://www.behcets.com/a-closer.ivnu

BTW: Where is Jim? I hope you are ok! You mentioned Behcet's and here

it pops up again!

Love,

Here is the article:

Behcet's Disease and Crohn's Disease:

Closer then you might think:

By Sternfels

Many of us know that Behcet's Disease can cause inflammation of

the bowel. And we may have heard that if gut involvement is present

the possibility of Crohn's Disease should be considered. But just how

similar these diseases can be was unknown to me until I happened upon

an article on the non-GI tract problems associated with inflammatory

bowel disease (IBD).

Inflammation of the eye with IBD may cause uveitis, scleritis

andepiscleritis, iritis and optic neuritis. Any of these conditions

may be present with Behcet's Disease as well. Only about 5 to 10 per

cent of people with Crohn's disease have eye involvement; about 5% of

those with ulceractice colitis do.

Eye problems can be the presenting symptoms of IBD. So, it may be

the opthamologist who, after asking the patient about GI symptoms,

makes the referral to a Gastroenterologist. If the intestinal

inflammation can be brought under control, the eye problems usually

diminish or disappear.

Skin problems may also be found in IBD. These can include ulcerous

skin lesions and mucosal abnormalities such as cobblestoniong of mouth

tissue found in about 4% of Crohn's patients. Other lesions include

aphthous ulcers of the mouth, pyoderma gangrenosum and erythema

nodosum. Erythema nodosum affects about 15% of Crohn's patients.

Joint, connective tissue and spinal changes are also associated

with IBD. Perpheral disorders are often asymmetrical, affecting one

side of the body but not the other. These may include tendonitis, heel

spurs, costochonditis, arthritis of the hip and of the outermost joint

of the finger. They may look like rheumatoid arthritis, but the

rheumatoid factor is not present in the blood. Ankylosing spondylitis,

an inflammation of thevertebrae of the spine, may also be present in IBD.

Because eye, skin and joint problems are common with Behcet's

Disease, there are probably some of us reading this newsletter who

have been misdiagnosed with Behcet's and should be reading the

literature of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Inc.,

instead. If you think you might be one of them, see your doctor.

Ed. Note: information for this article was taken from the Newsletter

of the MN Chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America,

Inc., April 1996 edition.

WebNote: We have received several calls and e-mail's concerning this

very issue which is why we requested to place this article on the page

[Guest guest]

Jim's probably working on that newsletter everyone was asking for =)

Poor guy, his brain hurts enough =)

Thanks for the link, . . . glad my doc isn't off her rocker!

Got some bad news from her today though. She called me herself to

tell me that I'm already anemic =( We can't up the Dapsone =( I

told her I've started myself a new malaise today . . . she told me

any time I want, she'll get me a week off. Such a nice lady . . .

but I can't right now . . . way too much to do at work. She said

she'd be doing some research this weekend to see if there's anything

else out there we can try. She refuses to put me back on

prednisone. Did I say she's such a nice lady? =)

Gonna check out Alison's new med next . . . but I've pretty much

given up on all of it.

Here's to a restful weekend!

M

> Dear Group,

> I struck gold! Here is a link that connects the dots:

>

> http://www.behcets.com/a-closer.ivnu

>

> BTW: Where is Jim? I hope you are ok! You mentioned Behcet's and

here

> it pops up again!

>

> Love,

>

>

> Here is the article:

>

> Behcet's Disease and Crohn's Disease:

> Closer then you might think:

> By Sternfels

>

>

>

> Many of us know that Behcet's Disease can cause inflammation of

> the bowel. And we may have heard that if gut involvement is present

> the possibility of Crohn's Disease should be considered. But just

how

> similar these diseases can be was unknown to me until I happened

upon

> an article on the non-GI tract problems associated with inflammatory

> bowel disease (IBD).

> Inflammation of the eye with IBD may cause uveitis, scleritis

> andepiscleritis, iritis and optic neuritis. Any of these conditions

> may be present with Behcet's Disease as well. Only about 5 to 10 per

> cent of people with Crohn's disease have eye involvement; about 5%

of

> those with ulceractice colitis do.

> Eye problems can be the presenting symptoms of IBD. So, it may

be

> the opthamologist who, after asking the patient about GI symptoms,

> makes the referral to a Gastroenterologist. If the intestinal

> inflammation can be brought under control, the eye problems usually

> diminish or disappear.

> Skin problems may also be found in IBD. These can include

ulcerous

> skin lesions and mucosal abnormalities such as cobblestoniong of

mouth

> tissue found in about 4% of Crohn's patients. Other lesions include

> aphthous ulcers of the mouth, pyoderma gangrenosum and erythema

> nodosum. Erythema nodosum affects about 15% of Crohn's patients.

> Joint, connective tissue and spinal changes are also associated

> with IBD. Perpheral disorders are often asymmetrical, affecting one

> side of the body but not the other. These may include tendonitis,

heel

> spurs, costochonditis, arthritis of the hip and of the outermost

joint

> of the finger. They may look like rheumatoid arthritis, but the

> rheumatoid factor is not present in the blood. Ankylosing

spondylitis,

> an inflammation of thevertebrae of the spine, may also be present

in IBD.

> Because eye, skin and joint problems are common with Behcet's

> Disease, there are probably some of us reading this newsletter who

> have been misdiagnosed with Behcet's and should be reading the

> literature of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Inc.,

> instead. If you think you might be one of them, see your doctor.

>

>

> Ed. Note: information for this article was taken from the Newsletter

> of the MN Chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America,

> Inc., April 1996 edition.

> WebNote: We have received several calls and e-mail's concerning this

> very issue which is why we requested to place this article on the

page

[Guest guest]

rebecca,

yeah, sounds familiar. i have most of these issues. the eye

(scleritis) and skin problems and connective tissue problems. even

with the crohns under control, these " extraintestinals " don't go away

for me! :-(.

jeff

> Dear Group,

> I struck gold! Here is a link that connects the dots:

>

> http://www.behcets.com/a-closer.ivnu

>

> BTW: Where is Jim? I hope you are ok! You mentioned Behcet's and

here

> it pops up again!

>

> Love,

>

>