Discouraged

Hi, I hope it's okay if I do a little venting here! I've really been struggling lately with my IBD and I don't know where to turn. Since Monday I've been woken up most every morning with extremely intense joint pain in my knees and sometimes ankles and wrists (it jumps around). I'm pretty sure that it's arthritis...but it's sharp pain that's hardly tolerable rather than dull or achy. I used to believe that I had a high tolerance for pain- nothing much bothered me. But lately I'm really hurting. So much that my poor husband gets woken up early in the morning because of my screaming and crying. All I really know to do it take 2 tylenol, hobble to the bathroom (of course since I'm flaring up right now), jump into the tub and run some hot water. Then I alternate between ice and heat for my joints. Sometimes I can't get any relief for 2-3 hours.

At first I thought that this was all caused by the new 6-MP medication that I was taking. The funny thing is that I took it for 5 days before the joint pain showed up. I have also consistently had a low-grade fever since that time. I stopped taking the 6-MP on Monday morning (as suggested by my Dr.)- but am still having the symptoms (it's now Thursday night). Other new symptoms I've been experiencing this week are mouth sores and heartburn/reflux.

I'm starting to wonder if I have Crohn's instead of Pancolitis.

After doing some reading/research, I made a list of my overall symptoms and tried to label each one as UC, Crohn's, or Either:

UC: lower abdominal pain (crampy, sometimes relieved by BM)

Crohn's: non-bloody diarrhea (with no mucus); mouth sores; heart-burn/reflux

Either: severe joint pain, nocturnal and daytime diarrhea, stomach distension, weight loss, dehydration, low-grade fever, fatigue/weakness

[Some background info: I've been in a flare up since September 1st, was diagnosed with Pancolitis on October 28th. I'm being treated with a 2nd round of Prednisone & am still taking Lialda.]

Bless you if you cared/took the time to read this!!! I'm just trying to figure out if I should go get a second opinion about my diagnosis or what.