My knees have bben very painful for thelast four months, mosty in the joint of the right knee. The pain feels like it is under my kneecap and I can't bend it fully. i feel a tight strech just below my kneecao and recently in the inner joint I get extreme pain. It is also swollen. My left knee wasn't bad, but now it's starting to hurt as well, the muscle underneath has seized up and is sore, i've been stretching to relieve the tension.My left ankle has also swelled up.
Does any of this sound like PsA to anyone? Or possible something else? I had an xray in December and there wasn't any sign of Arthritis, so I had some massages,but nothing relieved it, so I started thinking it is PsA.
I Have an MRI booked, but it isn't until late April. I've also started Mtx, first dose was last Saturday, could that possibly give relief?
I have swelling in both of my knees. Actually, my left knee has been swollen for years now. . . It never gets fully under control. And of course, with that inflammation, there can also be tendon inflammation and tightness. Imaging can help get to the root of the problem.
You asked if this sounds like PsA. It could certainly be part of it. It sounds as though mechanical problems were ruled out, and inflammation doesn't necessarily show up w/ x-ray, but can be determined with MRI. With the MTX, just keep in mind that it could take a few months to get significant relief. Not fun, but if it works, it's worthwhile.n
I have PsA in both knees. I have swelling, but also fluid builds up under and around my patella, which is very painful, and has that tight feeling you described.
My knees. Oh, gosh. After about 20 years of mysterious aches, pains and knee complaints that defied diagnosis, I was diagnosed with PsA. In the meanwhile, I’d had two knee replacements. The knees had deteriorated very quickly, and had been written off to OA, but when the rheumatologist diagnosed me, she said that she’d bet that my knees had been destroyed by PsA. We’ll never know what did them in. The prosthetic joints are fantastic, but I still have aching around the knee area which I assume is ligament pain. Last summer, I got a colossal Baker’s Cyst, which suggests to me that the tissues around the knee are still inflamed. (Otherwise, where did all that fluid come from? The cyst was 8 cm in diameter and 4 cm thick, in my calf. Hurt like a you-know-what, but I digress.)
The thing about x-rays is that they won’t show inflammation. I complained for almost two years about sore feet, but x-rays showed nothing. After enough inflammation, though, an x-ray will show the bone and joint damage, which it did a year later. An MRI provides a picture of things like inflammation and even swelling inside bones. Good that you are going for an MRI, too bad it takes so long to get in.
You don’t mention seeing a rheumatologist. What makes you think you might have PsA? Welcome to the group, by the way!
My right knee has always caused a problem with both inflammation under the kneecap and ligament problems. Oh and tightness. The inflammation never goes away, it just reduces. Oh the mysteries of PsA.
I've always had PsA in my knees. It is a deep pain under the kneecap. Ugh. My knees are doing better at this point in time, but they still snap, crackle, and pop.
I do not know if I have PsA or OA in my knees. When my Rheumy and I discussed the obvious deformities in my ankles and knees she was not sure but said to me if it was OA it will soon be PsA anyway. I do not know if she meant everyone with PsA gets PsA where before they had OA or just me. She told me P was an opportunistic skin disease. Where I have had significant skin injury I have developed P. She said where my bones had been injured I would develop PsA. Unfortunately I was diagnosed after age 50 and a whole lot of living! At the time my Rheumy and I had this discussion the area under discussion was my spine. I had had multiple herniations and even one area where the dura (thick fiborous covering the spinal column) had been twisted and caught in the bony vertebrae but unsure if it was an old fracture or not. We were discussing my cervical spine which looked terrible and she, ortho and neuro were all discussing what to do. The numbness in my hands abated so I did not do the surgery. I was asking her if we needed to stabilize my spine in some way. She said no the spondulitis will do that for us! Needless to say we didn't get back to the knees for awhile. She, and I agree, when the boney deformities are visible without an MRI that maybe it is best to hold off until there is a problem. I agree that getting PsA under control is really the answer no matter what the MRI may show. It could change or not. That is the nature of this beast; sometimes it is aggressive, other times it all but goes away. Really is a moving target. I take Celebrex 400 mg a day which really helps my knees, along with mtx 22.5 mg I inject each week, and Remicade. Hope this helps!
that sounds exactly like my knees the last several months. My Rhuemy doesn't offer much in way of any thoughts, i'm currently looking for someone else. Thanks everyone for your input, i just would like to get my knees under control.
Marietta said:
I've always had PsA in my knees. It is a deep pain under the kneecap. Ugh. My knees are doing better at this point in time, but they still snap, crackle, and pop.
THAT is a seriously impressive knee. And I can't help but notice that your opposite ankle is bandaged. Pretty classic, right? How long did it take to get that inflammation under control?
What Michael in Vermont said she heard from her rheumy was very interesting to me:
"She said where my bones had been injured I would develop PsA. "
This piqued my curiosity, and, sure enough, there’s good evidence that trauma and damage (such as OA) can trigger PsA – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21715249
There are lots of other references to the “deep Koebner” phenomenon out there.
Thanks, MiV, for the nugget of insight!
my journey with RA/PSA..and now i got lupus, started in 1995, in my knees and hands..was in 1998, i was 48
It felt like a constant 24 hour a day deep burning pain..I remember going to rheummy, it was cold in there, yet rheummy told resident feel her knee how hot it was
they drained the knee, first lots of fluid, then bakers cysts, then scopes....so yes always knee probs
whatever arthritis it is, doesnt matter at this point,as long as i am outta pain
PS: i did fall when young on that one knee, so that could have speeded things up
I can't remember exactly how long it took to control this knee. My ankles were also SEVERELY swollen at this time too. You can see the puffiness around my right ankle if ya look hard enough. That pic was taken well before I started any "real" treatment for Psa. I had some prednisone which of course worked like magic. But of course that was only temporary. My first real treatment was MTX and that took about 6 weeks to kick in. Since then I've been on Humira and Remicade.
Amazingly enough, as I've said in other posts, my PsA these day's is 100% resolved without any treatment whatsoever. In fact, my overall health is better now then it has even been. I'm able to run, play basketball, life weights, whatever. No restrictions at all. It's as if I never had PsA in the first place. I was told before that X-rays showed moderate to severe permanent damage to both knees, all my toes, several fingers, and so on. And likely permanent damage to my jaw although that was never imaged. Today, my MRI's/X-ray's are totally clean. No evidence of of previous damage and no signs of active arthritis!
I know my story is not at all common, but I hope it gives many of you out there hope that this disease don't necessarily progress. In 2008 I was unable to drive my truck some day's because the pain of pushing in the clutch was too much too bare. Today, I ran 4 miles to work, and tonight I'll run 4 miles home.
Stoney said:
THAT is a seriously impressive knee. And I can't help but notice that your opposite ankle is bandaged. Pretty classic, right? How long did it take to get that inflammation under control?
Sounds like you're in a remission Chris and that is AWESOME!!!! I've had a few remissions (one drug induced, the others for no reason at all) and it is like having a completely different life. Enjoy for the rest of us!
Chris said:
My first real treatment was MTX and that took about 6 weeks to kick in. Since then I've been on Humira and Remicade.
Amazingly enough, as I've said in other posts, my PsA these day's is 100% resolved without any treatment whatsoever. In fact, my overall health is better now then it has even been. I'm able to run, play basketball, life weights, whatever. No restrictions at all. It's as if I never had PsA in the first place. I was told before that X-rays showed moderate to severe permanent damage to both knees, all my toes, several fingers, and so on. And likely permanent damage to my jaw although that was never imaged. Today, my MRI's/X-ray's are totally clean. No evidence of of previous damage and no signs of active arthritis!
I always wonder if perhaps I was misdiagnosed. Reiters Syndrome seems to fit my arthritic history better than PsA, but then again, there is all this damned Psoriasis. But Psoriasis is common, so maybe it was just a coincidence. I dunno. I do have a friend/co-worker who has had PsA for well over 30 years and he is fine too. He is not completely pain free like me, but he gets around just fine. When he was diagnosed back in the 80's he spent a year in a wheelchair because his knees were so bad. Today he builds log cabins in his spare time. So maybe my story is not that unusual after all. There is hope for us all!
The guy who owns my auto repairshop has PsA. He says his is 100% controlled by Enbrel (ie, he is asymptomatic, full of energy). He runs his very busy business with no trouble, even filled in for one of the mechanics for 4 mo. after the guy had a heart attack. I sometimes wonder if the remission I had in my early 20's would have continued if I hadn't had a child (post-partum flares are a huge problem for women).
Chris said:
I always wonder if perhaps I was misdiagnosed. Reiters Syndrome seems to fit my arthritic history better than PsA, but then again, there is all this damned Psoriasis. But Psoriasis is common, so maybe it was just a coincidence. I dunno. I do have a friend/co-worker who has had PsA for well over 30 years and he is fine too. He is not completely pain free like me, but he gets around just fine. When he was diagnosed back in the 80's he spent a year in a wheelchair because his knees were so bad. Today he builds log cabins in his spare time. So maybe my story is not that unusual after all. There is hope for us all!
Yeah, it's sometimes hard to remember that disease severity differs greatly from person to person. I just remembered I have an aunt who has had RA for like 20 years and has no symptoms as far as I know. I actually forgot she even had it. It struck her fast, deformed her fingers, and boom, went away just like that. Doctors told her it would return but that was over 10-15 years ago and she's still pain free. Even her hands don't hurt which I find odd because they are severely deformed.
Yes, my knees are my main problem area! I had lots of pain, but the medicines I'm on seem to help with that, but then the swelling started. Both affect full mobility of the joint, but the swelling has that tight, pressure feel that you described as well. Hopefully you'll get a firm diagnosis soon and begin on meds that will alleviate your symptoms! Best wishes! :-)
I get PsA in my knees, they both swell and hurt like hell with pain and tightness in the muscles of the front of my thighs. I also can’t fully straighten my legs when the are playing up, and I have trouble standing if I sit for too long in other words total misery! I had a flare up in my knees mid dec, luckily by mid Jan they started to ease, now they vary day to day but nowhere near as bad as they were. I hope yours ease soon and become more bareable xx
in other words total misery! I had a flare up in my knees mid dec, luckily by mid Jan they started to ease, now they vary day to day but nowhere near as bad as they were. I hope yours ease soon and become more bareable xx