I had a total knee replacement on July 8th. I was doing well the first 2 months but this last 2 months I have had pain in the muscles around the surgical site. I’m wondering if my PsA is affecting where the tendons are attached. I have had 2 elbow surgeries due to this disease because the tendons basically rotted away from the bone. Has anyone else had problems with their PsA after knee replacement?
First off, welcome back. It’s been a while. I have had many surgeries but thankfully no joint replacements yet so I cannot be particularly helpful with your specific question. I would encourage you to speak with your doctor about this change. My question would be as this part of the normal healing process or is this something unexpected. I’m just thinking that this is the stretch of time that you would be getting more and more active so is that what’s behind this change? I don’t know.
You could be right. I will be going to my rheumy soon so I was going to address this with him. Thanks for your reply. Food for thought.
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Thanks for checking in, it is always beneficial to hear form those who have more years with PsA than someone “newer” to it like me. Would you care to share a summary of your last 5 years or so and what has worked for you and what hasn’t?
Hi Amos. I have actually had PsA for over 35 years but no one knew that psoriasis was an autoimmune disease much less what the cause of pain in my joints was when I was 30 years old. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at 35 so my PsA was untreated until about 8 years ago. I think you will have better luck with treatment because you are new to this disease. My body has become really resistant to treatment with the medications to slow down the progression and diminish the inflammation. My inflammation stays off the charts and most of my joints have been damaged by the constant inflammation. I hope you have a good rheumatologist because it’s important to get the joints protected as soon as you can. Usually the first line of treatment is methotrexate because insurance likes that drug. It’s an old drug and it’s cheap. The PsA also affects my lungs so the methotrexate almost killed me. I was in the hospital for 10 days because it caused my lungs to fill with a “netting” as the doctors called it. Sorry for the long dissertation but I may not be the best one to give advice because I think my body is smarter than the drugs and I have bad reactions to the biologics. But, Otezla has been a godsend for me. My skin is clear and my joints are marginally better. Unfortunately, my C-Reactive is still very high. I think it all goes back to me having this for decades and not being treated so it was running rampant. I wish you luck, Amos. This is a tough disease because it not only affects joints, but it can affect muscles/tendons, as well as the lungs.
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Thank you for your reply, very informative. Sorry to hear of your rough journey, I’m sure your life has been greatly impacted but you likely have a resilience and inner character that only comes from such life struggles. And you can identify with others on the journey offering much encouragement as you have. Peace.
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Thank you, and I really do wish you good luck with your treatments!
I usually don’t tell people much about my journey because as I read over it, it’s pretty depressing! lol I just keep as good of an attitude as I can and keep on keeping on!