Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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Knee Pain

bigiblue
bigiblue
Ok I ha.ve asked this in another Post, but I wanted to get some advice or answers if anyone has any.
My knee ahs been swollen for almost 2 mos now. It hurts in the back of the knee and when I bend it , the pain goes all the way down to my ankle, like having a bad cramp. It also feels tight.I have been on mtx 6 weeks now and hope it starts to working soon. even sitting with my legs bend hurst. Not like a flare though. Anybody else had that? Dr. gave me an antinflammatory shot Friday, but it still hurts.
bigi
KiddoGal
KiddoGal
My knees are swollen right now too. I find that I have had a "twinge of pain" on the calf, but not a bad cramp. Sometimes my left knee starts to give out for a moment, or it cracks or it feels like the kneecap is swimming around under my skin! No major pain, just some discomfort and a lot of slow walking, and stiffness!
deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi, bigblue!

Sorry to hear about your knee problems. I can totally relate to your pain. I have constant problems with my left knee. It seems to lock into place when I'm lying down at night. I have to use a pillow between my knees because the pain gets so bad. It makes it almost impossible for me to sleep. By the time everyone else is waking up in the morning, I'm finally falling asleep. I also take Methotrexate, and I was told by my Doctor that it doesn't start working until after about 4 or 5 months. Sorry to tell you that, but, that's the way it was for me. It seems like my left knee is always swollen. I hope you see some real improvement soon.

Keeping you in my heart, thoughts & prayers.

God Bless.

Somuch
deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi there! I have problems with both of my knees, the right being a lot worse though. My rheumy didn't feel it was RA, but rather some other mechanical problem, which my physio calls a valgus deformity. My kneecaps are externally rotated. So now I am busy doing knee exercises to strengthen things up. I made the mistake of kneeling on it - felt like kneeling right on bone. Ouch!
deleted_user
deleted_user
I've had painful swelling in both knees since last August. I've gotten temporary relief twice by having the orthopedic doctor aspirate the fluid and then give a cortisone shot in each knee (with anesthetic, procedures didn't hurt at all). Right now I'm on a daily low-dose of Medrol (like prednisone), which is helping control swelling somewhat.

When knee swelling was at its worst (so far), I felt a lot of burning pressure and pain. In back of my knees it felt like I had tennis balls with burning pain, plus the edges of the swelling area felt like it was burning into the muscles above and below the knees. I almost went to the emergency room, but got a quick appointment with the ortho doc instead. Instant (temporary) relief!