Medics perplexed

Trantor22

Woke up one bright morning, with both ankles swollen and very stiff, and when I got out of bed, had intense pain in both knees when load bearing.No pain when sitting, but intense when standing. No symptoms of any pain before at all. After much time and blood tests, inflammatory ruler out as no markers indicated, which surprised me on reading about the symmetry of the problem.Sent for Osteo X-Ray of knees which showed both okay , so this is ruled out. This happened over a year ago, knee pain exactly same, no flare up or down.Can't hobble about without two sticks to lessen load bearing intense pain. Latest blood tests show no markers for anything inflammatory.Legs/knees/ankles swollen, ankles still stiff, but no pain in them......Is it all caused by some auto immune glich.?...but what triggered it ? Is there a savvy Rheumatologist out there who may have an answer ...or guess ???, because the ones so far don't ......

Now here's a point.This happened 4 days after my 2nd. Covid injection last April, when I was enjoying a very healthy retirement, and so I now rue the day I entertained having this stuff.I have not had Covid., so Catch22.......I have since heard of a significant number of people with long term Covid suffering with joint pain problems.......

Happy days ..

Tom

Greetings and welcome to the forum, @Trantor22 .

I see that you are in a great deal of pain in you legs, knees and ankles. There is no evidence of inflammatory markers, or of osteo arthritis being revealed in X-rays.

You link the onset to your second Covid jab, but generally are just in need of some solution.

I cannot find anything on our website, so I suggest that you contact our Helpline on 0800 5200 520.

Please do let us know how you get on.

Tom, Moderator.

Hiphoplil

Not able to help but deeply sympathise. I am convinced my suspected (by me, seeing rheumatologist next week) psoriatic arthritis was triggered by the covid booster I had in Dec. I'm not having another one! If the vaccine boosts one's immune system and inflammatory autoimmune conditions are caused by an over active immune system, I can only think there is a connection. Hope you get some relief soon.

jamieA

A number of rheumatologists I've seen have suggested that my rapid onset of PsA in late 2020 could have been caused by covid. According to them it's well known that PsA can be triggered by a virus. https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/psoriatic-arthritis/psoriatic-arthritis-causes

There was also a clinical report in Italy in early 2021 of a patient developing PsA after covid.

https://www.ajmc.com/view/researchers-report-first-known-case-of-covid-19-triggered-psoriatic-arthritis

In my case I'd had what my GP in a telephone consultation in March 2020 diagnosed as a chest infection - I didn't have any of the original 3 covid symptoms. This recurred a number of times and I was eventually seen by a covid triage consultant in May 2020 who said she was pretty certain I'd had covid in March as there was a patch on my right lung. The infections kept recurring and in September 2020 I had the first signs of PsA and it was confirmed in November 2020.

Rubikscubeboy

I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis for about 15 years. After my first covid jab my skin started to get very dry and flaky on my legs, face and scalp but I didn't think much about it. Shortly after my second jab I noticed that my injection sites on my knees didn't heel properly where I had my knees drained and steroid injections. I had my third jab a few weeks before my 2nd hip replacement. I then wore surgical stockings for around 4 weeks and my legs became very flaky and I had started to get psoriasis on my knees and legs. I'm pretty sure there must be a link. I don't think many people have both Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis but could be wrong? I understand that steroids can also be a trigger for Psoriasis. Just started on Adalimumab so fingers crossed.