Knees! A tough diagnosis

michael_88

Hi there ... the perfect pain description is the one experienced, when one locks the knees to touch one's toes. Stretched tendons presumably. But the discomfit is continuous; it started several days ago.
I am a 66-year old active male. Good health and not overweight: I am as good as you're going to get for my age. I walk several times a week; maybe ten hours in all. Nothing strenuous.
My job does mean however I sit down a lot; driving or desk. A clue perhaps?
Five years ago and totally out of the blue I got a severe swelling and consderable pain in my right knee joint. I was going on holiday at the time so I lived with it. Fourteen days later it had largely disappeared.
The doctor said; ''Sounds like Rheumatoid arthritis. Gulp. But there was no advice: that was it. I hope this isn't its return.
It really doesn't seem like a joint problem. Totally tendon / muscle. Anyideas please?

elnafinn

Hi Michael

First of all, welcome to the forum. If you posted your thread on the Living with Arthritis Zone as well as the Helpline one, you would get lots of welcoming posts even if peeps cannot come up with the magic answers to your current knee problems.

Have you been back to the gp since this recent knee occurrence? If not, I think it would be a good idea to do so. You should be sent for xray at the very least, I would have thought.

I expect you have tried heat/cold packs on the offending knee.

Look after yourself,

Best wishes,
Elna

michael_88

elnafinn wrote:

Hi Michael

First of all, welcome to the forum. If you posted your thread on the Living with Arthritis Zone as well as the Helpline one, you would get lots of welcoming posts even if peeps cannot come up with the magic answers to your current knee problems.

Have you been back to the gp since this recent knee occurrence? If not, I think it would be a good idea to do so. You should be sent for xray at the very least, I would have thought.

I expect you have tried heat/cold packs on the offending knee.

Look after yourself,

Best wishes,
Elna

Thanks, lady. No, too recent for me to have been. If it hasn't eased over the weekend though. Thanks for the forum advice. Will cut, paste, and try it. )

helpline_team

Dear Michael,

Thanks for your message to us here at Helplines. Sorry to hear that this is so painful right now.

First off I'd take the phrase 'rheumatoid' with a big pinch of salt unless it's formally confirmed (that would involve a bank of blood tests). Often it's not the most likely problem.

Plenty of people can have a flare up of acute knee pain that needs managing with painkillers and the guidance of someone like a physiotherapist.

We have excellent information on managing the more common osteoarthritis, and many different kinds of arthritis. If you'd like us to post you some, just email your name and address to helplines@arthritiscare.org.uk (do tell us who you are on the forum if you want to save the hassle of describing it all over again!)

hope we can help further
Guy