At what rate did your knee pain progress.

[DavidSully]

Hi Mandy and Kevin,

My name is David Sullivan I am 24 years old and began having constant pain in my feet, toes and ankles when I was 21.  After two years of physio, orthotics, acupuncture and seeing ostiopaths, I began to also get pain in my elbow and knees.  I have been tested for RA, lupus and gout.  All have been negative.  My doctor has had me on a trial perscription of pms-meloxicam, having already tried celebrex and naproxin.  The meloxicam has been excellent for my feet and elbow but over the past two weeks my knee has taken a turn for the worse. As a matter of fact I found this forum this morning because I am home from work after being up all night with a throbbing pain and my mobility this morning is terrible. Even putting pants on was a challenge.  I was wondering how quickly your knee pain progressed?  It has gone from my least painful effected joint to by far the worst just in the past two weeks. Last night and this morning getting out if bed have been very scary for me.


This discussion is related to Constant knees and feet pain.

[Cindee56]

Hi David.  I'm glad you're trying to get answers.  Please let me know what you find out, and I hope you get help soon.

[DavidSully]

Hey Cindee,
I am seeing my family doctor this evening and I am going to push for an MRI as well as joint aspiration testing, which I have read about online. As far as my diagnosis goes, as of today it is suspected that it is arthritic by my family doctor but I am not in to see the rheumatologist until Dec 23rd.  My family does have a prominant histiory of RA. Initially, it was plantars, then bursitis, then achilles tendonitis and finally once my elbow and knees began to flare up they started looking at more intrusive possibilties.  My family doctor says that because of my age they were somewhat ruling out a large number of unlikely conditions early on such as osteoarthrits and seronegative RA.
You are absolutely right about being pushy with the doctors.  It seems like they have all the time in the world to try and figure out whats wrong and meanwhile I am a 24 yr who can't play hockey, hike or bike anymore.  
And every test is another month to six weeks of waiting.  It is very frustrating.  

Thank You very much for your advise and I hope your son has found relief.
David S

[Cindee56]

Hi David, I just happened to come upon your post and I'm wondering what is your diagnosis?  I can't imagine the doctors are letting you stay in pain at your young age without investigating this further.  To get such severe knee pain at 24, I would think it is some autoimmune disease.

Keep in mind that you can still have RA even if the blood tests come back negative.  It's called sero-negative RA.  I know because my sister got RA at age 35 and it took 15 yrs. for it to show up in her blood tests (she is now 50 yrs. old).  

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, I just feel bad that you're suffering.  I have a 21 yr. old son who suffered with a very painful shoulder and upper back for years and the doctors kept saying nothing was wrong.  I went with him and finally, I demanded an MRI, and they found a torn ligament.  Sometimes you have to be pushy with the doctors to get an answer.

I wish you luck.