I am a 40 year old male and have been suffering with rhuematoid arthtritis now for about 18 years, my specialist says it is more like spondyloarthropathy than rhuematoid. I had an accident back in 1991 hurting both knees and back, i was absent from work about a month but then returned , i was still getting stiffness and pain but i took painkillers, about 10 months later i had massive swelling in both knees. When i went to hospital they took quite a lot of fluid from them and gave me painkillers. I was absent from work about 12 weeks, this has gone on now for quite a few years, I have had keyhole surgery in both knees about 4 times but the problem remains. Then 5 years ago i was diagnoised with R/A , iwas refered to a specialist and tried new drugs. In the past two years i have been diagnoised disabled and i am now in threat of losing my job (postman for 20 years) due to time off sick. The past two years it has got really bad and now i need crutches to walk when it is at its worse. I am still having treatment but nothing seems to work. Could the accident i had all them years ago have anything to do with my condition? I had no symptoms before and was fit and healthy. Could the trauma of the accident caused this? If you could help i would be grateful.
Thank you paul