Knee swelling - undiagnosed
I have had swelling in my right knee most of my life. It first appeared when I was about 5 years old. I have no idea if I injured it or not, but it reappeared off and on until I was about 12. It would swell, the doctor would drain the fluid and the fluid would not come back for months. This would happen a couple of times a year, and there were no other symptoms, such as pain, other than the swelling.
I saw many doctors, none of them knew what was wrong or had any suggestions.
During this time I saw a few rheumatologits, but I don't have any other joints affected and the blood test were always negative. It seemed that the doctors couldn't think of anything else, so they told me I had rheumatoid arthritis and put me on arthritis medication. This medication did not help the swelling at all, so I stopped taking it. At about 12 years old, I had arthroscopic surgery, and the doctor did not find anything structurally wrong with my knee. At this point I started physiotherapy. This seemed to work for me, I built my muscle up and the swelling went away. From that point the swelling actually stayed away until last winter. I am now 31 and the swelling has returned. I am in the same situation as before, no one knows what it is! I have had the knee drained and cortisone injection, and am currently in physiotherapy. I have also tried Vioxx which didnt help me. My knee is doing better and my muscle has built up, but if I walk too much, it swells slightly. I have to ice my knee every hour for 10 minutes in order for it not to swell up. I recently had an MRI and the results were unspecified synovitis.
I am very active and athletic and am not able to run any longer and have to make sure I always watch what I do. I am able to ride the bike and I do resistance training regularly. I sometimes have a slight pain on the left side underneath my knee cap.
I am very frustrated as I have been in physiotherapy for 3 months now and I don't know the cause of my problem.
If anyone has any insight or suggestions, I would really appreciate it!
From:
Orangyaks@yahoo.com
