Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis (PVNS)

I want to briefly tell my story, but I want to mainly focus on what I may have discovered for those dealing with chronic knee swelling (mine has been unrelated to injury, but this can also be a problem for those who have had past injury).

I have had chronic knee swelling since December of 2004. It just randomly appeared, and started originally in my left knee. Every other week it has swollen up since then. Then my right knee started in 6 months later, in June of 2005.

Since my left knee starting swelling up in December 2004 I have:

*Seen two Orthopedists
*Gone Vegetarian
*Had an X-ray and MRI (which ruled out such things as Osteoarthritis or Meniscus tears) on my left knee (this was in May of 2005, before my right knee started swelling up).
*Have had 11 sessions of physical therapy where they tried using Manual Therapy, Electrical stimulation, Therapeutic exercise, ASTYM (therapeutic tools), and Ultrasound.....all to no avail.
*Have had blood work done which ruled out Rheumatoid arthritis, Liver, Kidney and Thyroid problems.
*Gone on an extensive exercise program that my last Othopedist prescribed to solve my problem, which required that I worked out for 3 weeks straight, not missing a day (I did it for 5 weeks straight, just to be sure). Yeah, that didn't work.
*And, finally I decided to try Alternative medicine, seeing that I wasn't getting very far with Conventional medicine, and started going to see an Acupuncturist. This was my best move so far, as it has been the only thing that has caused my swelling to go down in intensity and also has lowered the duration by 1 to 2 days*. I have gone to 6 sessions of Acupuncture, and noticed significant change by the 3rd session.

(*Note: both knees have been swelling enough for me to need a neoprene brace during swelling episodes, and the swelling would last for 4-6 days. Acupunture has decreased the swelling enough, during episodes, that I have not needed to use the neoprene brace; and it has decreased the duration of the swelling to 2-4 days.)

Recently, I have felt that the Acupuncture was just making my problem more comfortable, and not resolving the issue. So, back to the 'ol drawing board. Feeling that I had exhausted all my resources and that I was virtually "at a dead end," I entreated my husband to assist me in researching my problem, because he is an excellent researcher. I should have done so sooner, because I think he has potentially hit upon my problem (any maybe many of you out there).

I am including a link for any who wish to read. It is the only thing I have found that sounds exactly like what I have been experiencing. My husband is going to be my advocate with a new Othopedist to help me get the tests I need to find out if this is my problem.

Link: Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis (PVNS)

Good luck to all of you. I hope that all of you will find the solutions to your aweful knee troubles. This has been such a nightmare for me, and I hope that I may find release. I will keep updating on this discovery. Perhaps there are others who will benifit from my struggles in trying to discover what is causing this chronic knee swelling to occur.

Were you ever diagnosed with PVNS? I was diagnosed 2 months ago. If you need someone to talk to; please msg me.

Hi I just found this site. I just had surgery for pvns on my left knee on sept. 30, 2008. I am three weeks post op and have not had to much trouble . If you would like to ask me any questions feel free to post . I would be glad to share with you what my experience has been like. Iwas diagnoised with pvnts. This also involoved the tendeon that comes down over my knee from my thigh.