Knee Pain.. Please offer suggestions?

[angela515]

So, When I went into the hospital, I didn't really have knee pain, maybe once in awhile, not so severe I couldn't walk anyways. I went into the hospital for 13 days and was discharged this last Monday night 8pm, each day i got up to walk to the bathroom, not even 20 ft from my bed, and maybe walked down the hall once a day, otherwise laid in my hospital bed,  I can nor hardly walk as my knees hurt so bad, so I had an appointment at the doctors today and he did x-rays of my knees and blood work. He said the rays looked normal, and he didn't know what was causing the pain. Needless to say, I was both happy and upset about this. Happy 'cause nothing was wrong... upset because if nothing looks wrong, then why am I having so much pain it makes me want to cry to walk and I would love to just never go upstairs and eat or put my kids to bed because the pain of walking up the stairs is worse then anything.

So, any ideas what could be causing all this pain? I do ave Rheumatoid Arthritis, since age 12.. and I was reading online about knee pain trying to find the problem, and I did see it said periods of in-activitycould cause flare ups and lots of pain... so I'm wondering could it be this? But then, if it was this, wouldn't it show on the x-ray or no? Also, wouldn't the lortabs help? 'Cause they aren't.. nothing does... Ahhh.

Angela 

[Sara]

I'm sorry you're in so much pain right now.  I wish I could help.   

[goofynina]

It sounds to me like your pain in your knee is what i am experiencing in my ankle, it's a pain like if it wants to pop if i step a certain way, i am afraid it is going to give out on me.  Sorry i am not much help, i just wanted you to know how much i know what you are going through. 

[Amanda From OZ]

Sorry Angela... not to sure i know either... but i do hope it gets better soon. 

Amanda
xxoo

[Joe Paul]

My wife has  Arthritis, and her knees sometime flare up too. Not much shows up on the ex-rays, but the doctor tells her thats what the pain is from. He gives her a shot of cortisone, and the pain goes away for a while, but does come back. Bad thing about the shot is the are limited to how many times they can do it, as the cortisone eventually causes more damage (so Ive been told).

[KICKSTART]

Get someone to check out its not Gout , i had terrible pain like you are describing in my knees once , no pain anywhere else and it turned out to be Gout in both my knees ( a reaction to Frusemide!) Its easy to treat with tablets and the pain soon goes , worth a thought ? 

[angela515]

Would gout have showed up on an x-ray or is that something that don't show up on an x-ray?

[paris]

Gout is caused by uric acid forming crystals in joints and the pain is unbearable. I cannot move my foot - can't walk, have anything even touch my foot. I don't believe it shows on x-rays. They check your uric acid levels and if they are high they start medicines. The meds work. Hope you can find an answer. Your level of pain sounds similar to what I experienced.

[angela515]

Ty, paris. They also did blood work, I dont know if that was part of it or not, but i'm calling tomorrow to get my results and also ask if that was done and if it was normal. I had labs done to make sure my SLE (Lupus) was still in remission.

Update: I called my transplant team yesterday and DEMANDED they call in something to help with this unbearable pain that nobody knew what it was caused from. They were hesitant at first because they didn't know what it was from, but finally called in a prednisone 7-day pack. So I took 6 pills (4mg each) today and 5 tmr, 4 the next day and so on for 7 days. Now its the end of the day and Im still in pain, but I notice a BIG difference in the pain level. So im hoping it helps get the pain completely gone during this 7 days, my only concern is not figuring out the problem and after the 7 days are up and im done taking it, the pain coming back. Ahh, well i'll jump on that road when it comes.

[Sara]

Did you get the results yet (it's tomorrow already  )

[angela515]

Did you get the results yet (it's tomorrow already  )

The nurse never called back. grrr... I shall be calling again tomorrow.

[paris]

Angela, any relief from the pain yet?  I also did the prednisone pack and it helped for awhile. I have been given 2 more meds  - but I just want mine to go away completely and it isn't.  I hope they can find the cause and fix the problem. I know you are hurting.  Keep us posted.

[angela515]

Knee pain still there, however it is tons less with the prednisone, but like you, I want it all the way gone. I go to my linic appt next Wednesday and I plan on not leaving it until they decide on a plan to figure out the problem and working towards a solution.

[MattyBoy100]

Hey Angela,

this is interesting cos I get both feet and knee pain.  I work and by the end of the day my feet are sore and my knees are stiff and sore too.  I don't know what causes this and I have also had my feet and knees x rayed to be told there was nothing wrong.  Maybe I should suggest to my Doc that I have gout?

[angela515]

Not totally sure what gout is, I shall look that up. I have AVN, that's causing my pain... I guess it isn't "bad" enough in my knees to do anything but pain management... I haven't seen an ankle Dr yet to decide if I can have an ankle replacement or if I need to wait till its worse also.