Long stupid boring story very short: I had a meniscus tear in my left knee last year. Excruciating pain, but not consistent. Bouts of incapacitation got longer and longer, put me on crutches, so I opted for surgery to cut away the torn bit last June.
I have never fully recovered, and in fact, my knee is at the moment almost as bad as it was a week after surgery.
My doc insists it is arthritis.
But it didn’t feel anything like this BEFORE the surgery, doctor. In fact, it felt perfectly alright when the tear wasn’t acting up.
So he mumbles something incomprehensible about how the arthritis is slowing recovery or something.
ANYWAY…the way the pain manifests at the moment is that when I am seated or lying down or otherwise have my weight OFF the knee for longer than 30 minutes, then I stand and try to walk, I can’t, or barely. But after I take a few steps, it gets much better. Still uncomfortable and I won’t be going dancing any time soon, but I can go about my life in a gimpy sort of way. Also, this effect is greatly exacerbated by exercise, which I absolutely INSIST on doing because my knee is very unstable, I am very overweight, and i MUST. It actually feels pretty good during and right after the exercise, but the stiffness issue gets way worse for a day or two after.
Does this match your arthritis experience? Your surgery experience? Tell me something good. Help me figure this out. Share with me.
Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1987. It hit me like an express train. I was diagnosed around Thanksgiving and by Christmas, I could barely move.
I started off on Ridaura and responded fairly well to it. When I moved back to Houston from Angleton, I started seeing a new rheumatologist who is very big on quality of life and quite aggressive about disease management. He moved me onto the methotrexate cocktail, which really helped, but the big thing was 5 years ago when he got me into a study for a new RA medication. It’s now out on the market as Humira, and it’s a miracle drug AFAIAC. I am symptom free and have been extended on the study for another 5 years because they want to look at long-range results not only for symptom remission, but also for possible disease remission.
And Stoid , get thee to WeightWatchers and lose the extra weight. That helped tremendously for me and it will help you as well. You are absolutely on the right track to continue with the exercise; that’s critical in arthritis treatment.
I have arthritis in my foot due to injury. I can predict the weather. Because of other medical conditions, I don’t take daily medicine for it because it just isn’t that bad yet. But, considering my weight, it’s only a matter of time.
My brother, also fat, has horrible problems with his knees. His doctor said to lose weight (duh) and to be careful when exercising to not re-injure the unstable knee. So DeBrother has joined a gym with a pool. In the pool, he can exercise and not worry about falling. (He’s also going to have wls specifically because of his knee problems.)
So what does your arthritis feel like? Does an hour or two of inactivity make you stiff and sore, then it clears up some when you move? Or is it just a continuous pain?
I’m trying to determine if it IS arthritis, or some remaining problem with the knee.
What you’re describing sounds like “gelling.” It’s pain or difficulty getting a joint to move after inactivity that generally goes away or lessens once you force the issue.
I’ve got it, too. I was on Celebrex but now am simply using Advil.
I’ve never been scoped, but after years of tennis and skiing, my knees are shot. I chalk it up to arthritis, and yes the pain is similar to what you have described. Sitting for a long time and then getting up is horrible. And if you are over compensating from pain on one side, then everything will eventually respond with pain as well. I get pain on mainly one side from my mid-back thru the hip and down to the knee, sometimes even the ankle.
My sister had a total knee replacement at age 53. She was very thin and ran long distances for many years. I know extra weight is definitely a problem for those of us with hip and knee pain, but it can also be due to trauma and over use.
If it’s affecting your life style and activity level, then something ain’t right. Good luck to you, it really is possible to live with arthritis but it’s not exactly fun.
I also recently had surgery for a torn Meniscus. My knee was stiff and sore for weeks afterward, so I asked the doctor about the possibility of arthritis. His answer was that he didn’t see any while he was operating. He thought that I should get physical therapy. That is what I am now doing.
My therapist told me that it may take months for my knee to heal, and until it does it will hurt, and be sore. She had previous experience with her own knee operation, which made me more inclined to believe her. She designed a program for me, that started small and has steadily progressed.
My advice is to see a therapist. You are on the right track with exercise, but you don’t want to reinjure yourself by over doing it.
I am not overweight, nor have I had any knee injuries. I am, however, 40. My knees started aching when I was in my mid-30s. And that’s the best way to describe it - it’s not generally pain, but it is an ache. Some days are worse than others and lately I’ve noticed that the ache has started in my hips as well. Yes, sitting still for any long period of time makes it worse - after sitting through a movie in a theater I am all but crippled for about half an hour. I tend to refer to it as “my knees are seized.” Walking it out does seem to help, but I notice also that after I’ve done a fair bit of walking and I sit down again, the ache comes back faster and harder.
I asked my doctor about it a few years ago. He felt my knees, asked me to bend and flex a little, and said, “Osteoarthritis. Take aspirin.”
Sounds like the osteoarthritis in my knees. In my case there was no doubt, the x-rays show how the cartilage is mostly worn away on one side of both knees. Almost bone to bone. Another way to tell is to hold your hand over your knee while you move it. If the movement is crunchy, rather than smooth, you have at least a little osteo. If your knee is crunchy enough when moved to suggest gravel in your knee, I’d say it was pretty definite. On the other hand, any damage to the cartilage caused by the surgery could produce the same symptoms.
Any chance of a cat scan?
The pool suggestion is a good one. So is physical therapy. So is getting a prescription. Other possiblilties are steriod injections and a couple of other kinds of shots.
I’ve got osteoarthritis in both knees, which has gotten worse over time from both falls and my excess weight. In late November I fell on my left knee, then two weeks later fell on my right knee, so both were x-rayed and the doc told me that the arthritis had gotten worse in both knees (something I already knew, though, because I was having such a hard time with them!). The last fall also caused a fracture in my left foot and after the cast was put on, I was given a cane to help me walk (hehe, I never would have been able to maneuver on crutches); I’ve continued to use the cane.
It’s worst for me, I think, when I try to get up after sitting for a while, and the cane really helps there, especially with balance (I’m terribly afraid of falling again). After I’ve been walking around a bit, it’s not so bad. However, standing for long periods is also rough on the knees, because they’ll start to swell. I try not to use the cane too much, only if I’m going to be walking a lot - the building I work in is -huge- and the floors are all concrete (beneath the normal flooring) - very hard on the knees! What I’d like to do is to get into a program at a local indoor pool where you can exercise in the pool. Good exercise and easier on the knees then regular walking or the treadmill.
Our daughter, now 17, was diagnosed with RA just last year. She’s in the beginning stages right now, and NSAIDS are helping her. She’s taking an Rx NSAID right now, called ‘Diclofenac’. Of course, now it’s not helping her that much and she’s needing something stronger. This is the 2nd type of an Rx NSAID that she’s been on since last year and she’s progressing, unfortunately, with the RA rather swiftly, I think.
Before she was diagnosed, she did well taking OTC Aleve, until it no longer helped her…Aleve is an NSAID. Apparently, that’s why it helped her as long as it did.
People ask me when does it hurt. It hurts when I sit for too long. Or walk. Or stand. Also when I first wake up in the morning. When I’m driving, I don’t go for more than an hour (two if unavoidable) without stopping to get out and walk around.
Weight loss is a goal, and I’m working on it, but it’s difficult when you get into severe pain after walking more than about 20 minutes or even standing for more than about 10.
I have found glucosamine chondroitin to be helpful. Physical therapists taught me some exercises that help. At one time, I took Lodine (a NSAID), then switched to Celebrex. Now, I just take ibubrofen as needed.
Just remembered - I had bursitis in my foot for about a year. The symptoms were similar to arthritis. Don’t recall being given any meds for it. Thought I’d pass it on just to confuse things.
As best I can tell I have arthitis in one of my knees for the stupidest reason imaginable - when I was twelve a friend, my brother and I played tag, and while running I fell onto the ledge of the garage’s concrete foundation and injured my knee badly. When I was in my early teens my pediatrician insisted it was some syndrome or another related to adolencence that you ought grew, and I was finally told by another doctor when I was 21 that it was arthritis like my parents suspected all along. I can never remember which kind it is, though…
My knee, fortunately, doesn’t hurt all the time. Sitting in the wrong types of chairs for more than an hour or two (I would have enjoyed the LOTR movies more had the sitting been less painful!) is the thing that most often prompts pain, as do really wet days, or days with high humidity. Or hiking, the real we-go-all-the-way-to-the-summit-of-a-small-mountain kind, not the leisurely woods walk sort. I also can’t lay on my back for very long, because having my leg stretched out feels much worse than allowing it to bend - not pain exactly but that “weird” feeling before it actually begins to hurt, if that makes any sense. It’s a good thing I sleep on my side.
I don’t take anything on a daily basis, but I’ve taken Celebrex before and found it was too hard on my stomach, although it was nice for the knee. Advil or Aleve often help, along with icy hot, and a knee brace when it’s particularly bad (but don’t put icy hot under a knee brace, use one or the other). I’ve found that movement helps like you said too - I was shown some exercise that involve putting the flat of your hand above your knee then swinging/stretching that leg until it feels better (my knee with “pop” loudly, then feel imensely better. ymmv) so I’m not surprised that walking helps.
What you are describing sounds like “gel factor” syndrome. Basically, when you are idle for a while, the synovial fluid - the lubricant within the joints - solidifies like Jello. Motion reliquifies it, but those first few minutes of motion are really uncomfortable.
And when I was experiencing flareups, I was in continual pain. Try to remember the last time you sprained an ankle and how it felt about 24-36 hours after the injury. Every single joint in my body felt that way. And because of the pain, I had the added bonus of fibromyalgia. I had to take Flexoril to get a night’s sleep.
Post-traumatic osteoarthritis of the left ankle here, confirmed by CT scan (the doc would have done an MRI, but can’t because of the honking huge metal plate in my leg). Mine has actually improved quite a bit with time, lots of physical therapy, and most recently an amazing pair of prescription orthotics - the vast majority of the time these days I don’t need any drugs at all, when I used to need frequent Vioxx. (But I’m keeping my stash, dammit, even if it is off the market!)
Yes, it’s still stiff when I wake up, but especially the morning after I’ve overdone it, either by being on my feet too long or by doing too much bending/lifting. A really hot bath usually helps, followed if necessary by a couple of ibuprofen. Swimming and biking are both good, and not too much stress on the joints. In therapy they had me soak the ankle in a paraffin bath - you can buy these for a not huge amount of money these days, so maybe it’s worth a try.
The important thing is to keep moving - joint mobility is definitely use-it-or-lose-it. Good luck, and don’t let the pain get you down!
I try not to use the cane too much, only if I’m going to be walking a lot - the building I work in is -huge- and the floors are all concrete (beneath the normal flooring) - very hard on the knees! What I’d like to do is to get into a program at a local indoor pool where you can exercise in the pool. Good exercise and easier on the knees then regular walking or the treadmill.