Hi everyone,
My name is Kathryn, I'm 30 yrs old and I've been suffering from arthritis for 8 years. I've never been in remission or out of pain for a single day. I've tried multiple medications, including humira, methotrexate, sulfasalazine, indomethacin, and arava to name a few. I have Psoriatic Arthritis, and since there's no forum for that, and since PsA is similar to RA, I figured I could ask my question here. Hope that's not a problem.
Currently, my right knee has been swollen and painful for about a month. Two weeks ago, it swelled so much that I couldn't straighten my knee at all, and it was in a constant bent position. Went to my rheumatologist, and he drained my knee and injected it with a cortisone-lidacaine mix. That worked well, and I was out of pain for about 2 weeks.
Now, my knee is swollen again, only it's significantly worse. Again, I can't straighten it, and the pain is excruciating. The knee pain is also causing sharp shooting pains down my shins and up my thighs. I'm using a crutch, but I can barely walk, even with that. I'm in pain whether I'm sitting, standing, or walking. It's constant and almost a 10 on the pain scale. I've had many bad flares, this is the worst though.
I went to the doc today, and he can't inject it again, because it's too close to my last shot. He's concerned that I have a secondary injury to the knee like a ligament tear. I'm scheduled for a MRI on Wed.
My question is, does this sound like a knee injury or just the arthritis acting up? Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can reduce the pain until the MRI? I'm currently taking arava, and vicodin for pain. He also prescribed more prednisone for me. 15 mg.
Any suggestions you have would be much appreciated!