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Crunchy Knee and new Arthritis in my lower back...

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Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Posted 7/27/2007 6:17 PM (GMT 0)
After all of the troubles I've had with my GI system lately, it was kind of refreshing to see my rheumy Wednesday...or so I thought. Usually my appointments are quite easy going, we talk pain, meds, what's going on, blah blah blah.

Well, not this time. I had a bunch of new xrays done last month and holy smokes, things have changed. I now have arthritis in my lower back - not related to my spondylitis and I have a crunchy (his words) left knee! My SI joints look horrid (the fusing looks messy and is continuing).

On a serious note - I'm trying to figure out what arthritis would be developing in my lower back. It explains quite a bit of the discomfort I've been experiencing. Also trying to figure out what the deal is with my knee. confused

RA doesn't affect your lower back, does it? Would it be osteo? I'm guessing my knee is from running (which I had to stop doing a while back). Any suggestions? Geez, I hate getting old. eyes

Enjoy your Friday...
Posted 7/27/2007 11:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hey there.. "crunchy knee" huh? That's not good.. Has he said what he would like to do for that? From what I understand (which isn't much) RA USUALLY doesn't affect your lower back.. I think you're right that it may be Osteo Arthritis.. Hhhmm.. Are you going back in to see him? What type of discomfort have you been experiencing? Didn't we talk about your knee on another thread? Or am I loosing it.. Ok.. I'm off to find that thread and my mind.. brb..
Posted 7/28/2007 4:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hey there Ducky -- haven't seen you in eons! We decided to let it be for now. It doesn't constantly bother me and I'm so tested out that I'd rather not get irradiated, yet again. He did want me to start doing quad stretches and stuff like that. More support for the knee I guess. When he mentioned that my knee was crunchy (what a phrase), I asked if that was better than "snap, crackle & pop!"tongue My 8 year old dog and I sometimes make the same sounds when we get up - that is truly depressing!

The only discomfort I get in my back is an ache more than a pain. Not often, usually when I overdue it (standing and such). I was really shocked to see it on the xrays though. What a mess between that and my SI's.

What does one do with arthritis of the lower back, medicine or supplement wise? Any ideas or suggestions? I'm guessing the Remicade won't touch that, but wouldn't the MTX help? Like I said earlier, I hate getting old...

Enjoy your weekend - I'm off shooting tomorrow.
Posted 7/31/2007 4:06 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Starrnr and welcome to you from downtown Apsley here in sunny Hertfordshire - here is the Bear's four pennorth worth!!

Your 'crunchy' knee sounds to me like there is little left of your functioning catilege and the bone is running on bone. Think shock absorbers and runners have in my memory a better chance than most of coming up against this problem without the 'locking' of the knee that other sports people experience with this problem. It could be that the arthritis in the lower spineal area - if it indeed be this - could be causes by posture changes , no matter how subtle, the body makes tocompensate for the knkee problems. My own hiistory goes: ruptured ligaments before there was a remedy; 8 years of constant knee 'popping out'  then ligamnet reconstruction. During the intervening years between damage and recon the cartilege all around the knee was gradually eroded until, after 4 or 5 arthroscopies for washouts, I needed a partial replacement for one side of the knee - 2002. Brilliant, I was walking 'normally' without limping for 6 months when my right hip started to go and eventually had total hip replacement in 2005. Then the left hip started to go and I go under the drill and saw again in 4 weeks. From 2002 onwards I also experienced growing discomfort in my lower spine. It was explained thus by my orthopod:

Years of limping with a cartilege free knee caused arthritis in the knee and caused the body to adjust the position of the pelvic girdle to compensate for the limp. Correct the limp the girdle has to readjust and this is when the arthritis started in the hip when the hip couldn't cope with the re-adjustment and again likewise with the other hip. Throughout all of this the continual adjustments of the pelvis girdle cause the spine to continually keep having toa djust and thus allowed aerthritis to develop but only in minor terms compared to the rest. This causes stiffness, acheing and occasional pain and trapped nerves in the lower back which I have been told to 'learn to live with'. I've got it - move on. This is, of course, explained in laymans terms to me because I am a bear of very little brainlike my cousin pooh. Your experience may eb very different but if I have helped in any way mine's a beer/ Enjoy.

Stay well.

The Bear yeah   tongue   yeah tongue

Posted 7/31/2007 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Star.

I have the snap, crackle and pop too! My family can hear me coming down the stairs since my knees and ankles make horrid sounds. Last night I was making my daughters bed and as I am shaking out the sheets even my shoulders were popping in and out..crazy! .I'm guessing that you can have arthritis in your back since my mom has arthritis up and down in her spine.

A crunchy knee? yikes! I have never heard of that before, but some of the sounds we make, I am not surprised at the crunchiness.
Posted 7/31/2007 8:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Bear - I know Herts... one of my dearest friends lives in Maulton, Beds.

Funny you should mention ligaments and such. I pulled my ACL twice in same knee and wondered if perhaps that contributed to my crunchy knee syndrome. I must still have cartilage and such, since I rarely have pain in the knee. I do however, get pain behind the knee on occasion. I personally never noticed the "crunch!" Now I listen for it all the time (still don't notice much).

As for the arthritis in my lower back, it's not related to my Ankylosing Spondylitis and probably is just from age (or I have a propensity for it). I don't notice if I favor one side to the other, I'm sure my back would scream louder than it has if it was bad, wouldn't it? I'm guessing since I also have osteo in my fingers (along with my RA) that I now have it in my lower back.

Momto3 - my husband just chuckles when he hears Shasta (my dog) and myself SC&P...thinks it's hilarious. Gotta love it, eh?

tongue
Posted 8/1/2007 5:31 AM (GMT 0)
Star, I crunch in so many places that I'm thinking of applying to be a breakfast cereal. LOL

Why on earth does your Rheumy think that your lower back is not related to the AS? My lumbar spine is the only place on my spine that we can see the changes. What do your x-ray reports say? Mine showed facet joint arthropathy. The soft tissues surrounding the joint are calcifying which is classic in AS.

I sincerely hope that this is something other than the beginning of more AS fusion, but I suspect it might be. Hopefully hte MTX and Remicade can slow it down.
Posted 8/1/2007 2:14 PM (GMT 0)
Keah - I asked him directly as we were looking at the xrays if my AS was moving up. He said no, characteristics were not the same. I must admit, it didn't look like any photo's of AS of the spine and lower back that I've seen and I trust him implicitly on this. We are going to watch the arthritis in my lower back carefully though. I have to admit, it does look different than the AS in my SI joints - now that looks awful. We're just in a wait and see phase - my med's must be working though. I don't have nearly the pain I used to (slight to moderate on occasion) and I'm feeling pretty good considering.
Posted 8/1/2007 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hey starr.. since you have Crohn's, has he said what he would recommend for the lower back pain? Since it's not constant, having you tried putting a heating pad on it? Have you seen those ThermaCare patches? I get lower back pain ALOT and I usually slap one of those bad boys on, and it does provide, some comfort..not much.. but some! :) :) :) And you can wear it up to 8 hours at a whack.. I'm glad that for now, it seems to be subsiding.. hhmm..
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