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How long do knees stay swollen, does it linger??

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Posted 5/31/2016 2:59 AM (GMT 0)
Wondering how long does swelling linger in swollen knee?

My son is on week seven of doxy for lyme arthritis. He is walking fine on it now, pain has gone ,he says.

It still is swollen in the middle and just above the knee still. Does this mean the lyme is still alive in the tissue there

Does this mean it is not responding to the doxy?

Pains not there just puffy still.

Anyone else have these lingering swelling issues after pain subsides??

Infectious disease Dr mentioned testing the fluid at the next visit for bacteria .I think she called it a pcr. Still learning all this stuff. Very confusing.
Posted 5/31/2016 3:27 AM (GMT 0)
Check with your doctor and see if ibuprofen is okay for him to take with his meds.

I am a huge believer in ice for reducing swelling and it is my go-to med.

My orthopedist therapist measures my knees my mobility, not by swelling. He says one of 2 things - 1) I am fine or 2) we need to aspirate so I can get some mobility.

7 weeks on ONLY doxy? I do not think this is right but maybe others will chime in.
Posted 5/31/2016 4:43 AM (GMT 0)
shiv - didn't your son have an appt. with a LLMD?

Is your son on a good detoxing regimen?
Posted 5/31/2016 9:00 AM (GMT 0)
So far the inf.disease Dr has him on two months of doxy, this is week seven.
We did see the llmd last week for the first time. She started with sending out a lot of blood work to test first for co infections, etc.

She is now away from the office till next week. We go back there June 15. If she gets results back sooner she may call before that date to change up meds.

I am keeping this last appt with inf.dis. Dr . since it's through her right now that I can get doxy to keep him on . If anything about trying steroids or other things I don't like is mentioned I plan on telling them no.

We did ibuprofen for a while at first ,then the dr. gave us Meloxicam to take, I think that's how it's spelled. It's once a day instead of doses every several hours like ibuprofen.

I did not see either one take down the swelling . We stopped the pain pills several days ago to see if the pain came back but he is doing fine ,no pain .

He takes Epsom salt baths, and started dry brushing yesterday for first time before bath to help lymph node drainage. Drinks lots of water all day , regular and lemon water too. Taking probiotics, vit. C , vit D ,and started omega 3 now.
Posted 5/31/2016 10:19 AM (GMT 0)
When DS knee flared (2-3 times now) it usually takes weeks for the swelling to go down - perhaps even up to 2 months but I don't remember exactly. It would look very lopsided and felt spongy as it decreased in size. Ibuprofen was recommended but you have to give it without breaks and with the antibiotics and supplements, we just didn't get around to it. Like your DS, once the swelling decreased a bit, the pain was relieved. His knee functions fine although it does click now.

You will most likely see a return of symptoms if you do only 2 months of doxy because your child has late stage Lyme. It is rare to not have co-infections and testing for many is as unreliable as Lyme. Doxy for up to 2 months was what our ped initially prescribed but on month 1 we saw a huge development of new symptoms indicating co-infections based on the research I felt compelled to start and headed straight to an LLMD after getting advice here and from local parents. We are 6 months in and still waiting for improvements in the co-infection symptoms although for now the extreme fatigue has lessened.

Have you run through the symptom lists with your son? I recommend it because boys in particular won't mention things but if you bring it up and they think about it, they will say "oh yeah, I have that". I am still finding out about symptoms that have been around a long time. Your son is younger if I remember correctly so you might want to break the list up into smaller chunks so he can really focus on it.

That's great you are doing plenty of detoxing too. Decaf green tea is another easy one to incorporate. You also might consider milk thistle for liver detox.
Posted 5/31/2016 11:11 AM (GMT 0)
The llmd sent us a packet to fill out listing tons of symptoms to check off as mild,med or seious.
I went through a few at a time so as not to overwhelm him.

The first week we saw things flare up. One morning he said his foot felt. ike it was humming or tingling.then went away.
After starting the abx we had some nights of temp. flaring up at night at bedtime then it would break in a couple hours.

Seems like about a month after abx. he had another few,days of things. One mirning he said it felt like bee stings on the swollen knee area lasted a few minutes.then gone.


He also likes to pop his knuckles, and rolls,his neck to pop it also. Says he has no pain in these joints ,just feels good to crack his knuckles and neck. Neck is not stiff or sore he has full range.
.
Another thing I am trying to improve are bowel movements to get out toxins. He only goes once a day and sometimes skips a day. He is gassy though. Not sure if it's from abx. or bacteria. just want him more regular to get out bad stuff

Very frustrating as a parent. Anytime you see your child do anything different first thought is "is this another lyme thing" he grunts say "ow" and you automatically think "oh no ,now what"

Post Edited (shliv) : 5/31/2016 5:15:16 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 5/31/2016 12:29 PM (GMT 0)
Oh yes, the fingers, neck and joint popping. It got really bad and I can hear DS coming from several rooms away. That did flare and has now been a constant. Same with the humming and tingling although I just asked DS today if that still occurred and he said yes but not nearly as often (it was all the time for a long while). It sounds like the symptoms are not extreme which is good. Do you know how long he's had Lyme?

I just bought activated charcoal to try at some point if he's herxing and we can squeeze it in between meds/supplements and other detoxing. I don't know that it moves things along but it does soak up toxins from what I read. Probiotics can make one gassy. Maybe it's that?

Know what you mean about thinking everything could be Lyme - 2 weeks ago DS was crazy upset with eye strain and it turned out he just needed glasses - what a relief that it wasn't "Lyme-related"!
Posted 5/31/2016 12:47 PM (GMT 0)
We don't know how long, never saw a tick on him or rash. Back in feb. I noticed he had red round patches of skin all over his shins and calves. I noticed it at a wrestling comp.he was in.

He was out in the woods alot this past fall helping cut trees

I thought at first maybe he had gotten ring worm from a past wrestling match, but my husband said it was not ring wirm. We just thought maybe it was dry patches of skin. Being winter time and house is very dry.
But maybe it was the lyme. Who knows .

His western blot done here in NY came back 10 igg positive. Llmd was not concerned about how many antibodies had formed. It seems some people have far less positives but worse symotoms. Not sure how all that works.
Posted 5/31/2016 2:06 PM (GMT 0)
shiv - The amount of bands showing up on a WB does not indicate severity of symptoms - it just shows that his immune system mounted a good response.

Your idea of adding in a binder for detox is good.

I'm glad he has a LLMD.
Posted 6/3/2016 6:33 AM (GMT 0)
I ca tell you about swollen knee and elbow. I was diagnosed 2.5 years ago. i got the initial antibiotic treatment and had a series of very bad herx reactions to it. Then we started on the natural supplements. That herx reaction included my right knee swelling up to 3 times its normal size and my elbow joint looking like a sledge hammer. One could not even make out that the i had a kneecap in that swollen leg. I went to a surgeon just for info. He said i needed both knee replacement and immediate elbow replacement. I did not sign up for it. 3 years later i still hobble around when i walk. Ozone treatment has helped the elbow more than the knee. In January this year we started stem cell treatment on the knee and i see slow improvement where my knee is now about 1.5 times its normal size but still swollen. I am about half way through that stem cell treatment and naturopath says that i will walk again hopefully normally in another half a year. I sure hope that your son's recovery will be way faster. He does have age and youth on his side and as such i wish you well with your son's healing.
Posted 6/3/2016 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
There I a lot of different opinions on treatment ,all confusing me. llmd says no steroids. How ever ,infectious disease and now rheumatology pediatric dr say he has done two solid months of doxy. and since the knee is still showing swelling hanging on ,their opinion is that the immune system is overly kicked in and needs to be brought down with a small injection of steroid. He has a high igg of antibodies produced. I saw his lab work yesterday . One thing I noticed is they did a PCR on his knee fluid back in April before the aux were started and it was negative before doxy. But a few weeks before he had finished a course of amox. for strep. I wonder if that had anything to do with the negative. I thought a positive PCR from knee fluid would show before doxy. Not sure though , still confused on a lot of things. Nothing is straight forward and confirmed on Lyme. We NEED more thorough studies done.
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