Hello! My name is Lisa, I'm 44, and I live in Iowa. I'm going to try to make this as short as I can, but please bear with me: I'm waiting for a diagnosis that my orthopedist is relatively sure will be one of RA. Basically, my knees are gone; between my last X-rays a year ago and a set yesterday, my joints have deterioriated to the degree he commonly would see in five year's time. I'm bone-on-bone in both knees, with significant pain and swelling in my left. I had a cortisone injection yesterday and will have Synvisc as soon as my insurance company agrees to cover it for me, probably in about two weeks' time.
Prior to yesterday, my ortho believed I had OA based on my symptoms (joint deterioriation and spurring) plus strong family history, but the degree of deterioriation and deformation in such a short time is leading him to believe that RA may be the underlying cause, and that I in fact have both OA and RA.
My ortho is suggesting replacement of the left knee within a year, and I'm really OK with that; believe me, the relief would be worth all the negative things about the surgery.
My questions: I'd like to hear more about Synvisc. I've read quite a bit about it; has anyone seen it "buy them time" before knee replacement? Also, I was diagnosed with Hasimoto's thyroiditis in 1998 and had my thyroid removed for a malignancy that same year; as there's a connection between autoimmune diseases, I'm wondering if anyone here has RA plus Hashimoto's.
Thanks for your time!
If you click on the Active Topics at the top then start a New topic you will get more feedback about your questions.
I just wanted to welcome you and try and piont you in a better direction.
Jay