achillies tendon flare | Arthritis Information

I have been a flare since Aug.08 and I have been suffering from achillies pain had MRI showed small tear was in aircast for 8 weeks and still had trouble. I had rhuemy appt last month he looked at it said next month we will ultasound it and put an injection in it if it is still troubled... well of course yesterday was my orencia day and had the ultrasoubd done and it showed so much inflamation still so he injected it which I have had injections everywhere but none was as painful as that,,, well i can walk today and it is not achining but the tendon up the back of my leg up to my butt cheeks is.. so got my sed rate and again it was up over 80 has been that way since Aug also. Something is not working. I guess if this injection doesn't work then my next step is surgery. He said that they would make an incission and clean out all the inflamation. I read about it and I think they cut that tendon in two and clean it up and reatach it. Has anyone had this done? I am to my witts end with this pain. I would appreciate some feed back. I already know that some wrote about not doing the injection because it could cause a rupture but had to do something to get some relief... oh yeah mention the pain going up back of leg it was doing that before injection. Thanks LauraLaura- my husband has achilles problems too. He usually does PT and after a long time it goes away but it always comes back. He too got the injection and then another doctor told him he should never of had that done because it could have ruptured.

I'll be curious to see what others write and if you have the surgery please post and let us know the outcome.

I wish you the best of luck in getting some relief! I know it is very painful.

I haven't had my achilles cleaned and reattached.....

but I've had my knee opened all up.. scraped clean down to the bone.. knee cap rebuilt and attached....... and it felt like 150million dollars for awhile.

Oofa! Both of these things sound so painful.

Laura,

I get the Achilles flare too from time to time. It doesn't seem to be helped by anything. It sounds like you are doing all of the right things. It is a stubborn flare for sure. I hope the injection helps. My sed rate is always over 100. that just tells me the RA is severe and hard to manage. I don't remember ever being without severe pain and the skin feels like it is burning all of the time due to the inflammation. It has been 14 years. I see you have connective tissue disorder. I was recently told I had mctd. I suppose many of us do and I am thinking that is why it has been so hard to manage the inflammation and pain. How were you doing pain-wise before the Achilles tendon started flaring. Are you taking steroids? I know steroids can weaken the tendons among many other side effects. I am on 5 mg now but have been on as much as 100 mg and have been off and on steroids since this whole thing began.

Hope the injections work for you, however. take care.

I am sorry to hear of your pain. I hope you can get some relief soon.

Please keep us posted.

Shelly63,

my pain level is high. It has been ever since Aug. I can't seem to shake this flare I am in. I had it so bad that it flared in my lower middle back and achillies I was down for the count. One thing that happened was that from the pain in middle back made them check my gall bladder which they prompltly removed. Now that pain has gone away. I am on orencia and was on mtx also but mouth sores got so bad went off myx and then it hit me. I am back on mtx but it hasn't kicked in. My foot is feeling fine right now and I dread the day it wears off. I have not ever been on alot of steroids untill Aug. when this happened I had to have several iv's of solmedrol also from low back pain I had several epidural injections which helped for awhile. now that my foot has eased off I can feel it in my hands and knees and hips. I get so tired of going to the dr. and he says how do you feel he looks at my hands and says oh they look good no swelling but the pain is incrediable in my wrist and thumb area. I don't get it how can there be so much pain but not have the red swollen joints. Now my achillies is red and swollen and sore to even look at.... anyways thanks for all the comments . Hope this day has been a good one for you all. Laura

I was hoping I would be able to say hey that injection really helped and all is good. But as the weekend approahed so did the pain. I can hardly walk and have been feeling so lousy called the Dr. but haven't heard a word from them yet. It is as swollen as ever. That what it has been like for months now everytime I get an injection anywhere or have to have IV of steroids it is ok but when it wears off it is worse than ever it is driving me crazy. I don't know what the next move will be but I need to get this fixed. Maybe thats the problem there in no fix for it. Is it just part of the RA and you live with it like all the other stuff you have to live with. Just venting sorry.... Hope all is well today. LauraLaura- sorry to hear this. Last time my husband got an injection in his heel it did not work. They gave him another one a couple days later with no result. (Didn't even think they are supposed to do that.) Then he went to PT 3 x a week for a month and it finally went away. Not sure if it was the therapy or just time going by......

Good luck to you in finding relief somehow.

Hi Laura,

Just saw your post to me. I don't know why I thought when you said injections you meant biologics. I took enbrel and humira for so long that's what I initially thought you meant but yes the docs love to give steroids. it's their secret weapon. it is very dangerous, highly addictive and very temporary. you need more and more of the stuff quickly to get any real relief. then after you taper it, it just becomes a headache and you try not to taper too fast. I really do not feel my hips would be as damaged as they are if I had not been given the steroids so often. the docs are supposed to be careful about that but every time I went in for flares that is what I got, corticosteroid injections in my hip and a few times in the knees. so now I turn to the gadgets and rest for flares. staying hydrated and if you have pain meds that work would be great. they are all temporary but so are the injections.

I hope today brings comfort and relief from the constant pain. take it easy.

Just a little update... called the dr. Monday because was in so much pain. I guess I jumped the gun a little the injection I got of course wore off fast but I am walking on my foot good right now. It is feeling better than it has in a long time. Maybe the corizone shot has worked on the inflamation and it will be ok. We will see but now I am happy that it is not hurting. Shelly I am on Orencia now for 2 yrs it has stopped working..for me I do not take steroids except shots or once in awhile an IV of sole medrol when sed rate is high. I am finding that it makes you feel good for awhile but when it wears off watch out... I have my first meeting on my applying for disability on Monday. I am nervous about it. What is too much ifo or not enough. I hope everyone is having a great day. Laura

I'm so glad your foot is feeling better! I am always amazed at how my husband can go from horrific pain to fine again. I don't know how it goes away!
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