Hi everyone.
I have severe pain in my knee - the pain goes from my knee up to my hip. The pain is relatively recent (for the last 2 months) and it gets worse the more I walk around. I'm on sulphasalizine, methotrexate and indocin and the swelling/fluid I've had in my knee for over a year now has just recently settled down.
At my own request I've just had my hip and knee x-rayed, which showed no bone damage. Is it correct that only a MRI scan would show cartilage changes? I'm certainly not imagining the pain and am taking 60mg codeine for it, when required. I see my rheumatologist in 2 weeks time and wonder whether I should nag him for a MRI referral.
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Wendy
Wendy~have you had a cortisone injection? If not I'd ask for one of those before the MRI.
MRI's show more than an X-Ray; but they are expensive. My insurance only pays a small portion of test like that and the rest comes out of my pocket. Now if your insurance pays for yours or money is no object; I'd say "Sure...couldn't hurt" but for me the stress the added expense caused me was worse than not knowing exactly what was wrong with my back. Now I know....and not much has changed; except my bank account of course.
A cortisone injection could make a huge difference. You've probable already done this though.
Hoep you feel better soon.
Wendy,
I know you said that the pain goes from your knee to your hip, but I thought I should mention this anyway. I began having what I thought was hip pain last year in Sep. The pain gradually went to my knee and then down to my toes. It turned out to be a herniated disk at L5 S1 which effected the sciatic nerve. The pain really began in my rear and it hurt to walk - I never had back pain. An MRI diagnosed it but by the time I was able to get in for the cortisone injection it was too late. I was in such pain surgery was my only option. Not trying to scare you, just to urge you to get help.
Hope this helps,
Stacy
The day I went to my RD to show him my swollen knee, which I could barely walk on, he withdrew a huge syringe full of fluid and injected cortizone. I was instantly pain free. That was over a year ago and I haven't had any trouble with my knee since.
I've never had good insurance since I've had RA and so I pay for the majority of my tests. My xrays show minimal damage, but the MRI shows extensive.
I think you should try and get in and see the doctor sooner and find what is causing all of this. Something is going and it shouldn't be dismissed.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I have had 4-5 cortisone shots in that knee over the last year (roughly one every 3 months). I will definitely follow this up at my rheumy appointment.
MRI shows soft tissue, so yeah it is totally diff. than an Xray. If you have good ins. you should def ask for one...
I agree....doesn't sounds like the cortisone injections are doing any good. I've always gotten good;quick results. If you haven't so far it doesn't sound like you will.
Good Luck.....keep us informed of your situation.
Hi there,
I saw my rheumatologist today and he manipulated my painful leg every which way, to see whether the pain was coming from my knee or my hip. (I have had both x-rayed recently and they both looked normal.)
The good news is he thinks I have inflammation in my hip now, causing the pain. (Our definition of 'good news' is pretty screwy isn't it? It's good news because I thought I may have joint damage in my knee!) So I have an appt to have a cortisone shot into the hip and hopefully that might settle it down. If not, I'm to have an MRI of the hip. So you were right Lovie!
It's so weird because the mtx has settled down my bad knee, in terms of swelling/fluid, after being swollen for a year, but my latest blood test inflammation count was the highest it's ever been (due to the hip I guess)! I feel like a bush fire, in that you dampen down one hot-spot and another area flares up.
Anyway, thanks all for your advice. This site has been such a support to me
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