About knee pain and swelling?
no looking for a diagnosis, just information about what to tell my doc.
43 yeas old with fibromyalgia that greatly affects my right leg for some reason. Friday evening, i went to get up quickly and my foot got hung up on the ottoman of the chair and knee twisted. this is the second twist i have had of the same knee. first twist included a popping sensation half way down the outside of my leg - between the muscle of my calf and shin bones (not sure that makes any sense.) anyway, that spot burns, the top of my foot hurts by my big toe, and behind my knee is very painful. feels better if i am standing or sitting with it straight out and supported. heat feels better than ice although the knee is swollen.
had a knee xray after first twist with no abnormalities. any thoughts on what i should tell the doctor to make my symptoms as clear as possible? what can i do until i get into the doctor?
Public Comments
1. Fibromyalgia is defined as a pain without evidence of abnormality. I'd say you have two different problems. Your knee problem would appear to be traumatic and not related to the fibromyalgia and needs to be treated as such. If heat feels better, then use it, but usually swelling is best treated with ice so you may want to alternate the heat with ice. You might take aspirin or advil or something that reduces inflammation. Be sure you tell your doctor about how you caught your leg and twisted the knee and then it started to swell. You probably re-injured it and hurt whatever it was that popped the first time. Usually, these things never get accurately diagnosed, they just resolve over time. That's because to do so would involve invasive and costly tests that would cause more damage than they are worth. Rest and time are the only cure.2. Not to be hammering the point that FM has become a dumping ground for difficult cases, but it has. FM does not have physical signs to insure proper diagnosis so some doctors are quick to label a hard to nail down case FM instead of saying they do not know. I too was told I had FM over 20 years ago. My family doctor did not agree, he felt because I had swelling in my knees and feet as well as other physical signs that it was something more serious but the tests then were not yet able to see what they can now and specialists "diagnosed" me with half a dozen problems over the years. Most of the time I was just considered a hypochondriac since my symptoms were all over the place.
This past year a possible mild stroke sent me to the ER for extended testing. Within a few days my diagnoses was changed to Multiple Sclerosis.The swellings were caused by weakness in my muscles that hold the knees in line. The failure of just on tiny muscle can cause repeat injuries to the joints.
I suggest you make sure you haven't been given a handy diagnosis in lieu of proper investigation into your ailment.
Good luck!
