HI!

[Guest guest]

I wish I'd found you guys months ago! My knee pain started when I

lost 50 pounds last year. With more physical activity and long

periods of sitting or driving, the pain continued to worsen, and

finally progressed fairly rapidly to the point that I was in pain all

of the time. I went to a orthopeadic surgeon who told me I was " still

too fat " (yep, that's a quote) and that the pain was normal for an

overweight 26 yr. old (40 lbs. overweight at that time). I lost

another 30 lbs. and the pain was still worse, I was taking time off of

work, my weight loss was stalled since I couldn't exercise without a

lot of pain, so I finally decided to get another opinion. I was sent

to P.T. for 12 weeks, and when that didn't work, I went to KU Med and

the surgeon said my kneecaps were " frozen in place " , and a L.R. was

necessary on both knees. I did my right knee in Sept. this year and

my left in November. The surgeon removed scar tissue from under both

patellae which was also wrapped around them and pulling them out of

alignment. He also found a little cartilage damage on the left knee

and I was officially diagnosed with CM, and am now doing my own

research on it.

I was progressing well after surgery, but the pain is worse in my

right knee now. I was told I was overcompensating post left-knee

surgery, and that I needed to strength train some more. I work out 5

days a week, 2 days of weights, 2 of cardio, 1 of both. My P.T. had

me doing the leg extension machine with full arc, and I was just told

by the doctor that I shouldn't be going over 30-40 degrees! Too bad

they didn't communicate that before I did 3 months with full arc!!!

He thought that it would take 12-18 months of rehab (on my own) at 4-5

times a week to " control not cure " the pain. I was pretty frustrated

and am glad I found this group!

I have good pain control with ice, and am in no pain as long as I'm on

the elliptical or recumbent bike or walking/standing, but as soon as I

sit for more than 30 seconds, it's back to the pain again; forget

about sleep. I'm on 800 mg. ibuprofen TID, and am trying not to take

the Darvocet because it makes me sleepy.

My question is: do any of you have any suggestions for cardio? I live

in a very small town, and don't have pool access, but my gym has

elliptical, bikes, and treadmill. I did the treadmill yesterday and

noticed that I hurt more that night than usual, but perhaps going from

2 times a week of P.T. to 5 times on my own was just too ambitious?

I'm so close to my weight-loss goal that it's hard to hold back on the

activity. I always laughed when people claimed to be

exercise-junkies, but it is pretty addictive!

Whew! Thanks for letting me vent; I feel better already!

~molly