Question about Replaced Knees and RA

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I joined your list a few weeks ago and have been reading a lot of the

links and information. I have not been diagnosed with RA. I have been

told I have fibromyalgia and " something auto-immune " . I have major

problems with my knees, shoulders and back. I had one of my knees

replaced a year ago. It is much better than it was but I get swelling

and heat around it when I've walked too much. Can I have arthritis in

the joint even after its been replaced?

I have been told both knees had/have arthretic changes, bone spurs,

cartalige down to little or nothing etc. The one I replaced was the

more painful one. In my back I have protruding disks, bone spurs

everywhere, degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis and a lot of

pain. For my most painful shoulder they just give me steroids

injections. My blood work for RH factor is " borderline positive " 13

when 14 and over is considered positive. My ANA is positive and anti-

DNA is positive but only slightly on both accounts. My doc says she

doesn't need to repeat the blood work (it was in Dec) since it was

all " relatively unremarkable " .

Who knows, maybe it is fobromyalgia I just don't have the fatigue and

my pain is in specific joints and I don't have the tender points.

Thanks for listening!

in St. Louis

[Guest guest]

Hi . My knees are replaced and I occasionally get warmth and

swelling after activity.

Fibromyalgia doesn't erode joints. If you have RA and are not getting

treated for it, the erosion will continue.

I'm very surprised that your doctor doesn't think it is necessary to

repeat your blood tests considering he doesn't know what is wrong with

you. I would seek another opinion. Is your sed rate and CRP elevated?

a

On Jul 7, 2005, at 4:15 PM, kuehnlej wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I joined your list a few weeks ago and have been reading a lot of the

> links and information. I have not been diagnosed with RA. I have been

> told I have fibromyalgia and " something auto-immune " . I have major

> problems with my knees, shoulders and back. I had one of my knees

> replaced a year ago. It is much better than it was but I get swelling

> and heat around it when I've walked too much. Can I have arthritis in

> the joint even after its been replaced?

> I have been told both knees had/have arthretic changes, bone spurs,

> cartalige down to little or nothing etc. The one I replaced was the

> more painful one. In my back I have protruding disks, bone spurs

> everywhere, degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis and a lot of

> pain. For my most painful shoulder they just give me steroids

> injections. My blood work for RH factor is " borderline positive " 13

> when 14 and over is considered positive. My ANA is positive and anti-

> DNA is positive but only slightly on both accounts. My doc says she

> doesn't need to repeat the blood work (it was in Dec) since it was

> all " relatively unremarkable " .

>

> Who knows, maybe it is fobromyalgia I just don't have the fatigue and

> my pain is in specific joints and I don't have the tender points.

>

> Thanks for listening!

>

>   in St. Louis

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