By liz on Monday, June 05, 2000 - 03:36 pm:

I'm a student with patellar tendonitis in my left knee. I'm pretty active, and five days ago right knee became very swollen - I have no recollection of hurting it, and I
feel no pain in the knee.In the past 5 days I've been treating the swelling with ibuprofen and wearing a sleeve. This has been successful so far, but its taking some
time to return to normal...
has anyone experienced similar symptoms?
swollen knee - no pain

does this sound like a quadracep tear or ligament sprain?

By Janie on Monday, June 05, 2000 - 03:36 pm:

Hi,
It sounds to me as though you've something else happening with your knee other than a tear. From my experience, a tear has a very specific sharp pain right at the
site of the torn ligament or whatever is torn. I would strongly suggest trying to have an x-ray and/or MRI done because I think you're dealing with something
completely different. Perhaps it could be some sort of infection? I really don't know, but I'd be very interested to find out what it is. I'm sure you're not the only one
who has had this problem.
Very best wishes for a speedy recovery,
Janie

By liz on Monday, June 05, 2000 - 03:37 pm:

Janie,

thanks...I'll pass on my findings.

Liz

By david on Wednesday, May 23, 2001 - 10:40 am:

Last May (2000), I moved from Tennessee to San Francisco, CA. I had never had pain in my major joints, such as arms, legs, etc., until moving here. I first developed a pain and stiffness in my right knee. I thought that perhaps I had injured my knee, twisted it or something running to catch public transportation. Then I thought that perhaps it was my shoes. I bought a new pair, which because of the newness, caused blisters, so I had to quit them. I then bought a new pair of tennis shoes. That helped, but not as much as I thought it would. Perhaps it was my imagination, but on a visit back to Tennessee, it seemed the pain in my knee went away. When I returned to San Francisco, the pain came back in a day or two. I began rubbing Ben Gay, Icy Hot and similiar products into my knee joint which helped to alleviate the pain, but not the stiffness. The stiffness becomes worse after sitting for a while, and once I get up, is not only painful, but takes me a while of walking, hobbling about to get going. I tried wearing an elastic sleeve for a while, and it made my leg and knee feel tremendously better; however, after a couple of days, I began to get extreme swelling in my whole leg and feet. I discontinued that out of fear something was going wrong. The swelling went down with discontinued use. I went to the doctor for a physical. He did a full run of blood tests as well as MRI. The MRI came back with no problems. The blood tests was okay, except it showed high triglycerides and slight elevation of ureic acid. My maternal grandpa had gout and the doctor asked me about it, but said it had not reached a level that was significant. He did caution that watching my diet and eating right would reduce both the triglyceride and ureic acid problems. I have been watching my diet, especially cutting out red meats and fatty foods as much as possible. The thing that bothers me now is that the stiffness and pain has began in my left elbow and is about as bad as in the knee. Sometimes it is difficult for me to pick up anything with the left hand because of the pain. The stiffness is sometimes in my left knee, but does not cause me any significant trouble or difficulty. I would say it is within a normal range of toleration. I have often wondered if the dampness of this area is an aggravating condition, being close to the ocean. I have no injuries to my knowledge to the right knee. I did tear the ligaments in my left foot with a fall seveal years back, along with a twisting of my right hip, but these areas do not hurt. The pain is primarily in the right knee where, to my knowledge, no injury has occurred. Could this be some form of developing arthritis, muscle problems or something else? Any information will be greatly appreciated.

David M
davidmnsf@yahoo.com

By Lin on Wednesday, May 23, 2001 - 01:52 pm:

I dont have much to comment, but it doesnt sound like anything with hypermobility, because usualing pain lessens in warm humid climates, i am in more pain in dry, cold areas.... I realy dont know...
Lin

By Iggie on Thursday, May 24, 2001 - 05:22 am:

David,

Your description of your knee problems sounds similar to my experience with my knees, and I have EDS III and chondromalacia patellae. In fact, the UK Hypermobility Syndrome Association prints cards to carry that include the wording, " ...staying in one position for too long may increase ... pain!"

Hope this helps!

Iggie

By Lin on Thursday, May 24, 2001 - 07:09 am:

I have chondromalacia patella and EDS III also, and it doesnt sound like my pain...
Lin