PMR vs ARTHRITIS in your knees

I had severe degenerative arthritis in my knees from injuries and subsequent knee surgeries playing high school sports. Knee surgery in the 1970's wasn't very good. They said I needed knee replacements when I was 30 but I had to wait until I was 60 to do knee replacements. I remember what knee pain felt like before PMR was diagnosed. After PMR was diagnosed my knee pain was all part of my generalized PMR pain. I didn't notice my knee pain so much. I think Prednisone took care of the majority of my knee pain too.

I was diagnosed with PMR at the age of 52. I had both knees replaced at the age of 62. After my knees were replaced, I was able to decrease my Prednisone dose by 10 mg.

@dadcue I tore the cartiliage on my right knee in 1969. Then a year later tore the ACL. I had knee surgery in 1970. I was in the hospital for 11 days. Thats how far they have come with surgery. I had to live with pain due to the arthritis - bone on bone. I had it replaced in 2004 at 52. I agree I didnt notice specifically knee pain with PMR. I have DA in both hips. Get the right one next week. Its an outpatient surgery done with help of a robot...

@tuckerp

I had several injuries and knee surgeries in the 1970s. They kept removing various parts of my knees and said I wouldn't need those parts anymore. I was bone on bone because all my knee cartilage was surgically removed. I blame myself because I was told that I shouldn't do any "high impact" sports but I did it anyway.

By the time I was 30, bone fragments in my knee were removed. They called the fragments "loose bodies" and said my knee was unstable. That was when orthopedic doctors wanted to remove my entire knee except I was too young for knee replacements. I did cut back on the high impact stuff and took up bicycle riding.

My experience with rheumatology wasn't much better. I was diagnosed by an internal medicine doctor with reactive arthritis when I was 32. Since I already had severe degenerative arthritis in both knees, I was told to see a rheumatologist. I wasn't sure what a rheumatologist did except I was told they were the arthritis specialists. As it turned out, the rheumatologist I saw didn't do much other than tell me I needed knee replacements and prescribed NSAIDS.

I'm grateful for my ophthalmologist that treated me all through my 30's and 40's. If it wasn't for having uveitis flares every 6 months to a year or so and getting prescribed 60 mg of Prednisone each time ... I don't know how I would have survived.

My ophthalmologist referred me to neurology when trigeminal neuralgia became a problem. I thought those nerve pain medications were going to kill me. I felt like I was digging my own grave and couldn't get out of the hole I was in. I stopped seeing neurology and self medicated trigeminal neuralgia with the leftover Prednisone that my ophthalmologist prescribed for uveitis.

Everything was "good" until I decided to throw away my stockpile of leftover Prednisone. That was when all hell broke loose and I got referred back to rheumatology. I actually told the rheumatologist that all hell broke loose if I didn't take Prednisone. I was told that I couldn't take prednisone for hell.

PMR was eventually diagnosed and I was told to take Prednisone everyday. Until then, I only took bursts of high dose Prednisone but I always tapered off in a month or two each time. For the longest time, I thought PMR was a blessing because I could legitimately take Prednisone with a prescription that said to take it everyday.

I have been on and off prednisone for 7 ears now. When my inflammatory markers are high enough I can no longer "feel" the osteo arthritic pain in my knees and shoulders. Also, if I am on a high enough dose of prednisone, like above 10mg/day I still cannot feel the OA pain. At around 10mg/day and the inflammatory markers being close to or in normal range I begin to feel the OA knee and shoulder pain. I routinely receive hyaluronic acid injections (the knee gel injections you hear advertised on TV) for the OA pain in my knees. I get either steroid or hyaluronic acid in my shoulders also.

@jabrown0407

I couldn't feel too much knee pain when I was on Prednisone. I could feel the arthritis when I put my hand on my knees and did some flexion and extensions. It felt like something was grinding in there. I could hear a lot of noise too. They called the noise crepitus but normally it can't be heard way across the room because my crepitus was very loud.

The fact that I couldn't feel too much knee pain while on prednisone but could feel and hear significant grinding suggested to my rheumatologist that prednisone was only decreasing the inflammation in my knees. Prednisone was never going to remove the structural damage already present in my knee. I probably could have had my knees replaced sooner except the surgeon said I wasn't a good surgical candidate for knee replacements because of needing so much Prednisone.

I've had knee pain since high school. I was told it was because I had flat feet. I wore arches for years but it didn't really feel like it made a difference. I had my first knee surgery in my 30's and he butchered my knee. I found a good orthopedic and had two more surgeries on that knee in my early 40's and 50's to scrape down the cartilage that was being shredded by my knee. He retired before I turned 60 and I've been dealing with it for the last 15 or so years. I'm 73 now and was diagnosed with PMR this year. I don't think I feel PMR in my knees as much as I feel the arthritis. I know that what I feel when it rains or when the weather is changing is the arthritis because I have felt that most of my life. The PMR is mainly in my shoulders and hips. It is a deep ache that never completely goes away on 25mg prednisone and feels like it affects the joints and surrounding muscles. The arthritis feels different and does not affect my muscles.

I had pain in my shoulders, hips, neck, and hands, but not my knees. After tapering off prednisone, I started feeling pain in my swollen right knee which was diagnosed as arthritis. Meloxicam did nothing for my PMR (before diagnosis), but it takes my arthritis pain right out.

@54pontiac
I have a hard time telling if my knee pain is from PMR or arthritis. I had arthroscopic knee surgery shortly before being diagnosed with PMR. Then recovery went poorly and everything hurt. Frozen shoulder, PRP's, cortisone shots, knees hurt so bad I couldn't walk or exercise. One thing lead to another over the following months and finally the PMR diagnoses. I will try the Meloxicam to see if that might help.

I was told to not take Meloxicam if I was taking steroids (which I still am). Just saying - check the interactions...

My PMR is finally in my knees (after being everywhere else.) But I too have bad knees with grinding and clicking but managing ok. Just went to my PC who suggested BPC-157. Anyone hear of this or experience with taking it?