Should I be concerned?

Posted by simplyvee @simplyvee, Dec 25, 2022

Just having so much pain in my left knee/leg (in the photos it’s the one of the right). I finally decided to look and in my opinion, it definitely looks swollen, etc. I added a photo of my toes as well, and that’s just something that happens on and off all the time. To note as well, I’ve had blood work done, at least a basic one and it shows no signs of anemia, etc. I’m just so confused and starting to get frustrated. The one and only time I mentioned my concerns to my PCP she wrote me off and said it was just anxiety, however, you very clearly can see in photos that things just don’t seem “completely fine.”

There’s so many other symptoms I’ve had that started maybe around 2019-2020ish and it’s just all gotten worse since. This knee pain has been lingering since then as well but I’m finally just fed up enough that I decided to take some photos and post online to get another opinion. I know no one can diagnose and that’s not what I’m looking for, just at least wanting some insight. Not touching on all the symptoms I’ve been going through, that would take too long, so just my knee; the pain is throbbing sometimes especially at night in my knee and thigh. It radiates heat, that whole leg does. It’s swollen and just looks funky. I get sharp pains too sometimes and the other day I was grocery shopping and it out of the blue felt like it gave out or something. I was in a bunch of pain, had to stop for a moment and then finish up with a limp. It’s just frustrating. I don’t do any sports anymore so I don’t think it’s some sports related injury or injury in general, but I could be wrong.

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Guys it’s gotten worse. 🥺

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Have you always been flexible? Look up Beighton Score and see if Connective Tissue Disorder is the reason for your bruising. I am old and, although always flexible, did not know that I had the disorder until some related issues happened. If you can do the flexibility tests it is then possible that your knee is hyper-extended. I overused one leg after a bad operation and now have a knee that looks like your pic. The Xrays showed a total misalignment of the thigh and calf leg bones at the knee. Just had prolotherapy to tighten the ligaments within the knee and am hoping for excellent results.
Good luck finding your answers

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@rjmtwit

Have you always been flexible? Look up Beighton Score and see if Connective Tissue Disorder is the reason for your bruising. I am old and, although always flexible, did not know that I had the disorder until some related issues happened. If you can do the flexibility tests it is then possible that your knee is hyper-extended. I overused one leg after a bad operation and now have a knee that looks like your pic. The Xrays showed a total misalignment of the thigh and calf leg bones at the knee. Just had prolotherapy to tighten the ligaments within the knee and am hoping for excellent results.
Good luck finding your answers

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I definitely used to be! Was a figure skater for much of my life and still am a bit but that’s something I’ll look into as well, thank you! I hope yours start to feel better! 🫂

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@rjmtwit

Have you always been flexible? Look up Beighton Score and see if Connective Tissue Disorder is the reason for your bruising. I am old and, although always flexible, did not know that I had the disorder until some related issues happened. If you can do the flexibility tests it is then possible that your knee is hyper-extended. I overused one leg after a bad operation and now have a knee that looks like your pic. The Xrays showed a total misalignment of the thigh and calf leg bones at the knee. Just had prolotherapy to tighten the ligaments within the knee and am hoping for excellent results.
Good luck finding your answers

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Sounds like Ehlers Danlos Syndrome ….hypermobility…this is not just a knee condition or joint condition….fascia…..which is everywhere. Look deeply into this to better protect your future . I have it and it’s genetic.There are millions of us !

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@terrirussell

Sounds like Ehlers Danlos Syndrome ….hypermobility…this is not just a knee condition or joint condition….fascia…..which is everywhere. Look deeply into this to better protect your future . I have it and it’s genetic.There are millions of us !

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Thanks. I do know about all that. EDS is a connective tissue disorder. There are also many of us who have not had issues until were are older. hEDS is not well known among the medical profession, and I found it better to just deal with the issues as "connective tissue disorder", finding solutions for controlling the places that hyper-mobility shows up, It can be minimized and kept under control. Prolotherapy for SI attached ligaments stopped my subluxing hip. Now I have movements to keep the SI Joint in line .... knee to the chest, gently stretching the illiopsoas and the hamstrings, etc.
Hope you have found ways too!

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@rjmtwit

Thanks. I do know about all that. EDS is a connective tissue disorder. There are also many of us who have not had issues until were are older. hEDS is not well known among the medical profession, and I found it better to just deal with the issues as "connective tissue disorder", finding solutions for controlling the places that hyper-mobility shows up, It can be minimized and kept under control. Prolotherapy for SI attached ligaments stopped my subluxing hip. Now I have movements to keep the SI Joint in line .... knee to the chest, gently stretching the illiopsoas and the hamstrings, etc.
Hope you have found ways too!

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That’s wonderful and yes boy do I get that it’s not recognized. I have worn the shirts and put magnets on my car and have bracelets and am constantly quizzing doctors! The Zebra has become more well known and I do my little part. My way is to have each joint corrected . If I had known all that was ahead of me I would have moved south as a young woman and worked out daily in my own salt water pool. I waited too long and circumstances kept me in the north where the cold did a lot of damage!

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Glad you are doing pretty well. Do tell me what you mean by having each joint corrected. I seem to have a different view of hypermobility and what can be corrected and what is just "what it is".
Me, I am a Northerner, but one who grew up a Tom Boy, played sports, built the muscles I believe held me mostly together for so long, and kept them going 'til somewhere in my seventies! Knowing now about hyper-mobility, I can see that it was present from the beginning, but my case is probably light and I just stayed away from things that stretched the joints to far. I remember thinking I could build a bit of upper body strength at the tennis club on one of those machines, but quit after a week or so. The machines took my shoulders way back and it felt too far!

Think you are right about the pool, though. My daughter, who inherited my joints, became a swimmer at a young age when she developed a bit of scoliosis and a friend who was an orthopod said ... l don't let them operate right now, she will be in a cast for 6 months. Build her some muscles. She liked to swim, so we signed her up for the Y swim team. It held her back together until she needed a lumbar joint fix 30+ years later!!

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So update: the doctors think what I have is Lupus and I’m in a flare that’s attacking multiple parts of my body. They found diverticulosis in my colon last night and my labs and vitals are all over the place. One doctor wants to check for cancers but they are pretty sure it’s Lupus. Have more blood tests and stuff tomorrow and next week. It’s a lot to process and scary, but I’m hanging in there. Just sad.

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@simplyvee

Hi John, thank you for the reply!
So I’m currently 27 years old and I stopped doing sports at 18–so it’s truly been a long time. I don’t do any strenuous activities anymore so I think that’s where a lot of my concern of coming from. It’s not shown in the photos I posted but I also keep randomly popping up with bruises on my legs and back. So it’s all unexplainable to me given I don't do anything (like bumping into anything or running or anything like that to be causing it). It’s just strange to me.

I have already messaged me PCP and I’m hoping she’ll order an x-ray to find out what might be going on. I do thinks that my best bet as it’s just getting progressively worse.

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You should see a rheumatologist. They will check your blood for diseases. I was diagnosed with sjogrens syndrome and gout.
My knees were doing the same thing and the bruises were from bursitis.

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Any caregiver tells you it's stress your response should be, your fired! I fired 9 Dr's in one day a statement such as this is an insult. But being 6ft 8in and 385lbs I can get by with firing Dr's upon rude comments such as this.

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