Good morning all.
I'm so happy to have found this site. To cut a long story short, I had a loose fragment taken out from my kneecap by arthroscopy on July 26th. I was super fit and did many sports 7 days a week previous. Also it showed up on my first MRI that I have grade 4 patellofemoral osteoarthritis which tbh had not really caused me any concern before the operation.
Since then, 12 wks has passed and I have got progressively worse. I read about this disease quite early on and my consultant and one physio almost laughed when I mentioned it. I am still on crutches and can't walk that far. I can only bend my knee to 80 degrees and I have become severely restricted in doing anything. I do have full extension though. I am very depressed.
Fortunately I did find another consultant in London who deals with arthrofibrosis ( the only one in the uk) who I have seen and last week I had an injection of anakinra in the knee. He says he has had good success with this but also not success so I am presently waiting.
Along the journey I've very mixed opinions with the physio.I was told immediately to be off crutches, then on. Now I'm doing lots of straight leg lifts and quad sets as my right thigh has lost a lot of muscle. Sometimes I'm not sure whether these help.
I'm also on naproxen and paracetemol. I've been on naproxen for ages and hate the idea of constantly taking these pills. I've also seen a pain specialist who has suggested duloxitine but not until we see how the anakinra injection has worked.
This all plays with my mind and I'm not sure when but if it doesn't work, my next option the consultant suggested would be another arthroscopy above the patella to try and remove the scar tissue. He does not use a tourniquet and I think would prefer to use most other options before surgery.
I'd be most grateful for any suggestions to do with painkillers and anything at all you could help me with , with all your knowledge as it gets very confusing and deeply plays with my mind as only 3 months ago I was a very different person.
Thank you
Nicola
Thank you very much for all your advice and such a swift response.
I do get achey legs after standing for a long time or walking. I wouldn't say extremely painful but almost like a low grade burning. But then sometimes I think , well of course my leg feels weird and funny as it hasn't been used for 3mths and before that I was running and walking many miles a day.
There was a time when I wasn't taking any painkillers and then I got put back on them and tbh, I'm not sure the Naproxen makes that much difference anyway. It's annoying as both the Doctor and the pain specialist recommended I still take them. It's very upsetting as you automatically trust these professionals and just do as your told but when things sten't working then it's time for a change. Before any of this happened I'd barely touched a pill in my life.
I live in Oxford, England and there has never been a mention of a cpm. I wouldn't even know where to start to get hold of one or for someone to teach me how to use it. Do you know where I cound get hold of one?