Why have I hobbled to the point of collapse on a knee that has been so painful for 6 weeks , when I knew that a phone cally to the rheumy advice line would sort it. Yes they've woven their magic again, just a five day wait and its been drained and injected with steroids yesterday, and today its like a miracle I can walk , not perfecty but with a stick and it just feels sooooooooo much better. Anyway one know how many times you can have this done? I think this is the 6th or 7th time but only the 2nd this year.

Also I've been having physio on the knee for around 4 weeks twice a week and I swear its made it worse, apparently its supposed to make the muscles around the joint strong enough to support an unstable knee that will have to be replaced in the future. Anyone else found that physio has irritated rather helped a joint?

Hoping you are all okayish or better
Sheila

Hi Sheila,

Glad you`ve got some relief from your knee. I was told generally about 6 months between steroid jabs, but no limit on how many times you can have the joint drained, which in itself brings some measure of relief.

Having said that, I`ve been really struggling for months now with trochanteric bursitis, and I had two injections in a fortnight in an effort to clear it up - this was in August, and I`m about to phone rheumy nurse to say it`s becoming excruciating again - can`t lie on that side, can`t walk properly and stairs are a no-go area at present. My consultant is a bit more "gung-ho" with steroid jabs than my GP would be, but the last one didn`t really work well, and soon wore off.

I haven`t had any physio - I think it would have to be a physio with a special interest in RA for me to be confident they`d know what they were doing.

Take care,

Kathleen x