Got diagnosed with Pseudogout on knee...any suggestions?

[McEnborg]

Does anyone else have this? It's like a "false" gout, an arthritus where calcium pyrophosphate crystals get into the knee joint and sometime are embedded in the cartilage. Hurts like crap.

I've had the knee drained 4 times with cortisone injection as well over the last 6 weeks. Ortho doc wants to do Arthroscopic surgery to clean it out.
They say it's not really treatable but manageable for some, more degenerative for others.

Anybody know anything about this? I'm pushing 50.

[charliefedererer]

You mention an orthopod, but are you also under the care of an interninst or rheumatologist?

The reason I ask is that orthopods are very good at procedures, but won't pursue medicinal treatment as much as an internist or rhematologist.

A rheumatologist specializes in the treatment of arthritis, and if it was me, I would want to see a rheumatologist if I had a case as severe as it sounds yours is. They also are used to dealing with more powerful medications than the usual nonsteroidal anti inflamatory medications that most internist and orthopods use to control the average case of pseudogout.



Additionally, in some, pseudogout is caused by another disease - an internist or rhematologist is more likely to look to see if there is another disease causing your pseudogout.

"Pseudogout mainly affects the elderly. However, it can sometimes affect younger patients who have conditions such as these as listed by the National Institute of Health on their web page:
Acromegaly
Hemochromatosis
Ochronosis
Parathyroid disease
Thyroid disease
Wilson disease
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001458/

I highly recommend you read that web page for more information - it is only one page long and appears fairly easy to understand.



Here is the web page from the American College of Rheumatology. It describes diagnosis and treatement, and the role of the rheumatologist.
http://www.rheumatology.org/practice...pseudogout.asp

[McEnborg]

Wow, I really appreciate all of that. Thanks so much!!