Steroid injection not working 😕

[Haylonico]

Hi everyone. Im new to this group, but basically I am having a flare up after 6 years of no issues on Sulfasalazine. This is about 6 weeks after having Covid.

My biggest issues are my knees and normally a steroid injection and aspiration sorts me right out....only this time my knee has swollen straight back up after a few days...im so depressed with it...I hate being out of action and I cant have another steroid for 3 months. Has anyone had experience of this and know what I could try next?

Thanks so much 🙏

[patrickd]

Hi! I see you posted this many days ago but I'd like to say we have something in common! I had Covid last week in Feb to the first week in March and now I am having a horrible RA flare up after years of pretty much nothing! Wonder if there is something connected to Covid? Anyway, my knee has been bothering me consistently since August 2021 (tore Meniscus & regular arthritis). It was getting better until my recent RA flare so I was given a steroid injection to hopefully ease the pain! Well, that shot has done nothing to help at all. Usually, these injections help and usually they continue to work for a few months. I am feeling down too as I was doing so well and on a very, very low dose of steroids (I was trying to get off them completely). My RA MD increased my steroid dose (double) for the next 5 days to "hopefully" help me. This is the worst flare up I've EVER had in the 20 years of being diagnosed with RA! I am exhausted and my joints are ALL (so it feels like all) hurting...joints I didn't even know I had but now am forced to be aware of.

[Poojapanchamia20 Administrator in reply to patrickd]

Hi Patrickd, hope you are feeling better. I faced something very similar. I had covid in Jan, followed by one of the worst flares in Feb. Not sure if there is any connection, but it definitely acted as a trigger.

[patrickd in reply to Poojapanchamia20]

Well, it makes me feel a bit better that I'm not alone with the flare after Covid situation. Really has to be a direct connection! Thankfully, I temporary boost with my current Steroid dose has seemed to do the trick (so far). Hope you are feeling better now too!

[Paulandrew in reply to patrickd]

I have just had sudden inset RAafter covid, never had RA before. My Dr at Mayo Clinic Rheumatology told me he has seen a lot of this, from both the virus and vaccine, so yes there is a definite link with the covid virus. I guess we are the guinea pigs and we’ll find out in the next year or so if it dissipates (or not)

[Haylonico in reply to patrickd]

Hello Thanks for your email and sorry about the delay getting back to you. Wow, you sound exactly like me! I have had RA for 20 years also (well 22, I am 42 now). I caught Covid early Feb, so a bit further ahead than you, but still suffering I am afraid.

I was on Sulfasalazine and this had worked so well for 7 years,.you wouldnt have known I had RA- people didnt belive me- I am known as the fastest walker eev amongst friends! Like you, I just feel ill, everywhere hurts and I dont k ow if I am the only person to feel like this, but I feel like my whole body is stacked with rocks, if that makes sense? Heavy and uncomfortable and.like I dont fit in my own skin ☹

I have had two steroid injections now and currently tapering down a 3 wk course of oral steroids. I want to commence Hydroxychloroquine alongside my Sulfasalazine, but RHEUMATOLOGY are dragging their feet.

I only feel good when I drink lots of wine! Hope you feel better than me now and have had some relief xx

[patrickd in reply to Haylonico]

I WISH I could drink wine. For some reason, it makes my RA worse the next day or two after. Granted though, I thoroughly enjoy that glass of wine when I DO indulge. I hope you are doing "ok" on the tapering because it's tough! I mean, it's not always tough...sometimes it's totally unnoticeable but then there are those times when BOOM, it hits you and you are just dragging. BTW, I LOVE your description "stacked with rocks" because honestly, that is spot on! Anyway, I hope you too are better as usually with patience, our RA "flares" tend to calm (eventually)!

[Haylonico in reply to patrickd]

Hi there...I thanks for your reply. I have a funny feeling that, like you, I probably can't tolerate alcohol much nowadays, particularly when I am on such a 'pic n mix ' of drugs right now!

But I just love that chilled feeling I get when I have a drink.on the weekend and as sad as it sounds, its all I have to look forward to at the moment!!

When I'm.good, im good- I'm.very active and get out and about as often as a busy working Mom.can.do, but when I'm bad, I feel so deflated and depressed with it all....

How is your knee now? Mine has decreasednin swelling right now, but I know that as I am.finishingbthe steroids this week, it will be back.up again by next week....im.not meaning to be defeatist, but this is the experience I have had the last 2-3 months....I started Hydroxychloroquine again tonight, so its that along with an increase in Sulfasalazine, which I am.hoping will get me back to normal.....maybe I can continue with steroids a little longer if not- can I ask how many mgs and how long you have been taking your steroids for?

Thanks 😊 and sorry about the compulsive punctuation- im trying on my piddly phone and I'm all fingers and swollen thumbs! X