Irreparable Knee damage

[Sammie46]

I am finally seeing my rheumy for the 2nd time on wednesday hopefully with a diagnosis and to start treatment. How long does a joint take to become damaged beyond repair ? I know we are all different i believe one of my knees is very damaged and will never bee the same again. The other thing is my feet are incredibly swollen along with my left had. My feet for now 6 weeks so i can barely walk and my left hand 4 weeks. Do you receive steroids to bring the swelling down ?

[helixhelix]

It can take a very long time.... when I was first diagnosed just about all my joints were hugely swollen, very painful and I could hardly use any of them. I couldn't walk more than 50metres, hold a teacup or cut up my dinner. I really thought that was it and they were permanently damaged. But no. Roll forward a year and they were largely back to normal. And the only permanent damage I have is from a few years later when I stupidly dropped doses of my drugs.

So don’t despair, wait and see what the consultant says and you might be pleasantly surprised. And yes, steroids really helped me during my first year.

[oldtimer]

I well remember thinking that I would never be able to walk or do anything with my hands ever again. But treatment was successful and I went on to have many years of almost normal activity. I couldn't trust my body enough to restart rock climbing again, but I did do most other things. So don't be too negative - it's surprising how the body can repair and remodel itself.