Ankles

Hello, this may well be a silly question so I apologise in advance! Since about April, my ankles have been swollen mainly on the external joint but also around the inside. My BP lady says it is not caused by bp or bp meds as it is not oedema - feels quite hard to touch and is down to RA. On this site, people say they have fluid taken off joints - can this swelling (and pain, stiffness etc) be RA as I feel that if someone stuck a needle in to try to get fluid off the joint, they would fail. Sometimes, the swelling starts from mid-calf and is not an attractive look!!!!!

[helixhelix]

Don't know about ankles, but when my knees go and need fluid removed you can feel it squelching about - bit like a water filled balloon. So doesn't sound similar at all. Hope you find an answer. Pollyx

[earthwitch]

You can get inflammation in several different places in a joint, and it doesn't always mean that there is free fluid there. Have you seen your GP about it? If its a tissue inflammation or tendon inflammation you might be able to use something like voltaren gel on it, or it might be helped by taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen. Thats something you could ask GP about anyway.

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I had a very swollen ankle bone in June. It had been painful for about 3 months and then suddenly flared up and I couldn't walk on it for about 24 hours. For some reason (I think because I was in transit) I didn't think to take a NSAID until I got home and then had 3 Naproxen over a day and by the end of the day it had gone away and has never returned.

It was all around the ankle bone but especially underneath and physio told me it was a swollen tendon and soft tissue not the joint itself which would be on the front inside of the ankle I believe. I haven't heard of fluid being removed from ankles but as you should see your GP and try anti-inflammatories if you haven't already. Tilda x

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PS and yes it was RA my rheumy said.