Massive knee inflammation

Hello;

I wanted to post this in the hope that there may be someone else out there experiencing something similar.If there is, this story might help you.

I'm a 47 year old male 6'4 220 pounds

12 years ago i started to notice that my knees would carry a little bit of inflammation all the time. it wasn't a big deal and it didn't come with any pain, so I didn't really think much of it. i was still active and in decent physical condition so it didn't bother me for years.

5 years ago it was clearly getting a little bigger so I did start to worry a little. It continued to grow to the point i started seeing knee specialists and rhuematologists, etc.

Nobody had any progressive ideas or recommendations of what it might be, or what i could do about it. no real treatment was ever even offered between 7 doctors.

3 years ago it got so bad that i was having trouble walking. i started getting my knees aspired (drained) regularly, and then progressed to drains and cortisone shots. that helped. It was a wonderful relief.

i continued seeing various doctors trying to figure it out, had countless blood tests, etc.

A few months ago the cortisone stopped working. I've been getting 600 ml per knee aspired 2-3 times per week since. when this happened i found a functional physician. I knew that i needed a fresh perspective. they recommended some very advanced blood and stool testing that was not covered. i had to pay out of pocket.

The results from that came back a couple weeks ago, and the answer was........ I'm severely celiac. I've been poisoning myself for decades.

The inflammation in my guts is so severe that it was migrating to my knees to find a new place to deposit.

Ffwd 2 weeks, I'm on a very strict dietary and supplement program and i can already feel I'm getting better. The inflammation is still coming back in my knees, but i can feel that the rate of return is definitely slower. they used to fill 600 ml in 2 days. and now I'm guessing half of that.

I feel like i will be relatively fine in another few weeks. The physician says it will take approx 3 months to properly heal my guts, and i may have some permanent damage. but all and all, i just can't believe how long it took to figure out something so simple. i saw 2 family docs, 2 Rheumatologists, a famous knee surgeon, and 2 knee specialists. everyone was so focused on there being something wrong with my knees, they didn't even consider other stuff. The Rheums at least said it seemed to be something reactionary, but I'm so shocked that nobody sent me for testing that would have shown celiac earlier.

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