So I debated posting this because honestly, I'm kind of a hypochondriac, I think all the time 'hey, maybe this weird thing is a symptom of something' when in reality I'm being overdramatic and I know it. But this is something I've been dealing with for years (I've actually never had knees that felt really strong, but either way, moving on) and I'm not sure if I should bring it up with a doctor? My knees hurt. Like, often and noticeably. I do okay most days, I have never been incapacitated till I couldn't walk, and I don't use a mobility aid. I work retail, so I'm on my feet a lot, so I figured this was typical until I was talking to my coworker who has arthritis. We were both talking about how we have trouble kneeling (my job requires kneeling and bending. I try and avoid it whenever possible - I usually bend at the waist or hold onto something and pivot on one leg until I can reach the thing I need) and going from kneeling to standing or any position that requires bending at the knees and then standing. I told her about my symptoms and apparently, they're similar to hers? I told her that it often feels like my knees are swollen. However, I wouldn't describe them as being visibly swollen, which the sources I checked earlier said was a symptom of arthritis. Truth be told, I haven't really monitored them up to this point, so if they swelled only a little I honestly wouldn't be able to say. I mean yeah, they feel a little puffy, but I'm on the chubby side so it could be fat. Another thing is that I wouldn't necessarily describe them as stiff? I can walk fine, I actually enjoy incline-walking as cardio when I go to the gym. Although I have noticed that when I do incline walking, I tend to (and I'm very self-conscious about this and try and check myself every time I go) drag my feet. Like, I can move them! My legs are moving! But if I try and raise my legs by bending my knees past a certain point (almost like I'm climbing stairs) it starts hurting in just a few minutes, which doesn't happen if my feet are practically skimming the belt. I also struggle to do bike-riding exercises. My knees do not want to bend, but for bike riding they of course have to. Like, 20 minutes of bike riding leaves me sore, whereas I can do 40 minutes of fairly high-intensity incline walking and feel totally fine later. I also struggled back when I did elliptical exercises. Anything that requires a lot of bending seems to be difficult. Well, there's an exception: with swimming I tend to do okay-ish? I haven't been swimming in quite a while, but last time I went I could bend my legs. That said, I have been experiencing more pain since starting working retail ten months ago. One thing I know about arthritis is that it tends to result from an earlier injury unless it's auto-immune, and since none of my other joints really hurt that badly, I don't think it's that. The thing is, I'm in recovery from an eating disorder. It was only really bad years ago, but back then I compulsively over-exercised. I ran a lot every single day and dealt with constant pain over it. This was, however, constantly full body pain, not just in my knees. Although my legs did take the brunt of the abuse, so they did tend to hurt worse. It was usually my ankles back then though, and even though my ankles are pretty stiff now, they're okay! They only give my pain if I try and run, which I don't do anymore because it just hurts too much and my body does not want me to do it. I understand that I'm probably coming off as silly and paranoid, but one of the ways I stim is by pacing/walking. I love hiking and I love going exploring on foot. If something is wrong with my joints, I want to be able to address it with a medical professional so they can tell me if there's anything I can do to help improve my joint's functioning because I would be so upset if I wound up not being able to walk freely. This would honestly be extremely distressing to me. I can't imagine not being able to stim the only way that really and truly helps calm me down. So my feeling is that if something is wrong, I should try and catch it now rather than waiting until it's very bad. Either way, I'm sorry, I'm probably being stupid.
You're not coming off silly and paranoid. None of that sounds "normal" and I think it's worth bringing up with a doctor
Okay, thank you. I was worried to bring it up and be looked at like I'm an idiot - the thought of that really bothers me. So I just kind of wanted to make sure that I wasn't overreacting to something everyone experiences that is totally normal and healthy.
There are many things that can cause joint pain. Perfectly healthy joints are not on the list. Talk to your doc :)
I'm going to talk to my Mom tomorrow - I'm set to see her GP soon-ish anyways because of other issues I've been having, and I just want to make sure I have all the information. I think I'm going to document how my knees are doing - nothing too strenuous, just a little log with things like 'biked for 10 minutes today. On a scale of 1-10, knee pain was a 5.'
I think that depends on what you're doing with them. But yes, joint pain means that your joints are injured in some way
Also, knees are just really tricky awkward joints, so it's quite possible for them to have been injured and retained that injury even when you were more concerned about your ankles, if that makes sense.
Yep, the normal level of joint pain is roughly none. The "roughly" is there because you can have it in response to a stressor, like a very mild injury you didn't notice at the time or a prolonged session standing in a weird position that overtaxes a joint, buut more or less, joints shouldn't hurt. Also, I feel you on the hypochondria. *gentle fistbump of paranoid solidarity*
-hypochondria fistbump- yeah, normal joint pain level is next to zero- I only experience joint pain occasionally in my wrist, during finals in school when I have to draw over 8 hours a day practically nonstop. My other joints never hurt unless I noticeably injure them
Yep, just in case you need the affirmation: the amount of joint pain you should have is a grand total of none. Given that you used to exercise to the point of pain and beyond, there's almost definitely damage there. It could just be wear-and-tear damage, or it could be something worse, but it's something you should get checked out. If your GP doesn't know about it already, mention that you used to exercise to the point of full-body pain. That can cause issues that don't crop up for years, and it'll give them a better metric to judge your pain with + the journal you're already working on. Also, even though I know it's not the joint you're worried about, ask about your ankles. They shouldn't be hurting to the point that you can't run. (Fistbump over the pacing stim, btw. I know legbraces are in my future, and I am not looking forward to it.)
I just wanted to check in with everyone and thank you all for your advice! Sorry I hadn't responded earlier, there was pressing meatspace stuff to deal with. But I'm for-sure taking everyone's advice! I came home and fell straight asleep today, so I haven't made the doctor's appointment yet. However, I'm going to try and do it while I'm out and about tomorrow so I don't have any excuse. I will definitely talk to them about my pain levels. I'll also mention that I used to compulsively over-exercise - I think otherwise they might not take my seriously. Hypochondriac fistbumps for @Greywing and @amberbydreams! Walking stim fistbump for @PRelations.
I'm so tired wow So unfortunately this weekend was really really bad. I was limping on Saturday for the last two-three hours of my shift. It hurt before then, but after a certain point I started having full-body pain. I had bought gel insoles and put them in my shoes to minimize the pain from walking but it doesn't feel like they helped? Although how can I really say that, maybe if I hadn't been wearing them I would have hurt worse. Today I only worked 5 1/2 hours and I hurt so much I almost wanted to go home. Once again, my entire body hurt. Normally the pain is limited to my knees but earlier it was my feet, ankles (really badly, too. My right ankle kind of feels like when I jammed it against a post and sprained it, only I didn't jam it and it's not sprained), calf and thigh muscles, my right knee feels like something is out of place (not severely enough to warrant an emergency room trip though), and my lower back. My shoulders felt weird and swollen too. I could use them, they just felt icky. My hands feel really big and clumsy, but not as swollen as my legs. Since I don't work tomorrow, I'm debating trying to get into one of the local clinics. The appointment I have next month will probably help but I can't afford to miss any work and I need to get some speed back into my motions. I'm so slow it's unbelievable. I asked my Mom her opinion and she's not against me seeing a doctor, but I don't think she cares all that much and she did get angry with me. I don't want to go to the local urgent care because in my experience, they don't treat things that may be more long-term issues - I think they'd probably tell me to 'take some Tylenol and rest.' Which isn't bad advice! It's just that I can't do that all the time, my situation is such that it's just not possible for me to really keep off my feet much. Does it sound worth it to go to a Doctor, or should I just wait another five weeks until my appointment? I'm sure I can make it until then if I have to, I'm just a crybaby and don't want to. Hopefully if I take more over-the-counter medicine more often I'll get better. I just want to know what the heck is wrong with me. I'm so sorry this probably made no sense I just really need to sleep for a little while.
If it was like five days to your scheduled appointment, toughing it out until then might be alright. Five months? No. Get thee to a doctor. e. weeks, not months. aderp
That's a very unusual and unreasonable amount of pain - like, on the order of the full-body ache and joint pain I've personally only experienced when initially coming down with the flu. For that to happen for days on end is... awful. You shouldn't have to live like that. (And now I'm angry with your mom for being dismissive. UGH.)
Someone had suggested to me that it might be the flu, and it is flu season, but the weird part is that it started getting into the slightly-higher range of swollen joints Friday night, and now where I'm at it's Monday morning, everything's only gotten worse, and I don't have a fever or other symptoms yet. (The tiredness is bad scheduling and 'spring forward!' Sleep loss).
My experience with UrgentCares is not good, but that's definitely way too much pain for you to be dealing with for five weeks. If you can get into a local clinic you think will take you seriously, definitely do so. It sounds a lot like my mom's experience with fibromyalgia, but there's a lot of things that could cause it like the flu, though maybe not at that extreme of a level of pain. Either way, see a doctor tomorrow. You might be able to tough it out with OTC medications, but that's not ideal.
