Hi to everyone. Has anyone here ever had a sudden & acute reddening of a joint? Yesterday I had a small dusty red area on my kneecap, size of a silver dollar, with only slight tenderness. I actually forgot about it all day today, then tonight discovered the deep redness had expanded greatly.

My neighbor, a nurse, pressured me into going to the ER to make sure it wasn't cellulitis. The ER dr. thought definitely not. While there, I asked him if GOUT was a possibility, because I my Dad had several episodes of sudden & acute swelling on the ball of his foot. But he had a lot of pain & I have only a little.

I'm calling my dr. tomorrow, but I was just curious if this rings any bells with anyone. Thanks! Vee

I have had redness of a joint that appeared overnight. My rheum. said it was inflammatory arthritis at first but was watching for rheumatoid arthritis.
I worked with a client who had gout in her toes and she would get redness and swelling with lots of pain and then eventually a little ulcer/opening would develop. It seemed to develop over a few days or weeks. At that point she usually had a Dr.'s appointment and he would use a surgical instrument to dig out the gout crystals.
My good friend had migratory rheumatoid arthritis where the inflammation would show up somewhere and then migrate or move to another joint. Just a few thoughts.
Best to you, Vee.
Yesmetoo

Hi Vee,

I have Rheumatoid along with Lupus and my joints are red and swollen. This does seem to come from no where, however, it's symetrical. If my left wrist is red and swollen, my right one is too, etc. etc... Trust me when I say, it hurts.

The fun of rheumatoid is wondering where it will pop up the next day. It does travel around the body.

If you have one joint, I have no idea what that could possibly be. I hope you get your answer/relief soon.

Take care Vee

VeeJ,
I have experienced what you are describing on my knees, elbows and sometimes the large knuckles on my hands and fingers. with me it is not symetrical. My dad also had gout and he too had a lot of pain. I had this happen to my right knee once when I was about 19, anyhow, this particular incident the swelling contimued for about 1 wk. and it would hurt if I left my leg in the same position for too long, any position-bent, straight etc.....the pain would slowly build up, I would change position and it would slowly build up again. One day while I was at work, when I went to reposition my leg, I felt something cool on my knee, I looked down and it was wet, like condensation, with a light colored orange fluid. This "leaking" went on for about 1 week and then it quit and got better. I didn't know I had SLE at the time, so I saw a GP during this, his solution was to take a syringe and withdraw the fluid, to which I said no, figuring if it is coming out on it's own why bother. When I gave my rheumy my history and was dxd. with sle, I told her of this and she thinks it is sle related, not gout and due to test results, not RA. Hope this helps, tried not to ramble:)

Thank you all for your thoughts! My knee looked a lot better by this morning: only 1/4 of it still red. My doctor said I broke a blood vessel. This makes sense, as it wasn't swollen & the pain was slight. I have no idea how I did this. (Aaargh.) I hope you guys are all doing OK. Thanks again, Vee

P.S. (I forgot to say this a minute ago.) FYI, my dr. confirmed that gout *can* affect the knees, and so can pseudo-gout. But you'd expect meaningful pain & swelling with gout. For what that's worth... Take good care, Vee

I'm glad to hear it's not gout and that's clearing up now. Hopefully it will be gone soon for you.

I sometimes wonder about my injuries. Most recently I had a sore on my hand that would have come from some injury as the skin was broken. I have no recollection of how it got there and it tooks a couple weeks to heal and even now has left a mark...not sure if it's going to scar or not. I have no idea how I did that. Surely it would have hurt when it happened, lol.

Ljs, I've been scarring like mad lately, too. After the holidays, with all that baking, roasting, etc., my hands were a mess. My knee is still discolored but I have only my "normal" joint pain, nothing more. Like you, I'd feel better (?) if I knew how these things were happening. :D Have a great weekend, Vee