We got him into the dr who said the redness was due to the white cells not being able to get to the infection causing the swelling. She gave him a shot of some medication, doubled up his medral and gave him a prescription of Colchicine also. She said thought that he has Pseudogout.

I am wondering is this a symtom of something more or what? He made the trip to the doctor's by himself...and sorry no offence to any of you men out there but....my husband is a typical man and doesn't hear everything that the doctor says, so I am wondering what else the doctor told him...lol.

Thanks,

Helen

Yes, I've been diagnosed with Pseudogout, aka calcium pyrophosphate depositing disease, is a different form of arthritis. Pseudogout is defined by the type of crystals found in the joints. My knees were affected when I was in my early teens and I required 7 knee operations, total. It was due to CPPD.

My rheumatologist sent me for x-rays for what we thought might be a Baker's cyst behind one of my knees. The radiologist discovered the "pseudogout," and due to my history of CPPD, we knew what type I had.

Pseudogout is another term for CPPD and mainly affects the knees, but can affect the hands, wrists and elbows, too.

http://www.rheumatology.org/public/factsheets/ pseudogout_new.asp

I haven't posted anything for awhile. They weened my husband off the prenazone. He is still on Colchicine which makes him sick as all get out and doesn't seem to be helping.

He is having a bad flair up and on Tuesday ended up going back to the doctor because he could hardly walk (both of his feet & both of his knees really acting up as well as both hands and wrists). The doctor gave him a steroid shot and told him that should help for the next couple of weeks. She had him go get xrays of his feet, hands and wrists (don't know why not the knees) and blood tests.

He went for his xrays yesterday but the shot that was supposed to help for the next 2 weeks or so helped for less than 24 hours. He is in such pain this morning and could barely ties his shoes and could not button his pants.

They really don't know what he has. They have not down any aspiration of the joints to see if there is any crystals and to tell you the truth his xrays look pretty good...of course that is just us looking at them.

Any ideas? He is getting understandably depressed and very, very cranky!

Helen

I am curious: did the rheumatalogist rule out RA? With the difficulty in tying his shoes and with buttons, etc., this sounds more like RA than OA, though OA can get quite severe (I have OA).

It sounds like Prednisone and Colchicine do not give his symptoms any relief, which makes me wonder about a proper diagnosis. Were the ANA/anti-Histones/smith-RO/La, etc. tests done? A lupus band test? Though lab tests can be indicative or false-positives, a good rheumy takes into consideration the symptoms as presented by the patient. I am not doubting you or your hubby; I'm wondering if there is a "missing link" in his health status. Below are a couple of very good (i.e. reliable) sites regarding Colchicine and its use in the treatment of gout and other diseases.

http://www.medicinenet.com/colchicine-oral/article.htm

and

http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-8640-Colchicine+Oral.aspx? drugid=8640&drugname=Colchicine+Oral

Both sites give the precautions, contraindications, etc. (basically, everything you need to know about Colchicine) and different uses.

I hope this helps, Helen.

Post edited by: LupieToons, at: 08/04/2008 09:40