Sepsis arthritis

[beckyE @beckye Participant]

Has anyone suffered from sepsis arthritis in the knee and what was the outcome please?

[nicola @nicola Participant]

Is that the same as reactive arthritis? Infection in the joint (I think), swollen, hot and painful?
My OH had reactive arthritis in his knee years ago, he was on high dose ibuprofen and occasionally injections to draw fluid off the knee. It took months to clear up (sorry, I can’t remember how long, I have a feeling he wasn’t fully healed for a year).

In the end the thing that seemed to fix it was a visit to a kinesiologist who ‘prescribed’ some sort of iron tincture. I’d like to add, my OH is the most sceptical person there is, he only went to shut his dad up!
He was cautious with the knee for a while afterwards but is a very keen cyclist and is back to doing everything he did before and has been for years now. I think the only long term affect is that that knee is a bit more sensitive to him getting ill now, i.e. It gets a bit achy if he’s ill.

Hope that helps (if it is the same thing). Best wishes.

EDIT: Sorry, just done some reading and I think they are a bit different. Septic arthritis is infection in the joint, reactive arthritis is an auto-immune response causing arthritis in a joint following another infection in the body such as food poisoning.
Not sure if the treatment and outcomes are similar. My OH is a very active person and was very grumpy throughout due to not being able to do what he wanted. He’s back to normal now other than a slightly sensitive knee joint, happily cycling hundreds of miles per month.

[beckyE @beckye Participant]

Thank you for your help. My partner had to have the paramedics round on friday night due to his total knee replacement (he had a total knee replacement 3 years ago but you can get septic arthritis from the TKR years later.) knee being in agony. Found him sat at the foot of the stairs unable to move with a knee hot red and swollen to 3 times it size. Paramedics admitted him to hospital as they felt as I did (due to having gone thru similar myself last year) that it was septic arthritis. Temp 39.3 which I think swung it and then he got taken to majors by ambulance. Looked at blood and urine taken. Released next morning. Told he had infection somewhere in body but they didn’t know where so no anti biotics given but follow up with orthaepedic surgeon five days later at same hospital.

Partner is still in so much pain unable to really weightbear on the affected leg. Knee even more swollen. When accidentally knocked by the dog partner was actually sobbing. Having to wee in a bottle. Not eating. Paramedics called at 11.45 sunday morning. Came out at 2pm. Took temp 37.9. Took to hospital. Having trouble drawing blood when i got there at 7pm. The were going to draw fluid off knee.

Now suspect gout or septic arthritis. He text me quick text last night to say keeping in overnight. Text brief as only 2 per cent battery left so switched off in between texts. Know he may be in for a few days. So very worried about him.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by beckyE .

[cat @cat Participant]

Surgeon I saw a few years back said he’d do a total knee replacement once I reached 65(three weeks from now,) and the more I hear things like this, the more I might just put it off a bit….

[beckyE @beckye Participant]

@cat yes I’ve not heard great things either. I rang the ward this morning to fin out how he was as they kept him in overnight and the nurse said that he was with the Orthaepedic Consultant but it looks likely that he would be undergoing surgery sometime today. I’m at work as there is nothing I can do and I don’t expect they will discharge him anytime soon. Looks like it was Septic Arthritis after all.

UPDATE: Visited last night. He said they had taken him down to theatre and drained 103ml of fluid from his knee under local anaethetic.He said that the first three or four draws were yellowy liquid that the consultant said looked like gout. The last draw right at the end had blood in it which he said was the one he wanted the lab to have as he felt that showed infection.

Last night partners temp was 39.1 and he kept fluctuating between dripping in sweat to acting like he was in Alaska! He managed to walk with a frame to the loo but said it took him forever. It still really hurts him. They are keeping him in a couple of days. He does I suppose eat a lot of sugary stuff. But apart from half a pint of beer on both xmas day and new years eve thats practically all he has all year. However he does get stressed and is also on salicylate tablets and has high blood pressure so these are all factors of gout. However I still think it might be S.A but am really hoping its not! Will know more when I visit tonight. Taking phone charger too so we can stay in contact!

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by beckyE .

[cat @cat Participant]

I was told that one kilo or weight on your body equals 4 on your knees. Have always been lucky enough to have enough physical exercise, manual work/chores to not put on weight, even after ceasing to run a few years ago. We do eat only one meal a day(a big one,) OH, who’s 56 and me at 65, drink a little wine and enjoy desert…but…both feel horrible when we put on two kilos(like over the holidays.) This is what scares me(plus THE REST,) about having knee surgery, not being active during the period of convalescence…His temperature swings remind me of when I had two bad malaria attacks NO FUN to say the least…Hope things improve and you’ve good medical advice while everything is healing…

[beckyE @beckye Participant]

I rang the hospital this morning and he was about to see the consultant (again!) but the staff nurse said his temperature was still 39 and they can’t seem to bring it down. Still waiting lab results. He hardly ever drinks (bar two cans over the whole Xmas period and about 5 pints in the whole of 2017 in the summer evenings in the pub garden) and although he’s overweight by a stone he eats salad nearly every evening and has a very active job with a lot of manual work involved. I’ve done some reading and if it is gout eating gravy, pasta, red meat, white bread, shell fish and processed foods, none of which he eats very often and most not ever. Apparently certain tablets like aspirin and blood pressure tablets can cause it. Its a nightmare. Getting very worried. They put him on an antibiotic drip yesterday.

Its a pity they discharged him on Friday night/sat morning only for us to have to get the paramedic out again on Sunday. Annoying but not hard to understand how they may have got it wrong given the 7 ambulances queuing at the door and the amount of people on stretcher in the corridors. Stretched to capacity – must be a total nightmare working in A&E and Majors.

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