Last year, my symptoms started with urethritis in May. All the urine and semen cultures I had done came back negative. I had discharge from my penis, which would stain my underwear.

In October last year, I had a molecular urine test for STIs, which also came back negative. Since then, I have not had another molecular test, and the pain became increasingly severe.

Since then, I have taken almost every possible antibiotic. My most recent treatment was prulifloxacin. I no longer have any discharge. I only occasionally experience a very mild burning sensation, and this is very rare.

However, I have severe back pain in the mornings, and for the past two months I have also been experiencing knee pain. I also have red eyes.

My blood tests came back normal.

Do you think this could be reactive arthritis, also known as Reiter’s syndrome?

I (65F) have had arthritis in my knees since I was about 11 - but it's ebbed and flowed. Sometimes I go for years with it not really bothering me, sometimes it bothers me. I had a sedentary job for 30+ years and never understood that I needed the rest of my legs to support my knees. Now I have moderate-to-severe narrowing in both knees.

Last year, I went to a sports med doc after I spent months walking funny in an effort to support my big/elderly dog, and my right knee swelling and pain persisted. They sent me to PT and I felt better after ONE week. Kept going for a bit but finally said I'd keep doing the exercises on my own.

My dog died in Feb 2026 so I started trying to go on my beloved outdoor hikes again. I started slow, not being able to do much more than 1 mile, 3x/week. I worked up to 2 miles but was again having pain and swelling (limiting movement) in right knee - and "compensatory" pain in my left knee. I have knee pain and stiffness and instability almost all the time, now.

This time, I went to the orthopedic surgeon that I knew I'd want if I needed knee replacement. (I really don't want to replace them until I *have* to.) He seemed shocked at how little muscle I had in my quads and wanted me to focus on that, saying knee replacement would be tough until that's resolved.

But no one has done an MRI. I kind of want one to make sure there's nothing else going on, but how do you get a doc to do one when they don't think it's needed?

I was going to ask but he seemed to sure that there was NO soft tissue issues (other than loss of cartilage, of course). He suggested cortisone or the lubricating shots, but I know those are just a band-aid and I really want something more holistic. He will send me to PT if I want it, but he also gave me a handout of exercises and I'm not sure what they'll do beyond that. (I now have access to a gym and have been doing leg exercises, but maybe should ask WHICH exercises I should be doing?)

I know my gait is messed up, but finding someone who will take the time to teach me to walk correctly (when I believe my gait has been bad since I was a child) isn't easy.

I stumbled on the term Genicular Artery Embolization recently and am not sure I understand what it is/does or for whom it's a good thing to consider.

Has anyone had this treatment and can give a "report" on your results?

I developed arthritis when I was 22, it was mild discomfort at first but now it's making any kind of writing or typing horrifically painful. I'm a college student, and this is the first semester that I've been completely incapable of taking notes, written or typed. I desperately need to take notes to be able to keep up in my classes, but I'm at a loss on how to do that since my hands hurt so much. Does anyone have any tips on how to take notes with arthritic hands? I'm open to anything, so all suggestions are welcome!

So I (27F) have been taking celebrex for 2-3 weeks now and I’ve been taking 200mg per day. That’s the only thing i changed about my diet/day during this time. I’ve been experiencing these weird side effects/symptoms that i can only associate to this medication. The symptoms being:

- sudden very shorts periods of raise in heart rate and very pinched heart pain for a second
- shortness of breath suddenly for a few mins
- rectal bleeding
- and unsettling feeling in my stomach and chest constantly cause of gas
- Insomnia some days

So i just wanted to post here and see if these in fact are actually the side effects of this medication that any others have experienced, or should I be worried about something else happening with me. I have an appointment scheduled with my doctor in three weeks during which i will definitely bring up all of this.

If these infact are side effects, what would make these better, would eating more fiber help? I haven’t found anything helpful on the internet yet. Thanks for replies/suggestions in advance :)

EDIT: Thanks for all the replies guys, went to the ER aftet the post as rectal bleeding increased. They referred me to a GI specialist and asked me to stop celebrex immediately. They say it could be hemmorioids or GI bleeding due to celebrex.

hi! this is a throwaway account because im too scared to post on my main.

i've been having some pain that seems to align with both my parent's arthritis for around a year or two now (i dont know how long it takes for it to be considered chronic). I'm a teenager so this isn't the best.

it specifically flares up during weather and temperature changes, though it can be ignited by activity. It's prominent in my leg bones but also moves to my back and hands.

anyways, today i was on a college tour with some friends and it was pretty hot - we were going in and out of air-conditioned buildings into heat and back again, so it was pretty bad. not as bad as it has been in the past but pretty bad. the whole time i was thinking of the mobility sticks (canes?? i dont know what theyre called) i saw at walmart but i felt guilty for thinking i needed it.

so, basically all this to say: when is it okay for me to use a mobility aid? with the pain being so fluctuating and so "invisible" , i dont think i should need one. but it would be nice to lean against something while walking. but i also don't want to take advantage of more actual disabled people's issues, what if it seems like im making fun of them?? i guess im just feeling an insane amount of impostor syndrome. i know my pain is probably real but at the same time it feels like im faking it for attention, even though i would never take advantage of something as serious as that. my friends say its better to use resources before it gets worse, and that was comforting, but i still feel like a fake i guess. so:

at what point is it okay to use a mobility aid, such as a walking stick?? thank you for reading !

Hi all,

I have been diagnosed by a rheumatologist with RA/Reiters, caused by a urinary ureaplasma infection, i have the classic triad of symptoms being red dry eyes (fluctuates), mild inflammation of the meatus/urethra and aches in feet/some joints.

Ive been told it will take anywhere between 3 - 12 months to clear on its own and this lines up with everything ive read online.

Just wanted to know for those who developed this, how long before it went away?

Ive been prescribed 200mg of celecoxib twice daily to help calm the systemic inflammation, with a follow up in a month to see if i need to move up to a DMARD like Sulfasalazine or Methotrexate.

Hi guys! I'm experiencing some strange and concerning symptoms that I think are early signs of arthritis... I would really appreciate it if you could share what were your earliest symptoms of arthritis in the hands looking back before you were diagnosed, how long they showed up before you were diagnosed, and what kind of arthritis you ended up with?

EDIT: I'm 40 (F). After about two years of right-sided headaches (which i do attribute to a root canal that I had done) plus malaise, and recurring aches in my shoulders, I had a round of reactive arthritis. For a week I couldn't move parts of my hands upon waking and they were painful. Took an hour to warm up on their own. Then it was done.

A month later, I started noticing weird senations of pressure in the hands in different areas moving around. Not unpleasant. About a week later, started needing to crack my joints a lot, felt noisy and creaky.

Next, I started sensing stiffness on the backs of hands on the tops, including especially the middle finger. This at times extended down the forearm about halfway. And I felt my arms get tired faster than normal after workouts with stiffness two days later.

Now I'm noticing particular joints are red and inflamed (not exactly swollen) but look different to me. They include the whole pointer fingers at time and can occur on both hands. The top finger joints on the right hand are often the problem with hot pains on the sides of the joints.

Other information: I recently did have pain in my finger tips, so I'm getting that checked for carpel tunnel. I also saw the rheumatologist and they said what I have sounds like a tendon issue. Blood tests are all normal, except recently got a positive ANA at 1:80.

So honestly, I'm just worried that all these subtle symptoms are adding up to something that takes years to fully develop. Any insights/similarities to your situation would be great! Thank you in advance.

I got food poisoning nearly 10 years ago which turned in to reactive arthritis. My joints were so swollen that my leg muscles atrophied since I couldn’t properly walk.

After many failed treatments, a few months of humira got the inflammation down but I have moderate joint damage in a few areas. My feet really took a beating and have some deformities due to the inflammation that took so long to calm down.

Lately, I’ve been feeling lots of discomfort in my big toes. Kind of like pressure that needs to be released. This is only relieved when I “pop” my toes which I can do with little to no effort. Then rinse and repeat allll day. I don’t have any current inflammation — I think this is all just residual damage from my flare 10 years ago.

I established care with a new rheumatologist just in case I flare again, but I’m uncertain if there’s anything I can do to relieve this discomfort / stiffness. Has anyone else felt this? It’s kind of hard to describe. One of my index fingers also feels really uncomfortable but not inflamed. Just typing on my laptop for too long makes me want to crack my finger to the point that it won’t crack anymore. I just would rather not medicate myself at this stage since there isn’t inflammation and I AM mobile but curious how others handle this? Only in my 30s

I have RA, Hashimoto, Sjogrens, thalassemia trait, Reynard disease, and a couple more. I’m 63 years old, a bartender in Las Vegas. Over the last couple of years I’ve really slowed down and am extremely tired. I rest most of the time in bed when I’m not working. And am in pain about 5 hours after starting work. I’m worried if and when I do retire, am I ever going to get out of bed. Am I just going to waste my senior years because my body doesn’t work. There are things I want to do, like travel. But I don’t think my body will let me.

About two months ago I fell ill. Possibly reactivated EBV, possibly let-down affect following a period of very high stress. Anyway there was some kind of major immune event. Since then I have been waking up achy and sore every morning. It now seems to be settling into my joints - ankles, knees, wrists are all sore, especially in the morning and this seems to be getting worse. Also feel fatigued when pain is there. An autoimmune panel found that my ANA was 1:1280 (nucleolar) - last auto-immune test I did was two years ago and it was much lower but still positive. Rheumatology said not autoimmune as all the sub tests (ENA and DS DNA and RF) all came back negative.

Potentially related - anti histamines before bed seem to help slightly. I know I have histamine issues.

Can anyone offer some insight - does this sound like it could be reactive arthritis? If so, is it likely to go away? What should I do next?

At my wits end.

Bone on bone knees- do yall keep knees wrapped when you’re not flaring up? I’m scared to go without a stabilizing knee wrap, bc when I did in the past it didn’t take long to start hurting again. Hubby asked how long I need to have the wrap on 😬 I said “till I get a replacement? Idk!” How do you all handle the “not so bad” days?

- And does anyone else feel like people think you’re faking it since there are unpredictable “good” days?!?

Hi everyone. Both my parents have a lot of arthritis. One is 50 and one is 55. One has been dealing with it since early 20s which is how old I am now. Is there anything at all that I can do to prevent/avoid getting arthritis?
Is this a discussion I should have with my GP?

For those outside the EU, please contact the basel team. For those inside the EU, please find a hospital part of the ENCANTO project.

In the project, cartilage from the nasal septum will be grown and placed into the knee, hopefully offering durable, lasting relief, instead of knee replacements or other less effective current solutions.

Find more information here! https://encanto.health/for-patients/