need some help

[mcnay1]

I have read and read and read many posts here in the past few days trying not to repost something. however, I have not seen anything that resembles what I think i have. For the past few years, i have had severe knee pain 24/7, more when i an not in motion. i run about 2-4 miles 3-4 times a week. I have come to my witts end with the discomfort. I have set an appt with an ortho Dr, unfortunately it is not until the 10th of thei month. The appt does not take the discomfort away. I was told by my family dr,t hat I have bilateral patella tendinitis a few months ago and had cortizone shots in both knees. All that did was hurt more, did not do anything for the discomfort. Now he says i have a ganglion cyst on the side of my right knee and possbile meniscal tear in right knee and IT band syndrome in left and right knee( you can feel a big pop in the outside of the right knee every time i move the leg up and down). The problem is, the pain is mor ein the left knee. i have feel i have no stability in the left knee, the discomfort is about to drive me insane. hurst ont he outside of the knee as well as under the knee cap. unfortunately, self diagnosis is basically a crap shoot, but i have to deal with it so I can only try. any thoughts or comments are certainly welcomed , thanks

Mayy

[jathib]

You're right, it's a crapshoot and even with thousands of people guessing at what you have you'll still be in pain. The best thing to do until your appointment is to rest your knees. Tendinitis can take months to go away and if you keep running it will never heal. You can also try icing them but you absolutely need to stop running until you get a diagnosis. Biking and swimming are great things to do for exercise instead.

[mcnay1]

You are correct with stop running. i have done that as of Nov 1st. But the pain has not gone away. i have iced every other day to try and releive some fo the pain as well as taking an anti-inflammatory, but that hasn't done much...Unfortunately, i am in the national guard and don't have the ability to stop physical conditioning for long periods....it seems I am falling apart at the age of 39..20 years in the infantry and other combat arms fields has torn my body up....what an eye opener...thanks

Matt

[jathib]

Take up swimming and biking in the meantime. They are both knee friendly and will keep your fitness level up. I've had over 20 surgeries on knee, ankles, shoulders, etc. and I can still do  both of those workouts.