severe knee pain & relentless low grade fevers

[jejunity]

i am a 28 year old female who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia three years ago by the rheumatologist at the university of washington. it set in after what my doctors called the perfect storm. i went through a traumatic divorce came down with mono and the parvo virus, had a staph infection following a wolf spider bite and then pneumonia set in twice. I literally went from being a very healthy girl who ran 6 miles in the morning, managed a fashion boutique full time and never ever came down with anything. the last three years have been more painful and depressing than i can describe. i have done everything to try to get this under control. chiropractic, acupuncture, raw foods, daily gentle exercise, supplements... the list goes on. the last 9 months however the pain has spread to my knees. they do not swell much and by looking at them  you would think they are perfectly normal knees. any movement that requires my knees to bend in awful! i move like i am 80 years old.  i have had low grade fevers as well. 99.4 is where it usually is which may seem like nothing but my normal temp is 97.3 so i really feel the fever. i have been tested for lupus and RA but both were negative. I also had a dexa scan that showed osteoperosis three years ago but i'm pretty sure that doesn't cause this sort of pain. does anyone else experience severe knee pain with fibro? is this normal or should i be looking to see if something else is causing the fevers and pain? do you have any suggestions for easing the knee pain? i wrap my knees with ice packs and that helps to some degree. any insight would be welcome at this point.

[AireScottie]

I have a couple questions to add: have you had your ANA, sed rate, and CRP checked?  These can be up in a lot of autoimmune diseases.  It's not unusual for autoimmune diseases to get set off by viruses.  Have you had x-rays of your knees recently?  Some people have degeneration at the joint without positive bloodwork for RA.  Also, many nurses and doctors forget this, but an oral temp of 99.4 actually is a fever.  Fever is defined as a core body temp of 100.4 or more.  If your temp is taken orally, it is 1 degree lower than your core temp, which in your case means 99.4 + 1= 100.4.  Keep looking for a cause!  I'm so sorry your life has fallen apart like this.

[karajo]

Hi and welcome to MedHelp Autoimmune Forum.  

There are what they call lupus look alikes.  They are lymes, bartonella, rocky mountain fever, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and MS.  It doesn't sound like MS.  But I would suggest that you be tested for the others.  

How many times did they test for lupus?  Just know that the RF (RA) could be neg for quite some time and still have RA.  I have a friend who had quite a struggle getting a dx of RA.  But her joints would swell horribly, just not while she was in the dr. office.

I would like to ask a few questions.  Do you have:
facial rash,
mouth sores,
protein in urine,
diarrhea,
heart burn,
muscle weakness,
bone pain,
does being in the sun cause your joint pain to become worse?  
Have they tested your vit D level?