Hello Luther,
Welcome to KA! We're glad you found us and hope you find everything you need here.
Way, way back in the day, roughly 1981, is when I first started showing arthritis-like symptoms. One of the most noticeable--and most annoying--was fluid build-up on my right knee. I noticed that it was growing stiff and hard to move, then noticed that it seemed to be giving off a bit of heat too. My doc sent me to a rheumy, and right away she told me that the knee had filled with fluid and should probably be drained. I'll say; she took a huge amount of fluid out that first time. I was thrilled, because the minute she was done, my knee felt completely back to normal. "Well heck, that was easy," I thought.
Yeah, I should have been so lucky. Like you, my knee started filling up again like clockwork. It wasn't on a strict schedule as yours is, but it absolutely did start to fill up again within a day or two of being drained, and at least once a month I had to go in to repeat that procedure.
I can offer a mild bit of good news in that, with as much suddenness as it started, the knee stopped filling with fluid all by itself. Since those first incidents when I was 17 and 18, my knee has never needed to be drained again. My docs had no real idea why it started filling up, and no ideas why it stopped.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the AS was just getting started with me. Since those days--I'm 45 now--AS has managed to screw up just about every major joint in my body, including that right knee. In fact, that knee is now completely froze--won't bend at all. Should have been replaced, but wasn't (that is another story that is far too long to retell--leave it at some very bungled communications), but at least it is 100 percent pain-free the way it is now. Plus, there absolutely is NOT any kind of direct correlation between the early fluid build-up and the joint ultimately freezing, so don't worry about that. What you can take away from my note is that, if you are lucky, your knee will simply stop producing the fluid on its own one of these times after you get it drained. In the meantime, Jet did have some good ideas/advice on next steps you could take regarding your problem knee.
Again, welcome to KA!
Brad
