I have suffered PN in my feet for years and recently have had problems with real sharp pains in my knees. Can anyone tell me if this is related to PN, the pain is only there when I climb or descend stairs, and only when I bend my knee and put my weight on it.

Hard to say without an MRI. I blew out my right knee about 10 yrs ago, and it swelled up. The test showed it was synovitis, but there were no tendon ruptures.

It finally resolved. But that is when I started with magnets, so at least I could work (which involved standing all day or night).

What was very helpful for me was SAMe, which I just restarted.
I took it for almost 10 yrs, because the ortho said I would need a knee replacement. However, my Xrays showed fairly good cartilage for age 55. I think he was scapel happy.

I stopped the SAMe over a year ago thinking I was home free, and because I was trying d-chiro inositol for my insulin resistance, and it was expensive and doing two expensive things were out of the question.

My left ankle has been swelling up and then going down now too.(unpredictably)
So I am back on my SAMe 400mg in the morning. It seems to be working. My right knee still has twinges, mostly on the lower part, the tibia part. I am doing my laser pointer now on it every 3 days or so, and that is helping. Two nights ago I was up with Oreo all night, (long story) so I did magnet treatment on it lying in bed. That seems to improve the circulation and take down the inflammation with it.

There are nerves in the knee, which the ortho showed me by pressing on them. In my case he felt the inflammation was compressing them. So I put the laser light there, and also magnets if necessary.

I also use patches at times. Salonpas work for me well along the bottom edge of the knee.
The meniscal trigger point is on the lateral side of the knee where it bends. You can press with your finger there and it you get a jolt, that is one place to target with a patch or rub on med or whatever you choose. When I used Lidoderms I used 1/2 place behind the knee just above the bend. This can also be very helpful because the peroneal nerve goes thru there as well as the meniscal one.

The knee has nerves, tendons, and stress issues involving it.
Inflammation from gout or pseudogout can also inflame it. I had a steroid and marcaine injection in it after the MRI and that seemed to turn it around mostly. But I still get twinges in it, without the swelling. There are stretches for the hamstrings, that you can do, as well as leg lifts, to help balance the thigh muscles. I read in one CE I had to do that 70% of knee issues involve overstrong hams and weak quads pulling on the knee and pulling it out of line. So strengthening the quads may help.
I find stretches for my hams also work well for me. That is a daily thing you can do to see if it helps.

Could it be arthritis?

Could be, thanks, I don't think it is PN related as it is only painful when I put my weight on it and PN is pretty constant.I just can't bear to go back to my GP to get another shrug of the shoulders.

Hi malawigirl08,

I have chemo induced peripheral neuropathy. I often have terrible pain in my knees. Sometimes the usual pain is there in the usual places, but I really feel my knees more. Then sometimes the knees are no more a problem than the rest of the body, so maybe the PN has something to do with it. There has been no other reason for my knee pain that has been determined.

I agree that it's very frustrating to go to the doctor for help and get the usual shoulder shrug. I have given up on most of them and only go for very critical issues.

My latest issue is burning and pain on the inside of my wrists. I was thinking maybe tendinitis or maybe carpel tunnel issues. Odd that it's both at the same time though. But I feel like the doc will do the usual - not much.

I am coming off a 10 day (or so) flare up and am going back and forth with energy levels. I will have to wait and see about the wrists.

Good luck with the knees (and your doc)!

Try an ice pack on the wrist...this can shrink any inflammatory swelling that is compressing your nerves. Many times a simple ice treatment can help. Put a thin cloth between your skin and the pack so protect the skin.

I've had carpal tunnel for decades, and this always helps me.