Two Birds, One Stone–An Odd Case of Oligoarthritis

Over a two-day period, an active 72-year old woman became confined to her bed due to severe, progressive bilateral knee pain. The pain was exacerbated by movement and unresponsive to commercially available analgesics. There was no history of trauma, intravenous drug use, recent intra-articular instrumentation, sick contacts, or insect bites. In the month prior to presentation she was incompletely treated for zoster ophthalmicus with oral antivirals. Her medical history was otherwise notable for well-controlled hemochromatosis, adrenal insufficiency with physiologic steroid replacement, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and osteopenia.