Olecranon Bursitis. Anyone had it?

As above…

I have a lovely swollen elbow and have been on co-amoxiclav for 10 days, with three days on/three days off 400mg Iboprufen three times a day; and so far the burser has just got more swollen and my arm has become more difficult to use.

GP is unwilling to drain it, so I was wondering what else can be done to speed up getting the damn thing better. Anyone with experience of this?

I had it following surgery to repair a fractured olecranon.

Further surgery fixed mine. Probably not much help in your case.

get another Drs opinion!

If its just fluid then it may eventually recede. If its infected too, it may be more of a problem – i hoped mine would just go away just go away with atnibiotics. Sadly, 6 days in hossie and one surgery later… turns out it was infected too and they couldnt suppress it even with the string of antibiotics on IV – after 4 days pumping me full of drugs, and watching this thing spread up my entire arm, they decided to cut it out!

may not be much help, but dont bugger around with it. it sounds like you have been with this for a few days… time to get another opinon i would say

Try a really tight tubigrip. sounds silly but after antibiotics didn't work on mine, a different GP{unwilling to drain} askd me to try it for three weeks and if it didn't work he'd gt the big needle out. Lo and behold gone in two weeks.

I had an uninfected one that was only small but took many months to settle on its own. are you sure it is infected? Needs a cut to allow the bugs into it. I certainly would not want it drained unless essential – that can cause issues of its own.

Back to the docs

As TJ says, the risk of infection is why GPs are loathe to drain.

I had relatively minor bursitis on my knee cap after a fall. It took about three months to begin reducing and about 8-9months before I couldn't tell it was there any more.

Brilliant.

Well, my arm is now bound up with cohesive bandage and I'll try and find some tubigrip at home tonight, but if this takes six months to get better on its own, I'm going to be well pissed off.

Time to get referred to a specialist I think. And get an X-Ray whilst I am up at the hospital.

Just out of interest, how big did everyone's get? Mine currently looks like half a hen's egg on my elbow.

eeeek 🙁

Yup, that's what my arm looks like right now, but with less of the purple for the end of the wobbly bit.

And better forearm muscles

And biceps

Dunno what you think an x ray will show. Dunno what you think a specialist will be able to tell you.

Its one of those things that if you leave it to get better on its own then you get the best results eventually. Draining it or more invasive surgery can speed up the process but has its risks as well.

Well, given that the GP has ruled out any kind of draining of it, I was hoping that a specialist might be able to offer an alternative, or more sterile surroundings to carry out the op.

Worst of all, this could see me medically downgraded and unable to deploy.

oh cmon, thats not a proper bursitis!!

put a proper infection in it! and go for double size elbow

Got mine from too much surfing. Went away after a couple of weeks with the pills they gave me.