Joint pain

My right knee started hurting late last night, that intense muscular pain in the middle of the joint that leaves you wanting to scream. It was nearly impossible to think straight and took me almost half an hour to stand up from a chair I had sat down on.

I didn't want to take medications for it, so I finally tried taking a nap to get the pain to stop. It didn't help, so I went back to bed. Got up around noon to finally find the pain had dissipated over the night.

I really want to know what it is that causes that to happen. It hits both knees and hips at seemingly random times, usually in the winter. I've had it hit the shoulders too in more recent years, it seems like the same pain, but in the shoulder. I've had the problem with my right knee since I was in my early teens, over the years it seems to be spreading throughout my body. I think what I need to do is get a small notepad and start keeping a journal of when the pain hits, for how long, and what might have caused it. Make noted on what the weather was like and what I was doing that might have triggered the pain. Maybe then I can start figuring it out.