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TKR 16 Days PostOp, Getting Better

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oh that's right I remember reading about that.Thats another concern of mines. what did you use for the constipation?. im already slow in that department ! yet I have a over active bladder at night very active . so I could be a mess my first week. and my fear is the PAIN that I read so much about. so I guess my fear is waking up in major pain and having to go poop and not being able to , not even able to bend my knee to sit on my commode . ill manage im sure its just that my mind always thinks and im a control freak. im not to familiar with diverticulitis . is that serious? well hope all goes well with you !! thanks so much for answering my questions. p.s I ride too but it can be mentally exhausting at times. wise decision!!
 
icep707, diverticulitis is a condition of the colon, whereby small pea-sized and larger pockets are formed on the lining of the colon. The hydrocodone or any of the opiate drugs, so I'm told, affects the sensors that move the waste along. The colon continues to remove moisture from the material. So it sits in there barely moving, getting hard. As waste passes, if it is hard, as in constipation, the hardness and movement causes the diverticula to become inflamed and extremely painful. Hopefully, you don't have this condition. When I went through this, the first few days I was home, I had not had a bowel movement in five days and the pain was much greater than the pain in my knee, so I quit the knee pain medication for a few days. No fun. I tried laxatives, softeners, fiber; nothing would work. I did have some diverticulitis medicine that I had prescribed by my primary care physician that helped considerably. My wife made a trip to our small pharmacy to get some different kind of something that might help. Our pharmacist recommended a combination stool softener/laxative that was a house brand. The label states "SUNMARK Stool Softener Plus Stimulant Laxative". I don't know where you are so I can't tell you where to find it. It is a "house brand" manufactured by McKesson. The ingredients are Docusate Sodium, 50 mg, and Sennisides 8.6 mg. You might be able to find something similar. Anyway, I take one tablet every other time I take my hydrocodone. This is the only thing I could find that works for me. This method of dosage produces a movement every other day, although with some straining. Let me know if I can help further.
 
Today marks one week without any walking/standing support (not using walker anymore). Knee is working well. No pain the type experienced prior to surgery. I have no plans to use a cane. However, I do hang onto the shopping cart at the store. Knee is still painful at times between medication when it wakes me up at night. As an example, I took pills last night at 9 pm. The dose lasted 9 hours; pretty good. I was awakened at 6 am, significant ache, with pain level at about a 7. Took two pills; they kicked in at 6:25, due to empty stomach. Things are progressing well, I think.
 
:thumb:
 
Surgery was 30 days ago today. Yesterday, my kneecap started to hurt. It kept this up during the night and the pain meds didn't seem to affect it. It comes and gos. I'm wondering if this is similar to my experience of needles sticking into my incision, nerves doing something. Anyone experience this? How about you Bonesmarties? Thanks.
 
Wow 30 days already. Way to go . Are you sure you are prescribed the correct meds for your size ? And im sure you are elevating and icing.. tkr is very traumatic for the .. whole knee area and the soft tissue. As you know im post op and im on the forum daily , I wanna be so prepared. . Hopefully others will respond shortly with words of wisdom from there experiences. Until than , we will pray that you get some sort of comfort. Keep us posted.
 
What a sweet resophonic guitar (I'm hesitant to say "dobro" since that's a specific brand). Always wanted to learn to play slide, or at least blues-style fingerpicking. Got any music files of you playing?

As to kneecap pain, it'll come and go, especially in winter. I'm pretty stiff (both knees) going downstairs in the mornings--even 6 months post-LTKR and 18 months post-RTKR. Taking a couple of arthritis-formula acetaminophen twice a day does help. I do sometimes still get nighttime burning, aching nighttime left knee & frontal quad pain--especially when the weather is cold & damp. Voltaren gel helps the kneecap and gentle massage and arnica gel helps the quad. After a fairly active autumn, culminating in a weeklong run of a musical I was in, I've spent a week of enforced sedentariness caused by arctic temperatures and lots of snow. Gonna get back on my exercycle and (very gently & gradually) on my X-C skis (on my backyard lawn at first). Keeping limber tends to help with the aches & pains. You are obviously much earlier in your recovery--and overdoing things is a real danger. Your rehab, if you choose to do it, should be as gentle as possible at this point--and you still need to be icing and especially elevating as much as possible! (I needed to do that daily until 3 months out). Dunno how cold it is now in TN; but if the thought of icepacks has you shivering, bundle up the rest of you as much as possible--fleece, sweaters, even shearling slippers or boots indoors.
 
Hello, Diva. Thank you for your discussion and Ida Red thanks you, also. She really is a beauty with a magnificent voice. Mostly nice and sweet, but she can yell at you if she chooses. I don't really care who owns the brand, it's still a dobro "small d" to me. Sorry, I don't have any music files. I primarily play mostly old country, blues and very little bluegrass; mostly lead melodies as opposed to the very fast three finger style roll.

Yes, I'm almost at five weeks and just started outpatient PT this week. It consists mostly of stretching muscles and tendons. No pain during the sessions, but "kinda stove up" after the session. Had one this morning and have been tight and acheing (sp) ever since. I guess it is helping. My ROM has increased to 97.
 
My PT yesterday was kidding me that my new knee would let me know when there is an 80 percent chance of rain. Is there any truth in the comments that the replacement knee is now my portable barometer requiring no batteries or charging? If so, how neat is that? Experiences? Thanks.
 
[Bonesmart.org] 16 Days PostOp, Getting Better
Well, if I wait for my new knees to let me know it's going to rain, I'll just get wet. My knees used to let me know before TKR, but not since.
 
I'm experiencing some weird activity with my pain medication. I have been trying to take it by the clock. In the last week or so, I haven't needed anything during the day, but the pain wakes me up around 2 am every morning at a 6 to 7 level and I have to get up and take a dose. Any ideas?
 
Oh yes, the middle of the night pain event--my wakeup calls tended to be a bit later, say 3 or4AM. I had to adjust when I took meds so I was getting peak benefit around that time, or such was my theory. Lots of nights the best option for me was to slap the ice wrap on and start the machine up (Berg Polar Cube, was "given" to me at the hospital) which entailed hauling my stack of pillows into the bed (except for the first few nights I have not been sleeping with the leg elevated, just with a big bed pillow between the knees, as I am a side sleeper for the most part) and being miserable until I'd waft off again, usually about daybreak.

Recently the Knee has for the most part stayed quiet until 5ish, and I'll get up, take tylenol, start the coffee. For a while there I'd add some generic naprosyn at bedtime, that helped. At present I take either two 500 mg Tylenol or two Arthritis strength extended release tylenol (625mg I think those are, two are supposed to last 8 hours. Well....Most days I take the 625s in the morning, the 500s when I think of it in the afternoon, and then the 625s again at bedtime, all with timing, if I'm lucky, such that the wakeup pain doesnt set in until 530 or 6AM. It is getting so I can actually do fine if I miss that afternoon dose.

As I have said elsewhere, I'd like to save my liver to process ethanol, not tylenol. If things get desperate I'll take half a lortab with one and a half 500mg tylenols, but I havent needed to do that for a couple of weeks.
 
I tried taking otc pain pills, acetaminifin (sp) to keep from taking too much hydrocodone, but they just didn't phase me, so i had to go back to the dope to get any relief.
 
I have been lucky in that I get pretty good relief from the tylenol. I just despise opiates even though they surely do the trick. I took them like a little soldier for three days straight but really didnt need them after that. I think it is very, very common for our knees to act up in the middle of the night--have seen many posts about this. Can you ice that knee at 2AM? Or perhaps ice it really well just before bedtime--I've done that too. In fact, for a solid 6 weeks I've been all about the ice.
 
jeano said:
I just despise opiates even though they surely do the trick.
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I, too, hated the feeling that they gave me---I was living inside a giant cotton ball. I was drowsy, and I could not think straight.

jeano said:
Can you ice that knee at 2AM? Or perhaps ice it really well just before bedtime--I've done that too.
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You are right on the money! Ice is your very best friend!
 
SMenasco said:
I tried taking otc pain pills, acetaminifin (sp) to keep from taking too much hydrocodone, but they just didn't phase me, so i had to go back to the dope to get any relief.
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Hope this makes sense, but you'll need it for as long as you need it, and then you won't need it anymore. And then you won't be taking it. If it is providing relief, that's a good thing!

How's Ida Red? Getting in some playing time? :)
 
SMenasco said:
I tried taking otc pain pills, acetaminifin (sp) to keep from taking too much hydrocodone, but they just didn't phase me, so i had to go back to the dope to get any relief.
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I would not worry about taking th hydrocodone, as you are taking it for a reason. While the feeling of the "fog" or the "haze" is inevitable, you are taking the meds for a reason. It is not a good idea to try to get off of the pain meds too soon, as your body still needs them.

I was worried about becoming addicted to them, but my OS put my mind at ease. He said, "Do not worry about it; you are taking the Oxycontin for a reason, and you will know when you are ready to leave those pain meds behind."

He was right.
 
Thanks to all for your wise words.
 
Hey. I was just thinking of you , hoping all is well. Sad to hear you are struggling with pain management. I agree with the earlier post. Ice , elevation is still very crucial. Good to hear you are out shopping but remember dont overdo it. Hope your other issues have subsided. I have been patiently waiting for my surgery in February but have been reading Bonesmart daily. Reading pre op and post op stories. Im like a sponge taking it all in . Hey keep us posted on your recovery. We are pulling for you!! Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
 
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