21 weeks out and pain

[mrschooch]

Hello my friends...work has been so hectic and busy I find myself doing more lurking than actually writing. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this. More and more lately I have been getting a lot of pain in the "joint line" of my new knee. It is very similar to some of the pain I used to experience.

ROM is pretty good, when the pain is bad, I suspect it gets swollen and I can't bend as far. The pain gets so bad that I almost can't walk at times. I am thinking there are a few issues here and wonder what you all think? The first is weight, I know I am overweight and that impacts it greatly. However, even when I had lost over 50 pounds I still had this "joint line" pain. I sit at my job a lot, but try to flexing my knee up and down while I am sitting with clients and then in between clients I walk around the building at least twice to loosen up--that is about 300 steps each time around. However, by the end of the day I still have this pain and it is usually pretty bad.

I find that when I am on my feet walking around a lot, as in Christmas shopping, even using a cart, by the end of the day I am dogmeat--with pain that is bringing tears to my eyes. The burning hot swollen outside only comes when it gets this bad. So I know that I need to sit in the hot tub, elevate, and ice.

I am discouraged because so many of you are doing so much more and so much better at this point. As we are in the dawn of winter here, do any of you suggest I try to go and walk around our local mall before work for more exercise and to keep it moving and "greased"? Should I ride the bike daily instead of when I have time? Thanks for any replies, they are much appreciated.

 

[Josephine]

Well, hello there! So sorry to hear you are getting some after pain. Do I understand correctly that you've had this consistently since the op?

Are you taking any pain meds?
Have you sought your OS advice on the matter?

Quite possibly you have an inflamed ligament and I think you may need to cut back on your activities for a bit until it settles down.

 

[Jamie]

I had a similar pain for quite some time....at least I think we're talking about the same place on the knee. Mine was on the front of the joint right about the top of the tibia. In my case, I had the OS check it out and there was nothing he could see. It went away with some time. I took Celebrex which helped and I assume it was some of the soft tissue in there inflamed as Jo is saying.

I definitely would NOT increase exercising or activity while you are hurting. That would just make things worse. In my opinion you'd be better off to baby it for a while instead.

 

[mrschooch]

It is on the interior of my knee right at the joint line--at least when my OS used to push on it and I would go through the ceiling, this is what he called it. I noticed when I had shorts on before the hot tub today, it was quite swollen--even my daughter commented on it. I sat with my leg up for a while, went into the hot tub for about 15 minutes and am going to try and take it easy over the next week, if at all possible. I do not see OS again until January 20th. Thanks Jamie and Josephine for your responses.

 

[yukismom]

I am almost 1 month post op and I find that I have a pain when I walk like a hot shooting knife going into my medial side of my new knee. After the pain comes like the burning pain. I am so sick of this pain and I often wonder if I did the right thing. I know that it takes times to heal and that it has only been 1 month but I know exactly what you are talking about.

 

[Josephine]

This is clear evidence of an inflamed ligament, there are a couple at the spot you mention.
I would strongly recommend you not use too much heat for inflammatory situations like this,
take pain meds (nag nag nag!) especially anti-inflammatories, ice and rest a lot more.
But some stretches and deep massage are good.
This is also an occasion you could get good relief by using a TENS machine.

.

 

[Carolyn]

Merry Christmas!

What you have described is almost exactly what I am going through. We are the same in recovery time, 5 months. I cannot tolerate walking for any length of time because the pain and swelling on the top of the tibia at the joint line. When I do walk I wrap my knee with an ace bandage to support the knee cap area. At night my knee burns and is painful. I am not on any prescription pain meds. I have been taking diclofenac, flexril and extra strength tylenol.

Two weeks ago the OS drew fluid to test for infection and it came back negative, yeah. He then gave me a cortisone shot in the knee joint. It seemed to help for a day or so then the pain returned. The OS suggested if the shot didn't work it might be nerve damage. I don't think that is what's going on. I am very frustrated and regret this surgery as I did not have this much pain prior to it. My GP wants me to get a second opinion, he thinks I should not be in this much discomfort at this stage. Perhaps this is normal??? I just don't know.

My days are spent taking care of my grandson who is almost 3 and the upkeep of the house. Nothing too strenous to speak of. Driving is a chore since it's my right leg. Shopping is limited.

My rom is getting better, it's decent I can bend it fairly well and straighten it with no problem. However, prior to the surgery I had much better rom than I do now and not nearly the amount of pain. I too have been "lurking" as I did not have any positive things to say lately. Oh one other thing the OS said to me AGAIN was that it's going to take me 18 months or so to finally feel healed. I may be impatient, but I am so ready to get back into life.

I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Josephine]

Well, Flexril isn't an analgesic, it's a muslce relaxant which may or may not be effective.

But how much diclofenac and Tylenol are you taking and how often?

.

 

[Jamie]

Carolyn.....I disagree with you about your activity level. YOU may not think taking care of a 3-year-old and keeping a house up amount to much activity, but I do. If there is any way to lessen the time you must spend as a caregiver for an active toddler, it might help your pain level. Otherwise, I do think you're going to have to allow more time. I'm not sure I agree with the 18 months, but certainly between 9-12 months.