TKR Bad day

Maria 535

junior member
Joined
Aug 29, 2019
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Hi, this is my first visit to the forum.

I had a really bad day yesterday, I could not get my pain under control. It mad me feel quite ill and spent most of the day in bed. My poor husband came home from work to find me in floods of tears.

I am now 4 weeks into this and was hoping to feel a bit better by now. How long can I expect to be in such pain, has anybody else experienced this?

Thank you, old grumpy xx
 
Hi and Welcome to Bonesmart!

I’m so sorry you are in such pain. Yes, it is to be expected, but it should also be able to be brought to a manageable level.

Are you taking pain medication? If so, on a regular schedule? Have you told your doctor about this level of pain?

Often a high level of pain is directly related to our activities. Too many exercises, too much waking around, not enough of elevating our leg, not enough icing, these are all things that can increase our pain level.

Being very emotional is also very common after any major surgery. I cried a lot! :console2:

I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Look for the article about post op blues, it explains a lot.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs

Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling

Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery

Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
Please also tell us the date of your surgery and we’ll make a signature for you.
 
Hello @Maria 535

Welcome to Bonesmart.

Yep, the things you describe are normal. I think most of not all of us have been through. My wife was very surprised the first time she found me in tears (tend toward being stoic).

Hang in there. Things should get better.
 
@Maria 535
Unfortunately what you describe is fairly normal in my experience.

After both of my hip replacements I was off the meds long before 4 weeks but the knee was much more stubborn. Each time I saw the OS he said "I did tell you that knees are more difficult"
I found things particularly bad at night which led to lack of sleep and which in turn had a knock on effect.

I think I tried to come off my meds too early. Being brave is not a good decision.

The 6 to 8 week mark was a turning point for me. As the post above says, hang in there.
 
@Mara 535
Sounds like a normal THR recovery to me!! The fact that cabin fever sets in after the first two weeks & the feeling that you want to be more normal does bring the ‘blues’. It’s normal to feel teary, especially if the pain kicks in...

Take more meds if you need them... it maybe for only a couple of days & then you will feel better... nothing worse than struggling with pain.

Try & get out, if you can, into the fresh air.. just sitting outside makes you feel better.

Stay on BS ... we all know how you feel... hope you have a better day... xxx[emoji3590]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If you do go outside, make sure you keep your incision covered.
 
Thank you so much for the response to my moan I am doing much better today. Now that you have said it can be related to too much activity I think it may have been the busy weekend we had that has caused this.

I am on pain relief meds and I do ice regularly, but not so much the elevation. Which I will try to do although I find it aggravates the back of my knee.

Kind regards Maria xx
 
Thank you all so much for the replies, my surgery was on the 2 August 2019 and I have to say the staff and the hospital were brilliant with me. Nothing was too much trouble and I can contact them anytime I have a query.

The receptionist at the hospital told me about this site and I have to say it is very useful and encouraging to read about others experiences.

I shall recommend it to my friends and family too.

Kind regards to all Maria xx
 
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Hi @Maria 535 glad you're feeling better. I was reminded of someone who I followed and always looked forward to his posts @Denny39 .

He posted the above and it really rang true when I was where you are now - I'm close to the four month mark and honestly it gets better and better, you will too!
 
I am on pain relief meds and I do ice regularly, but not so much the elevation. Which I will try to do although I find it aggravates the back of my knee.
It can be painful in the early days for some of us to elevate, I found that, too. You might be keeping your leg totally straight, which can be very painful. It is ok to have slight bend to the knee, just enough so that it’s not totally straight.

Here’s an article about elevating:
https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/elevation-the-dos-and-donts.7602/
 
The receptionist at the hospital told me about this site and I have to say it is very useful and encouraging to read about others experiences.

This is wonderful to hear! Can you tell me what hospital in the UK this was? I know that our forum's Nurse Director, Josephine, has been beating the BoneSmart drum in the UK for over a decade and maybe it's working!
 
Hi, the hospital was Fulwood Hall Hospital, Preston, Lancashire. Care was excellent by all staff & Doctors, Surgeons.

Kind regards Maria xx
 
Now that you have said it can be related to too much activity I think it may have been the busy weekend we had that has caused this.
I've been constantly surprised how little is 'too much' when it comes to post-surgery activity. For example, last week wore me completely out, even though all I did was sit in a chair and chat. Just being up and out and interacting was enough to drain me. So frustrating. And every round of too much results in pain and swelling all over again.
 
I understand how you feel. It’s a constant balancing act with what is too much and when is it enough. Reading through the articles on this site is giving some useful tips, some of which I am going to apply.

My consultant told me to do the exercises even if it hurts, this appears to be incorrect, so I am going to tail them back a bit to see if this improves the swelling and the pain I am getting.

I will post my findings to let others know.

Kind regards Maria xx:good-bad:
 
@Maria 535 Your consultant may mean well but you cannot exercise out of pain. Exercises that are too much for your current state of pain means leas healing and more pain
Training times will come when your knee was ready
 
Thank you so much, I think you are right and I am now working on this with less exercise and touch wood, so far so good.

I’ll post how I am in the next few days.

Kind regards Maria ( in positive mode) :ice:

PS: Love the emojis xx:loveshwr:
 
but not so much the elevation. Which I will try to do although I find it aggravates the back of my knee.
Make sure you have a slight bend in your knee when you elevate. That will take some of the strain off of the back of the knee.
 

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