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TKR Christine's Post Op Recovery

I have to be honest that my diet leaves a lot to be desired. I have multi grain Cheerios for breakfast and Greek fruit yoghurt with lunch but that's about it for fibre. Like many things in my life I am working on changing that.. I have lost 10 lbs since my surgery and have the motivation to keep trying to get healthy.

Just back from physio where I did 15 minutes on the anti gravity machine. I raised my weight to 30% of my body weight and did not get out of breath or even raise a sweat. My knee is sore but I feel it more in my hamstrings. Man it's been a long time since I walked for 15 minutes. It feels good.
 
cairistiona60 said:
I think I may have found a pain that rivals knee replacement. I'm not talking about childbirth. I have not had any children so that is not a comparison I can use. I'm talking about the combination of hemerrhoids and constipation. Yes folks, I have experienced the horror and lived to tell the tale, but only just! If you have a weak constitution you should turn off now. My butt has been ripped apart from the inside out and now that everything is loose I am having to go through the horrid after effects every half hour. I have cried, I have screamed, I have brought my hubbie running from the other end of the house thinking that I have fallen and expecting to see me lying on the floor with a kneecap in my hand, but no, he just saw me sitting on the toilet,flush faced and biting the toilet roll holder! I'm hoping it calms down soon. The hottest curry on the planet would not be as bad as this. Does the Cryo cuff have an butt pad?
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Not trying to "one up" you, but had the same issue with constipation and just one fun hemorrhoid, then a few days later, when I stopped taking the narcotic it swung to diarrhea, very frequent. Within a few hours my husband and I were referring to it as my "burning ring of fire". :eeeuw:
 
It is 3 am and I'm still awake. Am I in pain? Quick inventory of all body parts.........nope. Did I nap all day? Nope. Did I eat chocolate after 5pm? Ah, wait, does a chunky Kit Kat count? It sure does. Oh well that explains it. I just can't eat anything sweet after 5 pm. I should know that by now. It's not caffeine because I can drink tea at night and diet coke. My husband obviously doesn't have the same problem as he snores away beside me. I have to get some sleep. Staring at an iPad screen is not helping. Hey wait, did I say I had no pain? Wow, that's a first!
 
Chortle hope you are getting zzz s by now. Just sometimes sleep eludes us but wahay on no pain...

Legin THR Sep 14
 
I think the sleep issue is pretty common, although I always assumed a lot of it was due to discomfort, inability to find a comfortable position, etc. My knee usually isn't hurting when I go to bed (or try to), but I'm having serious problems falling asleep as well. I don't nap during the day - maybe a 1/2 hour or so around 4:00 p.m. but sometimes just lie down to rest and don't sleep. I'm doing PT 4 days a week, should be tiring me out but ...

A low-dose sleeping pill works wonderfully to get me to sleep whenever I decide to take it, but I don't want to be dependent on that, and it makes me groggy for quite awhile in the morning. Once I start back to work next week I'll need to be on a sleep schedule so that I can function during the day, but traveling/working in different time zones doesn't help either.
 
My husband burst out laughing when the surgeon said that. He knows of my past attempts and failures with driving.
 
@Josephine it seems that my patella was not replaced but was reinforced. I have attached a photo that I sneakily took when my OS left the room.
 

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Day one of no narcotic pain meds cancelled. I had to have a Percocet. My knee wasn't agony but sore enough for me to want to make it feel better. I might stick to taking one at night for a few more days.
 
I wouldn't stop pain meds cold turkey. If you feel you're ready, wean slowly, taking less every other day or so. I took narcotic pain meds for three months, just less as time went on.
 
If your surgeon has stopped your meds, ask your GP if he will obliged. You need something. You're only 6 weeks out. In the meantime, try using Tylenol 1,000mg 4 times a day. It's better than nothing.

Your patella looks a real mess!
 
I am over 8 weeks out and I still take one 5mg percocet at night. My OS just gave me a refill, and he is good with that. If I don't take it I wake up after about two hours and toss and turn and have a tough time getting comfortable. On weekends I try and see if I can sleep without it, but so far it's a no go. Take what you need for the best recovery. I needed to change some of my definitions of improvement with this surgery, pain meds being a big one!
 
I have a lot of Percocet that the surgeon prescribed. My knee had been feeling great so I thought that was a signal to stop the meds but my knee is contrary. It decided to hurt at night.
 
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You definitely don't want to stop narcotic pain med cold or too quickly. I thought I was tapering down okay but I was doing it too quickly and my body went through withdrawal. That's what gave me the "burning ring of fire". With your history you don't want to bring that on! :holysheep:

Once I was done with that, I find I get pretty good pain relief with 1000 mg of acetaminophen and also take a Tramadol if going to be more active.
 
I am managing with one of the big Alleve Gel tablets per day and two Percocets at night. I hope to reduce to one Percocet at night by next week. The constipation problem seems to have resolved but I'm still taking Senokot just in case. I haven't been to physio since Friday but I'm now cycling on my recumbent bike for 10 minutes every day. My flexion has improved a lot and I still have 0 extension so all seems good. I feel like I have turned a corner.
 
That's great! Senakot alone didn't help me, I needed Miralax with it. But once things got moving I didn't need any other help.
 
Before my surgery I took two Advil Nighttime to stop my legs from aching at night. I stopped taking them because of all the other drugs I was taking. Now that I have reduced the painkillers, the aching legs have returned with a vengeance. Last night I read that I could take Percocet and Advil Nighttime so I took my two Percocets and two Advil. Well I was quite literally stoned! My head was spinning and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I slept but this morning I have a hangover. Maybe I should only have taken one Advil.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't mix those. My first weeks of recovery: percocet followed closely by :zzz::wink:
 
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