Become an Insider

THR complications due to dysplasia - who else?

Status
Not open for further replies.
You may be able to gently stretch your calves with a towel, like this:

[Bonesmart.org] complications due to dysplasia - who else?



I think your best bet would probably be to follow Deb's suggestion about muscle relaxants though. This is just a temporary thing and there is no reason to suffer unnecessarily with it.
 
Well warriors.... I had home PT today and she said the cramp in the calves probably comes from the way I'm walking with crutches = with very tensed-up calves thus! I do this because of the VERY weak quads after 6 weeks non weight-bearing, I'm using my calves to compensate. She taught me how to relax my calves whilst walking, I managed 20m before I collapsed on my bed! I really have NO muscles left in my leg!

She said the cramp could also come from not drinking enough fluids, which would be right. I normally drink a lot of water/juice/coffee & tea throughout the day, but being less mobile I'm getting drinks for myself less often. Will need to pay some attention to this.

Realised today that I will literally have to learn to walk again, from scratch. From now. So I've had a bit of an emotionally wobbly day, been in tears most of it. Feel like a complete invalid, which wasn't what I signed up for when I went into hospital 7 weeks ago. But it is the way it is and must take it literally one step at a time.

Thanks for all the tips, have been stretching and the cramping has settled down. Is Tramadol a muscle relaxant? Cause I take 50mg in the evenings before going to sleep.

Damn! I showed my PT the photo of The Stick, she gave me a very funny look :skep: suffice to say she'd never seen anything like it in her life. PT said I should tickle/touch my calf a lot to get everything sensitised and moving, looks like it will have to be without a Stick.

Tomorrow is another day.....
 
Oh Sooty, I am so sorry to see that you are having additional issues to deal with. It is hard enough to deal with the weightbearing restrictions and now the spasms in your calves. When mine were giving me problems, my daughter would take a rolling pin and gently roll my calves...this helped a lot
 
Damn! Luckily Boyfriend is coming to stay this weekend, he's a fantastic masseur and has promised to leave me feeling like a Wagyu cow (yes his words, he means well). He also has some sort of shiatsu massage cushion with rolling balls in it he's also bringing for me to borrow. Light at the end of the tunnel.
 
Hey Soot... the massage sounds very promising (and morale boosting, if I might say so.) Tramadol treats moderate to severe pain but I know they also prescribe it for restless leg syndrome. I know you have restless legs, although perhaps not in a clinical sense! That drug did a number on me.. funny how we all respond so differently. I know the cramps will ease soon but the blues may take awhile. I had a blub today at PT when we decided to stop everything because of the pain. I am on light stuff only for another week - can't wait for my bike to arrive, it is the only exercise that feels truly therapeutic. They do say hips love bikes. On that subject, my personal spare tire is accumulating. Hang on there lovely lady, the tunnel is open and there is light at the end.
 
Vida I was prescribed Tramadol a few years ago when I had a major hip/back pain flare up and I couldn't tolerate it at all (nausea, dizzy) but I got it in the hospital with my THR and NO PROB! So I've been taking it at night ever since, also helps me sleep. I think I've been taking dicloflenac for so long before the operation (6 mths) I can handle anything? Or maybe taking the stomach protectors (omeprazol, also the past 6 mths) helps?

And hips do truly love bikes! :bicycle1: Until 7 weeks ago I was riding an hour a day to work and back (very Dutch) and had been for 12 years, even when I could hardly walk anymore from the pain I could always bike without pain. I LOVE biking and love my bike, can't wait to get back on it. I think I'm so going to cry with joy the day I get back on it.

I've also got a bit of a spare tire going, but I really needed that for the 42 blood-thinning injections I just finished last week :yes!: Well, that's my excuse...

The light at the end of the tunnel is always there, sometimes a pinpoint and sometimes a sun. Hang in there Vida cause I look to you (and the other non weightbearing warriors!) for example!
 
I am 6 weeks in and have just done away with crutches but am still on 200mg slow-release Tramadol twice daily topped up with paracetamol. Learning to walk without favouring one side and swinging the "bad" leg out is difficult and makes knees and ankles ache despite the pain meds. Slow stretches really help but do take it slooooowly! I had an exercise class at the hospital gym today and I am aching but it is ache rather than pain.
We all wanted an instant fix but I just have to think about the pain I was in 7 weeks ago to realise how much better I am. Next week I can get on the exercise bike - that will probably make different bits ache - and I want to go to Yoga class again! I am also looking forward to our usual cruise to Zeeland (Middelburg/Veerse Meer) in our boat this summer and being more mobile than last year!
 
Nannyannie so you'll (kind of) be in my neck of the woods this summer - I live in Utrecht. I'll be back visiting family in Australia coming summer. Can't wait to set of the alarms at customs! I've already set of a few in department stores here, crazy!
 
Sooty said:
My calves have behaved very well today!
Click to expand...

Fantastic!! Sounds like you are starting to adjust to 50% and got some good tips from your PT person. Wonderful that you'll get some massage when your boyfriend comes to visit -- not sure about the Wagyu cow comment, but they do look like beautiful animals with lovely legs... :heehee:

If it's just been 7 weeks since you were on your bike last, I predict you will be back on it again soon and we'll want to see a pic of that momentous occasion!!

Take care,
Cardie
 
Vida said:
On that subject, my personal spare tire is accumulating. Hang on there lovely lady, the tunnel is open and there is light at the end.
Click to expand...

Oh gawd- don't I know this as well! was sitting on the couch and noticed my 'belly'- got on the scale and i'm about +13lb since surgery!

And sooty- I know what you mean about 'learning to walk again' - I went thru that too, I could not believe all the muscles it took to actually 'walk' - you use them all the up the back! I kept telling people how they just take walking for granted and have no idea how much it really took to propel your body..... I think after 2 weeks or so of actual going for 'walks' (I think this was around 2 or 3 weeks post-op for me) things kind of started 'sorting out'

Sucks that you have the weight-bearing restrictions- But after a few weeks of working up once you start walking again, it'll kick in - it's like riding a bike!:wink:

Also good plus on the SO massage- I need one of those- well, actually both of those!
 
Hi Aussie Sooty

I wanted to come chat on your thread... I read your post from CP's thread and particularly your comment

.Everyone else on this forum is talking about exercises and progress and I'm not allowed to do ANY PT yet. I still can't even carry a cup of coffee.

I had all sorts of plans what I would do during recovery, am shocked how wiped out I've been and how little initiative I've been able to muster. It's also not helping that there's so much ice and snow here in the Netherlands (where I live) that I am completely unable to venture outside on my crutches. Or wheelchair.
I have the feeling that I'm learning an incredibly important life-lesson due to this new hip, just not sure what it is yet?

I know you are doing it tough right now without the support of family and being so far away from home and just relying on friends.. This is tough!

But the important lesson you speak of is 'patience' my good friend.. most of us living in such a fast world seem to have lost this quality and it is very hard to learn following a THR, especially when you you've long term restrictions such as you have had.

I am sure that the roller coaster of emotions are heighten somewhat by being in another country and not being able to get out even in the wheel chair, due to your cold, cold winter...

BUT, hang in there, you have your trip home booked and we will support you through the next few months. You will get your mobility back and your focus now should be around your preparation for coming back to OZ in the best condition possible..

You can do it, with a little help from your BoneSmart friends... Hugs xxxx
 
Hi Sooty!

I just saw Poppet's message to you and wanted to stop by and see if I can help cheer you on as well!!

It is a slow go in the begining. I was house bound too, but not on the same type of restriction. What helped me to moderate the time some was a "scheduling" of particular activities for the day. There was a particular time for walking -- or crutching back and forth in the house and looking out all the various views to see what was going on in the 'hood. I had a particular time for watching half of a movie on tv and a time for lying in the bed and reading then taking an afternoon nap. It was incredibly mundane but if I had these little "bites" to look forward to as I moved through the day it made the day at least seem to move.

I, also, experienced the lack of motivation and initiative that I think you may have been referring to in CP's thread. That will pass when you are more mobile, have healed further and are not having to have medications that can scramble your brain. My reading was of utterly mindless type, nothing deep or complex.

No, you don't have any PT or exercises yet -- oh, wait Alex posted a stretch for you in message #101 :) when we were trying to get your calves to settle down and play nicely... it doesn't feel like much, but it is a little something you can focus on -- the calves and settling the restless legs. Remember, not comparing yourself to others -- we are just working on what YOU are able to do for now.

You also have that awesome bike to look forward to and since you were on that bike pretty close to when you had to have your surgery maybe you can try some zen-moments visualizing how you will be when you are back on that bike in the warmer weather. Maybe you'll bike to a lovely outdoor cafe and order up a cup of coffee and a biscuit to enjoy -- crutch free!! :yes!:
Hope today will feel a little better,
Cardie
 
Hey Sooty- sounds like you've been having a hell of a time lately, and it will pass... even if it seems to take forever. I know what you mean about 'plans' I had all mine too- I'm 3 mos today and have done, well NONE of them.:sigh: Heck, I didn't even have the motivation keep up the studies and projects I started pre-THR- it's like my entire life has just been one big fat 'hold' sequence! I guess my point is, you are not alone- the hip itself seems to be an all-consuming entity.....

And I guess I'm really just commiserating now- meant to pop by and say 'hang in there- kitten' but I think I am finding even tho I really am FINALLY seeing progress daily here, that rollercoaster hasn't stopped, I still get them menstrual cramps and go all breakdown-y, and I think today is going to be one of those days.......
 
Sooty

Hi there honey... I just wanted to check you and your family are ok knowing you are from QLD regarding the extreme flooding...

If there is anything I can do to assure you, please let me know..
 
Just dropped by to check on you, just like all your fans. Hang in there, when you are full weight-bearing it will feel SO good. Imagine all the restorative growth that bone is doing while you're resting. Hope all is well.... Vicki
 
Hi Sooty

How are you doing? Been thinking of you and I hope things are going better for you. :flwrysmile:

I've got a date at last, the 19th of feb, so not long now.

Best wishes
Diane
 
Sooty hi there .. Aussie warrior, need an update.. Hope all is well?
 
Hi Sooty, just stopped by to see how you are doing today. I can certainly appreciate your feelings of frustration and aggravation. I hope you are now on the downward side of those.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Staff online

  • Jockette
    Jockette
    Staff member since March 18, 2018
  • djklaugh
    djklaugh
    Staff member since December 30, 2020
  • Jamie
    Jamie
    Staff member since Feb, 2009

Members online

Total: 2,041 (members: 3, guests: 2,038)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom