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TKR Dealing with RLS after TKR<

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Well 17 days in,and just left the doctors office. And just for future reference, you can leave the new style incision dressing on for 17 days
Doc put some steri strips on said incision looked great, checked my extension/flexion, good to go.
Shows you how much I know, thinking I had staples under bandage but turned out to be glued.

One disappointment, no jacuzzi for 2 weeks., but to balance that off , he said I could go do some light chipping n putting

Talked about doing next knee, and wife ,doc , n I decided to rehab knee in Florida and schedule right knee for mid April.

Olive Garden calling my name . More later
 
@Softtail, way to go! Glue is so much better than the archaic staples and stitches! Good that you got the go ahead to chip and putt. My golf buddy neighbor kept bugging me from the two week point on when I would be good to play. I knew I wasn’t ready to swing a club, so I’d do a “ride-along” when he played and bring my putter so that I could practice that way. My neighborhood course didn’t charge me either which was great! I got my golf fix satisfied in those early weeks and Mark didn’t go crazy either! I think I actually played a round of 9 at around 6 or 8 weeks. I wanted to make sure I could make the turn on follow through without feeling any pain. Been playing every weekend (and sometimes during the week) since mid or late June. Have experienced no issues of any kind!

Now you are beginning to slowly move into phase two which entails more and more freedom of mobility and less and less pain as swelling continues to get better. Enjoy but don’t overdo it too often.
 
Thanks Navy. Yea gonna get colder and nastier up north here ,as you know, so golf will probably be hit or miss in 6 to 8 weeks (first of Nov. or so),, but am excited to see how it will feel playing golf on a knee that’s not about to collapse. Bad leg really changed my swing, so will see if good knee changes it back.

I love pickleball also, and hobbled along on bad legup till operation. Doc says that’s got to wait 3 months out , so probably won’t introduce that back till Florida. Honestly don’t know just how things will go ,since I do need the right leg done too, but fortunately that leg is not near as far gone as left one was.

PT coming tomorrow, so on we go.
 
Softtail said:
no Jacuzzi for 2 weeks
Click to expand...
Be careful with that hot water. It tends to make a new knee swell excessively. Make your first time in really quick to see how your knee reacts to the hot water. Hopefully, it'll be fine with it. A Jacuzzi feels heavenly!
 
Sistersinhim , got 2weeks before that could happen, so will have to see how knee feels then.
Home care nurse was here the morning , and has released me from home care. That means after my final
Visit from home care PT tech Friday, I need to move on to outpatient PT next week...

Don’t know how many of fellow-posters have gone thru the constipation game early on in this journey, but I got my scare last night. My output for last five days was limited to a few hard fought nuggets, and last night I had this overwhelming urge to gotobathroom , but could produce no results. After a very rough nite filled with that sensation, I was finally able to go about mid morning , fortunately adaquately enough to relieve the gotta go sensation.

I took my regular stool softener last night and threw in 2 laxative pills, but something tells me the aftermath of that combination is yetto come. Being worried about the contribution the oxy has made to my situation,,I have not taken any oxy since10 last night, and hope not to have to take any ( other than for my RLS) til 10 tonight ,which would be back to my regiment with oxy pre surgery when bowel movements were normal.

So far pain has been similar to what I was experiencing when using oxy with Tylenol, so hoping the Tylenol is enough to keep pain in check going forward. Will see as day/week goes on.

What a journey. Nurse actually recommended a home cure of a little warm prune juice with a little bit of butter stirred in. A fairly significant number of her patients swear by this ,in that it kinda coats intestine and things slide on out. Anyone attempted this approach on the forum.
 
Constipation is a byproduct of opioids. Many of us took Miralax. I actually took stool softners twice a day and Miralax three times a day as long as I was taking pain meds. The Tramadol didn't bother me as much, so I was glad to transition to that.
 
@Softtail, guess your nickname here doesn’t reflect your current personal situation, does it? :rotfl::loll::rofsign: Sorry, couldn’t resist!

I guess I was a lucky one as I didn’t have that problem. Maybe it has to do with my previous surgeries?

Regardless, here’s hoping everything works out just fine for ya!:heehee::sick:
 
I tried a concoction of prune juice, wheat bran and applesauce, and I’m gagging again just typing it, it tasted AND smelled so disgusting!!!! I am also very texture oriented when eating, and the texture was bad. :tantrum:

I made a big batch and after about maybe a tablespoon, if that much, I tossed it. :badspidy:

I don’t like to waste food, but...:eeeuw:
 
Hey, I am back after a fun filled day which has brought on some good and maybe some bad. The Bad. Anyone following my saga, is aware I was taking 10 mg. Of oxy for my RLS, and then jumping to 30 mg. Per day to help deal with pain from surgery. This has always scared me that the additional amount , once cut back ,would result in some withdrawal symptoms. Today for better part of day I have had moderate stomach cramps, and since I had not taken any oxy since following night at 10, I am hoping it’s just a coincidence and not a partial withdrawal. Maybe due to bowel problem, but ,as suspected, the laxative followed up my morning success, with a pretty though clean out through rest of day and evening. Possible cause of stomach cramps ?????

I really hope I am jumping to conclusions, and it is bowel related and my return to the 7.5 to 10 mgs. Of oxy only at night let’s me return to my (“old normal”). I just took my old normal amount of 7.5 mg. for RLS, so will see how that goes thru tomorrow.

Now jumping out of my doom n gloom mindset for a moment ,let’s look at the plus side of my day.
From 5 am this morning Up till 10 pm, I have taken no oxy and a total of 2000 mgs. Of Tylenol and my knee pain never went above 3 all day and for most part was 0-1.5 as it is now. So oxy is out for pain treatment and will now see how much Tylenol is needed as week progresses. Doesn’t make sense that in one day there could be what amounts to a big turnaround in amount of pain experienced but so far it is.

I love reading everyone’s personal journey thru this ordeal, and hope my recovery answers some questions (as it does generate some lol) as recovery goes forth. Drove the car to town tonight for first time ,no problems happy to report, and this weekend I go back on my Wine Trolly run ( Saturday only for trial this week). Looking forward to getting out of house more, and hope my recovery stays ahead of schedule as it seems to be for the most part.
 
@Softtail great report on your pain level. Don’t be surprised if you still have occasional days where you need extra. I went on 1000 Tylenol every 6 hours by the clock for the first week or so when I went off my codeine. Gradually over the past 2 weeks I have noticed I am up to 8 hours before needing something but there are days I know when I wake I need to go back to every 6 hours. It’s still early and lots of healing yet to go.
I do hope your stomach issues resolve whether bowel related or meds reduction related...not fun and affects everything else.
 
Dlr, returning to normal ? You n me both. 9 am Wednesday morning , n managed to get in about 3 to 4 hours of sleep last night and that came between 5 n9 this am. Some insomnia thrown into my recovery now , and adjustments in oxy for my RLS.

Gonna attempt to keep from taking any naps today so push my tiredness deeper into the evening, so the corresponding dose of oxy for relief of RLS symptoms allow me to get to sleep. There is a window once I take the oxy in which I need to get to sleep before symptoms return. When I am wide awake, as I was last night, I go by that window, my legs get jumpy, and am unable to get to sleep. That’s what happened last night , so at 4 am in morning took 2.5 mgs.oxy and waited hour for it to work which did allow me to get some sleep.

Believe me I am not trying to make my recovery thread about restless leg syndrome but for any fellow posters or future TKR friends, who happen to read this , hopefully the things I work out may be helpful for their own recovery efforts.

Good news is pain level still remains around 3 or less so cut back to 500 mgs. Of Tylenol at 9 and will see how this goes. Slight cramping in stomach, and hope this remains light as day progresses.
 
@Softtail, you might want to consider updating your thread title to include some reference to RLS so others might use that to learn from your experiences.
 
If you can’t change your thread title yourself, just post what you want it to be and we’ll do it for you. :flwrysmile:
 
That would be cool if it would help other sufferers.
Maybe change to
Dealing with RLS with TKR
 
Navy thanks, will let the experts put that up. Definitely think the jump from 10 mg. Of oxy to 30 for nearly 3 weeks left it’s mark. Still got stomach cramps and was a bit disoriented today , but cramps have subsided a bit, and have not taken any oxy yet for RLS so that is encouraging. Rls sufferers that are not as bad as I may not have to go thru the oxy dance, since many are handling their rls with other means.. For those that may have it as bad and are using oxy , maybe this will ease their fears, assuming I figure it all out as I go
 
Ok day 20, a second night unable to get to sleep till 5 am. Am able to sleep on and off thru morning ,but can’t seem to get to sleep over night. After a couple of days with very little pain, last night seems to have thrown a new twist to my knee progression. Seems the straight forward motion is still pretty good pain wise, but any type of side twist, throws a new pain at me. Nothing unmanageable, butcurious if this slight twisting was similar to anyone’s recovery. Never a straight road it appears.
 
@Softtail, normal and it improves. At 5 months sometimes I get zingers when I twist the knee.
 
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