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Bilateral TKR JustJeff 4/9/14

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JustJeff said:
So instead of two percocet tabs near bedtime, I took one the last few days and last night I didn't bother at all with the 2nd mid-night one and I felt fine. That's the good news. The bad news is now, without the full narcotic force, it's hard to fall asleep. When my wife turned in at 9 (she wakes up at 4:15 for work) I waited, downstairs reading until I felt drowsy enough to try the bed. Almost as soon as I lay down, I feel wide awake again. So I toss and turn for a half hour until I give up and is back down to read more.
This is probably why some people get hooked on these things; to get to sleep. Well, I refuse! As long as my pain is controlled, I'll work on weaning myself off of these. At least I don't have to wake up early and click into work. (I'm mostly retired but I'm also self employed so I schedule clients accordingly when I do work. )
Because of now not getting enough sleep at night, I'm getting more tired during the day. Today I took a nap from 1 to 3. But if I'm really sleepy I don't want to fight it.
So (after all that) how do I proceed to get off the heavy meds and get back into a normal sleep pattern?

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I totally understand. I had to give up the narcotics due to issues and use just Tylenol. But I can'tsleep. Doc gave me Ambien but that just makes me groggy but still no sleep. Gave up on it after 3 nights. Tomorrow I'm going to buy some melatonin at the herb store. My PCP said it's natural and may work. I found 2 Tramadol left a few days ago and took them...had the best night's sleep in a long time. Oh well...I guess it's time o get one sleep again.

Please share if you find something that works.
 
My wife and I have been using melatonin for years. It works well in normal situations but not this. It's the fighting sleep during the day that's difficult and sets up the insomnia later.

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As I cut down on pain meds I'm noticing little pains, like nerve cells waking up within the incisions. Also, initially I was content to lie on my back with my feet up on the wedge. Now, as I feel more normal and want to nod out quicker, even with the wedge, I'm turning on my side, which is putting pressure on my IT bands right beside my knees, so when I awaken I'm greeted with that pain. Sleeping with a pillow between legs doesn't work when both are post op.
This isn't dire, just reporting in. Icing this morning though. It's a sign of good recovery progress when you haven't iced in a few days, like forgetting to take pain meds.


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Absolutely. I'm going for longer and longer stretches without taking pain meds. It's now 8:00am and I took my last dose at 9:30pm yesterday. I love it! Will take it soon though.
 
Just shows you, ya never know when the knees are going to demand more energy. I had two things to do tonight but I had to cancel both. All of a sudden weak and over tired. Could bea result of trying to cut down on meds and not being able to fall asleep.

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JustJeff said:
Just tried the ice massage. Wow! 2 minutes is all I could stand, but instant relief! I used it on the IT bands on the outside of both knees ensuring I didn't hit the scar. Short work of getting rid of pain! Now we see how long it lasts.
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@JustJeff How did you do those ice massage on IT band got the same issue going on right now
 
I cheated and used a small zip lock bag with crushed ice applied to the small areas right on the outside of my knees where the pain was concentrated.

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Pretty constant if I'm climbing steps otherwise it's ok. It's on when I flex and push.

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@JustJeff I am not familiar with ice massage. Is this for any area that hurts around the knee. ( I know not for incision....that makes me cringe)
 
Yes, I just learned about it from pumpkln. It's for very localized pain and certainly not for the incisions. I cringe myself at what that would do to all those nerve endings trying to heal.

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Today, I started feeling new tiny infrequent stabbing pains around my left knee incision. It only happened maybe 4 times for an instant apiece. Could this be nerve endings waking up?

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I've had that off and on since I went off drugs and just on Tylenol. That's what my OS said was happening. Definitely annoying. Also had few of those pesky internal stitches pop up also.

I use Voltaren Gel on the sides of my knees before going to bed and that helps slot. I had bilateral and I use soft throw pillow between my knees which does help. Doesn't' t always stay where I want it though. LOL
 
Gee. .I wish done of my internal stitches would pop. I'm getting annoyed feeling like a trussed turkey. :)

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Sleenie confirmed that they were nerves waking up after they had reattached subdermally. As long as they're temporary and don't keep me up at night, I'm ok.

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@JustJeff My incision has been waking me up in a lot of pain. It is so strange all of the levels of healing this goes through. It seems like the incision should be feeling better not more sensitive. Today I was at the chiropractor and he decided it would be a good idea to touch/squeeze my knee and touch along the incision. I yelled "don't touch that". I'm wondering how that floated about in the clinic.:heehee: It hurt like ----. I didn't realize until later how that sounded. Oh well. I am a mama bear about my knee being touched!
 
Lisa, I imagine it was the weird burning pain but numb feel that you felt then? What about at night? Which pain was it? Are you covering your knees with anything at night?

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I just noticed that the majority of the incision pain is in the very thin layer of skin directly above the knee caps (which are still my own. )

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