• SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE. BoneSmart will be unavailable from 8:00am - 10:00am CDT on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 due to required systems maintenance and upgrade.

    If you are unable to log in, please check back later and the maintenance should be completed.

    Sorry for the inconvenience.

Lounge Doctor

THR Leg twitches

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Liphip

junior member
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
43
Age
69
Location
Montana
Country
United States United States
Gender
Female
Hi, I am a 58 female. I had anterior hip replacement surgery January 7, 2013. Things are going pretty well. I have read many of the posts on here and I'm thankful for your many reminders to go slow and rest. I overdid it a bit about 4 days from surgery but backed off and feel better now. My question is about leg twitches/spasms at night. The past few nights I have been woken by a twitch in my operated leg. It hurts right in my groin. Is there any way I can prevent these? It's a little alarming when it feels like its in my new hip joint.
Thank you very much. I'm so glad I found this site.
 
Hi, Liphip and welcome to BoneSmart. Congratulations on your new hip!!!

Those leg spasms are something that happens in recovery. Please tell me what medications you are on for pain and how frequently you're taking them.
 
Thanks for your quick response. I am taking oxycodone during the day and night and neurotin with the oxy at night. Also taking extra strength Tylenol in between or sometimes with the oxy. There isn't any tylenol in the oxy. I've been taking the oxy 5 mg, 1-2 every four hours during the day.I have been taking an average of 7 oxy in a 24 hour period. I've been trying to cut back on the pain meds. It's confusing because they tell you to keep up with the dosage but they don't give you enough to do that for as long as you feel you will need them. Thanks again.
 
Considering that you are just newly out of your surgery, I'd say it's way too soon to start cutting down on your pain meds. I would be sure you are taking the full dose (2 pills) in the evenings and through the night. When you get close to running out, call your doctor for a refill. They short you on pills on purpose so you won't abuse them (stupid, I know!!!) and make you request refills. If your surgeon gives you a bad time about the refills, contact your GP. You will need good pain medications for at least several weeks (at least most people do). Taking them in this manner may help your leg spasms at night.
 
I will take two tonight and when I wake up during the night. I have been stretching out one every five hours today since I am running low. I did call the doctor today and the nurse said they wouldn't refill the oxy but would give me a script for hydrocodone. I'll call the pharmacy tomorrow and make sure they got it. I had the surgery five hours from my home because i wanted the anterior method. We live in a rural area and the closest pharmacy and doc is 20 miles away. One more question, for now anyway. Is it okay to put a small pillow under the knee of my operated leg while I'm sleeping?
Thanks for your time tonight.
 
I agree its too early. Welcome to the site. We are a friendly bunch and we are hear all the time. If you have a question please ask away. I'm going to ask someone to come along and answer the question about pillow. Josephine Jaycey We are a family and now you are a member. Please post so we know you are ok. Take care Tashia
 
Thank you, Tashia. It's amazing the questions a person you forget to ask the doctor before you leave the hospital. Good night- here's to a good night's sleep.
 
Hi Liphip, welcome to BoneSmart and the other side. Well done on getting that shiny new hip.

Yes, putting a small pillow under your knees at night does help ease any issues you have sleeping on your back. Hope you are getting some much needed rest!
 
Hi Liphip, I am recovering from a RTHR( had LTHR 3yrs ago). Had the op on 4th jan so only a few days ahead of you. Again as with first op the only pain meds I'm taking are paracetamol(anything else gives me the spins and cant take any NSAIdS as on Warfarin), so I've had to cope with a tremendous amount of pain. But the worse pain which has been reducing me to a tearful, snotty mess are muscle cramps and spasms. They have been so bad that at times I just wanted someone to knock me out. Anyway, after searching on line I found that magnesium and potassium can both help in reducing these symptoms. So for the last 3 days I've been taking a magnesium 300mg supplement and eating a banana before bed. GREAT NEWS! .............Spasms have reduced so much that I only get the odd twitch a few times a day instead of suffering all through the night.... WINNER! Other than that all good in the hood and moving onwards slowly and sensibly with my recovery. Hope his helps. Good luck, Queenie xxx
 
Liphip, some people are given a low dose of muscle relaxant to help them get enough sleep at night - that might also help you.
Queenie, I can't believe you are coping on just paracetamol (Tylenol in the USA?)! I also can't take NSAIDs after a gastric bleed but Medway hospital insisted on Morphine for the first few days even if it made you dizzy - stress of pain hinders healing and as Poppet says depletes your magnesium (and other minerals such as iron and calcium) stores. A multivitamin and mineral supplement for a few months could help your recovery and won't do any harm.
Have you talked to your GP and tried various painkillers? There are quite a few different ones so I'm sure you would find one that didn't make you woozy. You could also ask about a muscle relaxant at night
Best wishes to all
Anne xx
 
Hiya Nannyannie, I can't believe I'm coping with just paracetamol either!! I don't deny that in the early days I felt positively suicidal and questioned why I put myself through it all again. But now that everything is settling down I'm in a very positive frame of mind and feel that i can cope with the meds I've got. I had morphine in hospital, but that was only for a couple of days. We all have to remember that there'll be good days and bad days and you've just got to go with it. Having a good old cry can be quite therapeutic!! I am generally quite hard on myself but I think I'm coping admirably and have given myself a big ol' pat on the back. Xxxx
 
There are plenty of pain medications out there. If the medicine prescribed by the OS isn't effective or has unreasonable side effects, your surgeon or GP can work with you to find something that works better. This is major orthopedic surgery and there is no benefit in delaying your healing by suffering with post-operative pain.
 
Liphip said:
Is it okay to put a small pillow under the knee of my operated leg while I'm sleeping?
Click to expand...
It's better to support the entire length of the leg from knee to foot like this ... of course, one or two pillows would do! Whatever makes you comfortable.

The reason for not having a small pillow behind your knee is that it can increase the risk of clots.

Leg twitches
 
Good morning/afternoon! I had a good night, kind of felt the spasm coming on but used some ice and the oxy (2), and never got the 'yell out from pain' that happened before. I'm looking into the magnesium thru diet and making sure I am faithful about my multi-vitamin. Getting my staples out tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, yet slightly apprehensive about losing the security of those little metal bits holding everything together. Thanks again for being a place where I can be totally honest.
 
Glad to know your doctor cooperated with a pain med refill. You should be fine with the hydrocodone. Let us know how you get along!
 
There are food suggestions in the Magnesium article, have you had chance to read it.. Don't hesitate to tag me if you want further information :)
 
Poppet, you are a night owl! I did read the article. I'm gonna pick some of those things up today. Queenie, how are you doing? I'm trying to imagine this journey without pain medication and I don't know how I'd manage. Thinking of you.
I do have another question. My surgeon told us (husband and I) that the best thing I could do to recover is walk. I walked more than usual last night and this morning my heel hurts. I know it will go away because I had the same thing happen a few days after I got home from the hospital. Am I overdoing it or am I walking incorrectly, as in toe/heel vs heel/toe? My hip is telling me to take it easy today so that's the plan other than staple removal. Thanks
 
Hi there, no, not a night owl normally, just in a different timezone in Australia :)

Heel/Toe is the correct way LipHip and yes a few members including myself had a sore heel for a few weeks as we started to walk. All about the body realigning and different pressure being applied to different areas of the feet.

You may want to consider checking your shoes, I found through a very painful experience that the shoes I wore ore surgery were no good post surgery. That is because we have worn then down in a different pattern.. Something to think about?

Great to hear your surgeon said walking is best, exactly what my surgeon said :) :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Active Antibacterial

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

The Best Total Knee Replacement Blogs of 2020

Staff online

  • Layla
    Layla
    Staff member since November 20, 2017

Members online

Total: 150 (members: 13, guests: 137)

Forum statistics

Threads
65,724
Messages
1,604,442
BoneSmarties
39,691
Latest member
Rkelley
Recent bookmarks
1

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom