TKR luvcats recovery box

I found that when I cut out all electronics with screens 2 hours before bed, it helped.
 
I'm sorry you are having trouble sleeping. I had a lot of that on my first knee, not so much this time so far. Part of that I have put down to having the ice machine as this time I can leave it on all night and so the pain is significantly less. But it also be you are overdoing just a bit. I hope tonight is better!
 
Also, I found that the tramadol seemed to affect my sleep more than the norco. Very noticeable when I stopped the Norco.

I read somewhere (Josephine found a good article on webmd.com) about serotonin syndrome. Tramadol allegedly releases histamines and suppresses serotonin (or can). So I took allegra in the am (interfered w my coap/sleep apnea at night) and added a small snack before bed of foods that promote/produce serotonin. Added a small afternoon snack of same. These helped. But sleeping was still odd.

So then I stopped the tramadol before bed and went back to 1/2 a norco at bedtime. Much better sleep. Then weaned off the tram in the day and the 1/2 norco at night (took 3-4 wks and my doses were teeny-tiny, but I’m super-sensitive to drugs).

I also started taking my Celebrex (anti-inflammatory) later, closer to bedtime, and that seemed to help. A lot actually.
 
@TrueNorth Having a nap out in the fresh air sounds delightful. Unfortunately I live in Mordor and we aren't scheduled to see fresh air until September, at the earliest. It's truly vile.

I haven't tried radio plays. I did put on my favorite meditation music that helped me sleep last time I was in the hospital, but got nothing this time.
 
@Chemist Thanks for the encouragement. I normally read before I fall asleep. I love books though and I find if I pick one up in the middle of the night I tend to stay up reading! lol

Having said that, leaving your feet uncovered encourages sleep as your core warms up when your feet send a “We’re cold” message.

Huh. Well that is completely different. I have a lot of trouble with my feet getting cold as I go to bed and once my feet are cold I will never, ever fall asleep. About a year ago I gave up and just started wearing socks to bed. I keep them short and loose and tend to kick them off in the middle of the night.
 
I found that when I cut out all electronics with screens 2 hours before bed, it helped.
This is a long standing habit.
Many years ago my best friend had a brain aneurysm. She wasn't expected to live, so they threw every possible treatment they had at her. She did live, and the whole, long, time she was in the hospital she wasn't permitted screens at any time. They do a lot of interesting things to your brain. Not really bad, unless you're recovering from something or are neuro-atypical but that was the beginning of my no screen time guidelines.
 
After reviewing my habits and reading not only the excellent Bonesmart article (thanks @Jockette) but also some others online, I decided it was entirely likely that i had cut back my meds too far.

I think I went from excruciating to just really bad so quickly, my brain hasn't really kept up. I cut back to my tramadol extended release, and that has been almost all I need during the day. It hurts, but not badly and mostly I don't notice with my leg up. But at night, I think it's enough that my brain can't relax. Last night I took some oxycodone at bed time, and again 5 hours later when I woke up again, and I had a delicious night's sleep. I hope it will work again tonight. I can experiment with cutting back again in a few days.

I had a nice little break through yesterday, despite not enough sleep. I had PT and did very well. He watched me walk and we talked about my limping habit that I need to train myself out of. I did a standing balance exercise and that went very well. Next time I'm to bring my cane so he can see me walk with it and advise me if I should switch or if I should stick to the walker for a while for gait training. He's also going to have me use the little test steps they have to see how I do with them. That's my biggest goal. Left foot steps by September 4.

The breakthrough happened when we got home. Getting out of the car, I turned a bit in my seat and just pulled my knee up to get my foot around the door without even thinking about it!!! A tiny thing, but it feels like a HUGE victory. I haven't been able to do that in years.

I can also use my new knee to just lift my foot and step over the door-stop cat. No trouble at all.

All this trouble is SO worth it!
 
My iPad is almost an addiction. Really don't like to admit but even more so after TKR. My social life, my amusement, bill pay, movies, books, work, research, fact check, honestly I reach for it first thing in the morning, last thing at night and even during the night. The screen time notifications I disabled, too horrifying.

Even the thought of turning it off two hours pre bed time gives me withdrawal tremors. Honestly it is, and had been, my lifeline.
 
@Benay In my normal life I shut down my laptop at 'bed time', which means get up, feed the cats, clean litter boxes, take a shower, and then read a bit. At my 'old knee' pace, this wound up taking about 2 hours. lol. If the husband is home, the phone gets plugged in downstairs so I can't hear it go off at night.

And when I get up in the morning, my main desktop computer is my first stop. So those 2 'pre bed' hours are pretty much the only time I'm not at a screen of some sort.

Kindles use a completely different technology if you have the 'digital ink' style, so they don't count!

Right now I'm less careful with it because I have a lot of chat conversations with friends and family in other time zones. I'll take what human interaction I can get.
 
@Benay @luvcats
I can’t tell you that it did not take some “weaning time” off of the screen habit before bed. I use mine as @Benay does.
Now before bed, I read an actual book, do a craft, or listen to a ball game or pod cast, do dishes etc.

I read a “screen book” last night, when finished , 10 pm it was time for bed. I was back in the living room 45 minutes later....working a craft for two or so more hours....bed was at 130 am.

I agree on the human interaction. FaceTime was a savior during this time.
 
I have found with these surgeries, that I am a night owl, I’m so much better when I go to bed around 2 am, and sleep till 11 I gave no animals, so that is a plus.
 
Yes, my cat wakes me at 6 am without fail. Weird even with daylight savings still 6 am, winter or summer. No peace until I'm up and doing for him.
 
The False Fat Diet by Elson Haas Is very interesting. It made me think of the book about eating for your blood type, which I felt ambivalent about until I realized that many of the food on the “not good for Type O” were also on my rosacea triggers list and were nightshade vegetables which can inflame arthritis.
Thanks for this reference.

As to your question about how long the trigger food fasts are for rosacea, I back to the rosacea.org site and can find refs to food triggers, but cannot find any mention of how long to omit them before reintroducing. Strange. And even though I am no longer taking the opiates, I cannot remember how long I omitted them. I do remember the dermatologist prescribed a 6-week session of using a calming cream, a compound of 2% hydrocortisone cream mixed by the pharmacist with the liquid contents of clindamycin capsules. And I think I omitted the triggers for the first four weeks.

The spinach is still the surprise. I have three different aquaintances who mentioned their flareups to me and when queried by me about the spinach, said they were eating lots of it and had increased it, especially during and after the romaine poisoning scares. All three said their faces went back to normal within 48 hours after stopping the spinach! Two of the three eat no gluten.
 
@winemama I have Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder, which means that I'm up around 5 no matter what, so I really need to get to bed as early as possible. Fortunately my body has decided we can nap now, so I'm getting some extra sleep.

@Benay Schedule cats are weird, aren't they? Not all of mine have been schedule oriented, but the ones that are are very strict about the whole thing. lol

@marieltha I felt the same way about the Eat Right for your Type diet until I realized that many of the things on my Not Eat list were things that I would not eat as a child. Something I'd made myself start eating because they were 'healthy'. It turned out to have a lot of fascinating ideas, I just wish there had been a lot more science backing them. I'm glad you're finding Haas interesting. I've read an awful lot about diets and nutrition in my quest for health since I never got the kind of support I needed from the medical profession. I'll be sure to pass the spinach information on to my mom. That's really interesting. You should check that list in the back of Haas and see what other foods spinach is related too...now where did I leave my copy....
 
Yesterday we had very nice visitors. We talked a lot about traveling. I am so looking forward to being able to travel and enjoy it again. Not just Disney in December or the cruises we've taken. I'm thinking castles in Britain or the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. All day walking kinds of things. Or a trip to Armathwaite Hall hotel and spa near Keswick in England where apparently you can do Yoga with Lemurs!

Since I was kind of a hermit the week before my surgery, I've now been housebound a month, so I can see I'm getting a little stir crazy. I'll have to see about having another friend come visit.
 
I know what you mean about housebound. I was truly excited to go to Lowes yesterday! LOL.
We extended my euphoria by driving to the local state park beach and enjoying the views of the water.

Disney in December is such a delight. My purple sequin ears are in the closet patiently waiting for me to go get some mousekisses again.
 
@luvcats
My vote....Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.....check out Tauck. They have both national/international trips. I have friends who are going on their 4th trip with them, and they rave about how wonderful it is.

Looking at delightful itineraries might tone down the “housebound” a bit. I did a bit of that last week.

@marieltha I get the “Lowe’s” delight. I am looking forward to driving myself to PT tomorrow.
Also, thanks for your rosacea posts. I have it and have ID’ed the triggers....I don’t eat raw spinach either....cooked no problem.
Stress, alcohol and sun as well as spices are my AVOID triggers. Waiters get tired of me asking them to “quantitate” the “spicy” with a number.
 

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