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Jamie

Jamie

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I had a TKR on my right knee on Leap Day (how appropriate) of 2008. I am 59 and in pretty good health, aside from a few heart rhythm issues now and then. I thought everything was going really well, until this weekend. My doctor prescribed hydrochodone for my pain when I came home from the hospital. I started with 12 pills a day and had worked down to 8 this past Friday and 6 on Saturday. But starting Saturday, I became so nauseated and sick to my stomach that I felt I needed to do something different. I took my last pain pill Saturday night at 11:00 p.m. Sunday morning, I was still miserable....not so much the pain, but more the nausea and extreme tiredness. The on-call doctor agreed with me that the problem was likely the pain med. He told me it would be okay to stop cold turkey if I wanted to or I could try a half a pill with something to eat. I opted to stop completely. I was okay for most of the day pain-wise, but here it is the middle of the night and I cannot sleep. I'm tired. The knee doesn't hurt too terribly. It's just that when I lie down, I can't stop moving my legs around and I never get comfortable. I came in to the computer to read some of the posts from this wonderful board and decided to join. It sounds like my experience might be something that just happens. I would welcome any advice or help anyone could offer. I plan to call my doctor tomorrow (Monday) and see if there is a different medication for pain he could give me that does not have the same ingredient as the hydrochodone....I have had problems with Tylenol before and think this may be why my stomach is so upset now.
 
Hi jamie, have you tried anti-inflammatorys? I,ve got a bit of a sensitve tummy but you can get them with a modified coating so they get well into your system before they start to break down.I,m on some called Diclofenec,no having to go cold turkey when you come off them either. Cheers klinger.
 
I'm going to talk with my doctor about maybe using an Ibuprofen product later this morning when I can call. I am on blood thinners, though, and I have to watch what I take. I'm not familiar with the product you mentioned. I wonder if it's available in the United States. I'll do some checking. I also want to ask about Celebrex. I was successfully taking that before my surgery. I don't know why my problems and questions ALWAYS come at the times when the doctor's office is NOT available. Thank heavens for this web site and all the wonderful posters! Thanks so much for your response.
 
Sounds like the right way to go, Jamie. Diclofenac is also known as Voltarol, Voltaren or Cataflam but has the same problems as ibuprofen. I know the kind klinger is talking about but cannot for the life of me remember its name!

You will also find that the restlessness and disturbed sleep patterns are pretty common amongst TKRs. Glad you finally joined us though. Keep posting and we'll get your through this. Online support group at your service!!
 
Thanks, Josephine.....I have already gained a ton of information and mental relief over the past 3 weeks from your entries. Next time I am in my doctor's office, I want to provide information to him and a sample of the postings with the idea that he could give new TKRers this web site to explore. It is a GREAT benefit. It's doubly interesting to me to see how much in common we Americans have with our friends in England.
 
Yeppers on that, Jamie - an TKR is a TKR is a TKR!! Hehe!!
 
Let me get this right--- you had your op on 2/29 and are no longer taking any naracotic pain meds? Or heading that way? I'm impressed!

It's good if you can really manage with no pain meds.... but don't feel like you "should" go without them. You have had major surgery less than a month ago with a great deal of rehab yet to go. Many many of us (myself included) tried to stop taking the pain meds because we were worried about addiction or thought we "should" stop for various reasons, but couldn't. Fact was (is) that we still needed them. Jose convinced us that it was ok to take them as long as we need them and not to put ourselves through the pain of denying ourselves the assistance we still needed.

Good luck to you!
 
I'm at 11 weeks today and I'm still taking meds. At first, I had to take phenergen with my percs....now, I have an iron clad tummy and don't need them.

My dr. put me on celebrex along with my percs a couple of weeks ago....the combo has been good for me.

Good Luck.
 
I'm at 14 weeks today and I take about one pill a day on the average. I can't do ibuprofen and tylenol is useless for the inflammation.
 
I just got back from walking a pretty fair distance...Walked through the door and popped one right down the hatch..In about 20 mins nappy po.

Well hey Gat. Glad to see you back. You were kind of absent this last couple of days.
 
I've been doing the quick check thing the last few days. Looks like everyone is doing fine, even the newbies are kickin it. I'm around, lurking in the shadows.........
 
Beachcomber....thanks so much for the vote of confidence. Amazingly I HAVE made it through Sunday and Monday so far with no pain medication of any type. But I know I still need to take something to make my therapy easier. I just talked with the doctor's office today and they have called in a prescription for Darvoset. The nurse also suggested Benedryll to help me sleep. The Benedryll should not interfere with my blood thinners (Warfarin). The impact of the Darvoset will be determined Friday when I go have my blood checked. I am feeling much better today. A lot of the nausea is gone and I'm beginning to feel like I have my body and mind back. I guess I am just not a person who can take Hydrochodone long term. Good thing there are many more options for pain medication available!! But believe me, I'm as surprised as you that I'm not overcome by pain with no meds at all right now. I'm feeling like the Hydrochodone is getting out of my system finally and I should be back to "normal" soon with a new pain med. It helps so much to hear from others who are in TKR recovery!!! Thanks so much!!!
 
Pattipoo.....thanks so much for the support! I have taken Celebrex before and may ask about it again if the Darvoset and Benedryll don't do the trick. I know from reading about recovery that it takes a while and pain management is very important in the overall recovery process. I didn't realize that I might be on pain meds several months out from surgery, but it's sounding like that might be fairly normal for the recovery process. That's good to know. I'm looking forward to being at YOUR stage of recovery!!!
 
You'll be there before you know it. I still have a ways to go, but it does improve weekly. Don't try to over-do and cause a "set back"...that's no fun. Just do what your body tells you to do.
 
Don't be afraid to tale the pain meds when you need it. I had a bilateral TKR on 11/08/07---I was taking pain meds through the Christmas holidays. It was important to take them about an hour or so before PT then...it is normal---you had major surgery---and there was a great deal of trauma to the knee joint. Take the pain meds--I was worried about the "addiction thing" but my docotr said that I would know when I didn't need them anymore, and he was right.

Don't be a hero--take the meds---it will help you get through the PT and the day, and you will feel better about things. Why feel miserable? Better living through pharmaceuticals...

Tim C.
 
Referree54.....I agree. My problem wasn't really that I was trying to get off the meds entirely, I just seem to have major problems with Hydrochodone and I needed to stop taking it until I could get to something else. Since I hadn't read any posts on the blog about someone with a similar problem I was wondering if anyone else had the same issue of severe nausea. Believe me....I fully intend to use the pain meds. In fact, my husband is on his way now to pick up the Darvoset and I expect to have a lot less discomfort here really soon! I greatly appreciate all the support provided and it has gotten me through this little rough spot in recovery! Reading all the posts and information from Josephine is helping me realize what major surgery this is. It also helps because I can then educate my family and friends, some of whom think that I should be just about healed by now and ready to get back to life. Uhhhhh....not exactly!!! My therapist is very happy with my progress so far (I'm at 2 percent extension and 104 percent flex) and I want to be able to continue the work ahead. Thanks for your support!!!
 
Never had the nausea problems, but when I ran out of Percocet I took some vicodin---it was like eating an M&M...didn't do a thing. I was in a hurry to get better, until my one PT explained just what was done to my knees and the trauma that they went through...I went back to teaching at about 8 weeks---I had the surgery 11/08 and went back to schoolon 1/03---I was bored, but I was glad to get back. IT takes more time than you would like, but it is worth it---I rod my reall bike today (not an excercise bike) and I am lloking forward to this summer---last summer I go by on cortizone shots.

Tell your family and friends that they took a saw to your femur and to your tibia---and it takes about 8 weeks for the screws and the glue just to heal themselves...then there is the point about the adhesions---nasty little boogers...nope---it took me quite some time to get bacl to being close to normal---and it will take a full year, they say, to get to the point where you forget about the porcelain or (in my case) titanium knees...

Tim C.
 
referree54....Now THERE is a very GRAPHIC description that I can pull out of my bag of tricks when I need to put someone under the table....I'll just describe what you wrote about sawing bones and cutting muscles and ligaments. LOL I may use that sometime! I know this surgery was the right thing to do. I spent the past year limping and not able to walk for long distances. I am way too young and have too much to do in life to have stayed that way any longer. I just have to accept that complete recovery will be a longer process than I originally thought and learn to love the small steps forward that I make.
 
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