Bilateral TKR Post 4 weeks bilateral knee replacement-still in pain

Hi all,

I am feeling stronger and am trying to stay away from Ibuprofen. It is upsetting my stomach so badly. I will be 5 weeks post op on Tuesday. I've stopped doing intensive PT exercises and my pain is down. For the past 2 nights I haven't had excruciating pain. You guys were right lay off the PT or at least not as intense. I started walking up and down my long drive way about 50 yards without a cane. I started feeling blue on Friday-just tired of not being able to do what I normally do but my energy level and state of mind improved later.
My question is: My knees are very hot-when does this go away. I ice but then the heat comes back. Does it mean I am doing too much? Also when is the time frame that one can start driving? I drive an automatic.
Thanks in advance for answering my questions.
 
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@Mich86 ,
I'm sorry but I had to edit your post a bit.

We don't allow political comment or discussion on BoneSmart, because it can be so divisive and that can interfere with harmony on the board.
 
Regarding NSAIDS , be very careful. I worked as a Donor Recovery Specialist and during procedures would often stand 5-6 hours during the recovery. I would take too many of those to ease my pain and eventually ended up anemic, due to NSAIDS tearing up my stomach.
Careful
 
My knees are very hot-when does this go away. I ice but then the heat comes back. Does it mean I am doing too much?
Just post op swelling. Keep icing and elevating.
Also when is the time frame that one can start driving?
When do you have your followup appointment with your surgeon? Release to drive is usually confirmed at that appointment.
 
HI all,

Needing some encouragement. I am at 7 weeks bilateral po. Able to walk around the block but I get very tired. I just set the table for Thanksgiving and am exhausted. My legs are very tired. I am icing them now. Not much pain now just overall tiredness. Can do 15-20 minute on stationery bike. Surgeon did not renew my PT since I am at 130 on both knees. I still feel stiffness and the nights are tough. Ibuprophen which helps with pain kills my stomach. Just want to see how others at this stage are coping and how they are sleeping. Thanks in advance.
 
Sorry to tell you this, @Mich86 , but all you're experiencing sounds normal. 7 weeks is still very early in this year-long recovery.

The Energy drain for TKRs can linger for months. It's because much of your energy is still being directed towards healing your knees - and you have a double dose because of having both knees done.
Read the article again, to see where you're at now.

You still need to pace yourself and make plenty of time for rest. This isn't the sort of surgery you can recover from in just a few weeks, or even months. Complete recovery takes as long as a full year, although you'll be able to do most things long before that. Being relatively young and fit before surgery doesn't help to give you a faster recovery, unfortunately.

If you're still having pain at night, that could be an indication that you're trying to do too much during the daytime.

And sleep disturbance can last for months. The trick is to sleep where you can, when you can, and how you can - and still take daytime naps to make up for sleep lost at night.

I wonder if you've already taken up the reins of being responsible for the running of your household? It's really too early for that. You still need help.
This article may be helpful for you: Nurturing mother: how to let go and accept help
 
@Mich86
I’m 20.5 weeks post op for BTKR. This past week getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday (cleaning, grocery shopping, setting the table, heating up the food - thank goodness we ordered our meal from a restaurant versus me cooking it all) has kicked my butt. My knees are sore, my glutes are sore, my adductor muscles are sore, my right hamstring is sore again. I’ve had to ice and elevate several times over the last week. I tried to string all the prep out over 10 days, but that coupled with teaching school face to face was just a little too much.

I’m not looking forward to all the stairs on Monday. Next week my school is making me move back up to my 3rd floor classroom despite a doctor’s note saying I should avoid stairs as much as possible until the end of the school year. I had been in the 1st floor cafeteria since I went back to work at the end of September. Admin has promised to adjust my duty schedule, so I don’t have to go up and down multiple times a day. I hope that works!

As for sleep, I take Benadryl, 15mg of Melatonin and 50 mg of Trazodone on work nights so I can sleep and not be exhausted at school. I don’t think the Trazodone is doing much. I’m going to ask my doctor for Ambien when it runs out. I fall asleep ok now but I still can’t stay asleep.

All that said, I am doing way better now than I was at 8 weeks. I’m even doing a lot better than I was when I went back to work at 12 weeks. But it is a looooooong sloooooooow recovery.
 
HI,
I haven't posted in a while. Here is where I am now. Almost 11 weeks. Can walk on treadmill and do bicycle for up to half hour. Knees do not hurt what is bothersome is that when I sit and lay down for a long time I think I am experiencing nerve pain; It is such a weird feeling and I cannot describe it as tingling it is more like the a feeling of uncomfortable up and down both legs. Is that nerve pain? I do occasionally feel pain in my foot. Does anyone experience this?
Other than that-I am not really using any pain meds. I am only waking once during the night and then straighten up my legs and fall back to sleep. Trazadone and Klonopin has helped with my sleep.
I started PT again and am doing things I could not do prior to my BTKR.

For those of you who are behind me. It does get better! Hang in there!
 
I think this kind of pain is telling you that you are doing too much at PT. You are not in training, you are still healing. Try cutting back your activity and see if it feels better. At 11 weeks you are 25% healed, in a recovery that can take an average of 52 weeks. (one year.)
 
Hope you are doing better. I had my surgery a bit after you - Oct. 13. And you had BOTH knees done, I can not even imagine. I am having a difficult recovery, in part because of PT! It took me a while, and with the help of BoneSmart, to figure out how much damage they were doing. It's a generic, one size fits all therapy and I do not believe they know how to take care of TKRs. I just cut back from 3X/wk, to 2x/wk and then only went once this week.Thinking of stopping altogether. I feel a bit better. I have put my mind to babying the knee. Ice and elevating all day. Walks around the house and some quad exercises - not everyday. I know how awful the night pain is. I sat up and cried for weeks. Please, rest and listen to your knee. The people here know what they are talking about and have walked the walked. I wish I found the site before the surgery. Also, the medication is very important. Like you, I did not want too get addicted and did not take the meds as scheduled and I SUFFERED and still do not sleep much!! I could not eat because of the pain and lost a lot of weight. When I told my OS that I couldn't sleep and I was losing so much weight, he said that's not his problem, imagine that! If I could one piece of advice, it would be about the medication. Start taking it easy on yourself. Nothing has to get done in your house now. Let people help you. I live alone so it's hard, but because of covid I do not let people in, just my daughter. Let me know how you are doing.
 

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