MsJunebug
new member
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2019
- Messages
- 17
- Age
- 61
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
Hi! I have a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos. I’ve had multiple joint and foot surgeries In the last five years. My left hip rapidly deteriorated from no pain in April to lots of pain but normal X-ray by July to severe space narrowing on X-ray and crippling pain by Sept. MRI in Sept. showed lots of inflammation, bone spurs, torn hamstring, torn labrum, tendon issues and ’inflammatory changes noted along the deep margin of the iliacus muscle belly and deep margin of the iliopsoas tendon extending to the level of the lesser trochanter’.
Posterior THR was January 15th. The surgery went well, I was discharged the next morning. OS reported most of the damage was in my acetabulum cup and there was an extreme amount of inflammation in the joint.
The only pain I really had post-op was aching around the incision until January 24th when the home health PT had me increase my activity (one 100 feet walk around the kitchen per day) and added several new exercises like marching in place and toe raises. Two days later I started experiencing the same exact pain I had pre-op. In the deep groin area with some pain radiating down to my TKR knee. The incision area feels fine but now it feels like muscles and/or tendons are inflamed in the groin. I stopped the exercises and the ‘laps’ around the kitchen but the pain is still there. By the time the pain re-appeared, I had already decreased my pain meds to 1-2 tramadols a day with 1000 mg tylenol 4 times a day.
Tried two days of the muscle relaxers they sent me home with and have limited my activity to just getting up for the bathroom, kitchen or to let the dogs out. This has helped some. I‘ve also upped the icing. They didn’t place much emphasis on icing at home. Nor elevating. When I ask the PTs I’ve seen, they tend to shrug and say it probably won’t help. I’ve had to up my pain meds again after weaning down.
It‘s clear to me that my swelling has increased over the last few days. I realize I’m very very early in the recovery process. 16 days! Though the PT did tell me most patients are walking limp-free with a cane by this point. He seemed surprised that I had gone backwards in terms of pain and mobility.
Since I’ve had so many orthopedic surgeries over the last five years, I know healing takes time. However, I am very concerned about how the pain is almost identical to my pre-op pain. I’m scared to death that this pain won’t go away. I’m a little paranoid because every six months I get hit with a new, painful orthopedic issue that requires surgery. It’s mostly likely caused by my Ehlers-Danlos but I’m so tired of living in chronic pain. My world has been reduced from being pretty active (I was still skiing 5 years ago) to just going to work and lying around the house in pain. Thanks for listening. Debbie
Posterior THR was January 15th. The surgery went well, I was discharged the next morning. OS reported most of the damage was in my acetabulum cup and there was an extreme amount of inflammation in the joint.
The only pain I really had post-op was aching around the incision until January 24th when the home health PT had me increase my activity (one 100 feet walk around the kitchen per day) and added several new exercises like marching in place and toe raises. Two days later I started experiencing the same exact pain I had pre-op. In the deep groin area with some pain radiating down to my TKR knee. The incision area feels fine but now it feels like muscles and/or tendons are inflamed in the groin. I stopped the exercises and the ‘laps’ around the kitchen but the pain is still there. By the time the pain re-appeared, I had already decreased my pain meds to 1-2 tramadols a day with 1000 mg tylenol 4 times a day.
Tried two days of the muscle relaxers they sent me home with and have limited my activity to just getting up for the bathroom, kitchen or to let the dogs out. This has helped some. I‘ve also upped the icing. They didn’t place much emphasis on icing at home. Nor elevating. When I ask the PTs I’ve seen, they tend to shrug and say it probably won’t help. I’ve had to up my pain meds again after weaning down.
It‘s clear to me that my swelling has increased over the last few days. I realize I’m very very early in the recovery process. 16 days! Though the PT did tell me most patients are walking limp-free with a cane by this point. He seemed surprised that I had gone backwards in terms of pain and mobility.
Since I’ve had so many orthopedic surgeries over the last five years, I know healing takes time. However, I am very concerned about how the pain is almost identical to my pre-op pain. I’m scared to death that this pain won’t go away. I’m a little paranoid because every six months I get hit with a new, painful orthopedic issue that requires surgery. It’s mostly likely caused by my Ehlers-Danlos but I’m so tired of living in chronic pain. My world has been reduced from being pretty active (I was still skiing 5 years ago) to just going to work and lying around the house in pain. Thanks for listening. Debbie
Last edited: