MUA When do you start getting optimistic

[maryo52]

Without question, your are in the low point of your recovery. Two thoughts: One, get one 2nd and even another 2nd opinion. Set those up now. It will give you something to do and you'll have them to look forward to, and you can cancel if you change your mind. Two, what kind of workup has your doctor done? For instance has he taken blood to look for infection markers? Not to say your situation sounds like infection, but it's something he should rule out. Has he taken a sample of your joint fluid? Personally, I would call upon Josephine for feedback that you're getting the kind of workup you should get.

I had several periods of what you're experiencing. It's indescribable and you have my sympathy.

 

[Nanners]

Aww hugs Birdie! Honestly I think between the tkr and the MUA, you are just so swollen its really making it hard for you to move forward. Maybe you need to try to rest, ice and elevate more. I know at 12 weeks I still can't walk to much or I am utterly miserable later. Giant healing hugs!

 

[skigirl]

Prednesone is a difficult drug to take---I become a raving maniac myself. It is not uncommon to get a swollen bursa---the bursitis is something that we all have experienced at one time or another. But, your symptoms seem a lot worse. If you overdo, there can be swelling. And, yes, adhesions or scar tissue can cause additional swelling. If your symptoms are serious, perhaps you might need a second opinion from someone who specializes in revisions or adhesions. But, I wonder if a week or two of rest, ice and elevation might make a difference. Kelly

 

[RestAssured]

Hello Birdie!

The title of your thread said when do you start getting optimistic? Well, after 4 knee surgeries I can tell you, right after the knees were replaced, and the one washout with spacer replacement! I had a revision surgery on May 7th, but the kneecap won't stay in place all of the time because of having a lateral release. I am optimistic as much as possible, because laughing and optimism are good medicine.

No wonder you have more swelling. He did an MUA on healing tissue and now it is angry. I would recommend that you find an outpatient rehab, and that they don't push you to the point of pain! Nothing but more swelling and stiffness can result from that.

You are just starting the journey, be gentle on yourself

 

[Josephine]

a swelling in the suprapatellar bursa and my doctor doesn't feel that it warrants draining the fluid.

and he's quite right. Most bursae don't require aspiration as their coming and going is natural. There are other reasons for your problems.

right now my leg for some reason is swollen and I can hardly bend it. Can scar tissue cause you to have pain when walking or make your leg swell when standing?

No wonder you have more swelling. He did an MUA on healing tissue and now it is angry.

.Sonja is right on the money. Having an MUA at 8 weeks is what has caused all this. You are right back to day one and now need to rest it vigorously! Which means for at least 3 weeks, no outings, no shopping, no housework, no PT, nothing. Just a few gentle stretches and heel slides each day and the walking you really have to do like bedroom to sitting room, sitting room to bathroom and so on. Be lazy, be a couch potato and watch lots of zombie day time TV! You have got to allow that knee to settled down, heal and all that swelling and pain to dissipate. Take your pain meds regularly, the full amount you have been prescribed. Ice lots and elevate. You know the drill. It's the only way back.

 

[Birdiegirl123]

I don't know if total rest is the answer. . I resr so much. I hav done very very little in the last three months and I have had to give up my business for Mw cause it involves traveling and carrying heavy cases. Definitely something weird is going on. Sometimes it feels swollen just after resting and then sometimes it doesnt. When I start to walk for the first steps itdoesnt feel that stiff and then it's so stiff I can't bend it to walk cause I feel like my knee is going to snap in two and it feels like there is wood inside. Then when I sit down and then get up after resting it, for the first few steps it doesn't feel too bad and then we start all over. I mean I am in my fourth month and I can't walk more than 100 paces and I still cannot ride the bike. My doctor thinks it might be RSD but I don't know enough about it and from what I have read, I'm not sure. I tried to get an appt at the Hospital for special
Surgery in NY but the problem is that most doctors won't see you post op until you are months into your recovery.

 

[Birdiegirl123]

I am also not taking anything for pain cause to be honest the only time that I really have pain is when I start walking. I do exercises everyday and it makes me feel better. I don't want to get hooked on anything and beside, oxycodone doesn't do anything for pain, something I have been telling my doctor since day one. Probably if he had given me something that actually worked I wouldn't be I'm the position that I am in.

 

[maryo52]

I know there are doctors who will not see anyone until after the one year mark. However, I have found I can make ortho appointments online pretty easily. Where do you live?

I'm pretty sure you are describing something that is beyond normal swelling, but to put our minds at ease, have you tried a few days of the kind of rest Josephine describes? If not, that would be something to do. If for nothing else, it will yield more information.

 

[Birdiegirl123]

Oh trust me Mary, I have done absolutely noting for days and it doesn't help at all. The fifth step off the bed and bang , there is the stiffness.

 

[RestAssured]

Call your dr. Tell him you want something for pain that will work. Please explain the following statement:

I am also not taking anything for pain cause to be honest the only time that I really have pain is when I start walking. I do exercises everyday and it makes me feel better.

When you start walking what happens? Does it feel stiff? Is this when you first get out of bed or every time you get up?
You say exercise makes it feel better. What type of exercises are you doing?

We are here to support you! Please remember that all of us have been or will be going through knee replacements, and some have had MUA's early in their recovery. We are here for you! Ask questions, we will find someone who knows the answer! Don't push yourself too hard. It will only be a setback in your recovery, but I am wondering if you are forgetting to mention things like doing laundry, dishes, cooking, and such! Those count too you know.

 

[Birdiegirl123]

To be honest, I am now such an expert on the tv show Law and Order I could teach a course. I spent a lot of time just resting. There is no point in taking pain killers cause the pain is only there when I start walking. I do a lot of strengthening exercises given to me by my PT ...for my quads , stretching ..working with an elastic band. .I have a whole program. At first they thought it could be olio band tendinitis so I had a cortisone shot. I was getting incredible tenderness in the shin area. It was so painful that no one could even touch the area. So I had a shot of lidocaine and after two weeks that pain got better. Now first of all when I sit, it's not an ease sit anymore. It feels as though there are elastic bands inside my knee and it doesn't bend easily. Then when I start to walk I get this stiffness primarily on the right side. It feels like there is a piece of wood and I get pain and I can't bend my knee and propel my foot forward. The more I walk the worse it gets. After standing and walking for just three or four minutes, I am dragging my leg and crying in pain and frustration. its the only time i have pain. am also getting a terrible pain on the left side of my knee like its being twisted when I bend it.

 

[kneeper]

To be honest, I am now such an expert on the tv show Law and Order I could teach a course.

I'm pretty darn good too. I can usually identify the episode in the opening minutes. Though I'm not sure I should be proud of that...
Wish I had something to offer re: your knee issues.

 

[maryo52]

Birdie, I've posed a few questions that I have not seen answers to. Let me try again in an effort to understand beter. Has your OS drawn a joint fluid sample for analysis? What workup has he done other than the MRI? What followup is planned (appts., further workup)?

I'm also confused because you say you're not doing anything but yet you're describing pretty aggressive exercises. There is the type of "doing nothing" that involves only the necessary walks to bathroom and kitchen and NO PT and leg elevated all the time. How many days of that did you try?

You are describing a garden-variety of swelling. Personally, I have not had one day without swelling since TKR. But it's pronounced in the first six months, and gets worse when you stand because of the effect of gravity. Swelling does feel like fullness, stiffness, elastic bands, and even wood.

Are you taking NSAIDs?

 

[Birdiegirl123]

My doctor did blood tests lat month no infection, X-ray and ct scan one. Ct scn how's mild swelling in the suprapatellar bursa nd even Josephine said that usually thy don't drain the fluid. The exercises I don't feel are severe and the swelling doesn't usually happen after exercising. Swelling from PT has only happened a couple of times. To b honest I see that the swelling comes out of th blue. I can be lying in the bed and then when I get up it feels swollen and stiff. As I mentioned befor, my doctor seems to think it might be the nerve. All I know is that I the stiffness is worse and feels like there is a piece of ood in there. My ROM is worse and I can't walk well cause as soon as I start to walk I cannot bend my knee well and propel my foot forward and the more I walk the worse it gets. It's so weird. I have an appt on the 10th and I want him to rule out scar tissue. He is hesitant cause he says that the arthroscopic surgery can set me back I said I don't care cause the stiffness is getting worse. Oh by the way, he doesn't the k my knee is that swollen and either does my PT. She says that I don't know what swollen is. To me my leg swells up but other times it just feels swollen and totally stiff. I have not tried NSAIDs but I was as I said on prednisone and I thought it was helping a little but my hert starting skipping beats so I had to go off. Ali know is that I walk like a pirate with one leg and right now I am splaying on the bed and when I tried to slide my heel to bend my knee it feels like I have a piece of wood in up my knee and it bends very little. I actually had a better ROM before. Sad.

 

[RestAssured]

I know that pain is happening for you and I feel bad! When you describe the feeling as a piece of wood in your knee, pain is obvious! Now, if you don't mind, can you tell the "family" of BoneSmarties how much activity you do? Are you doing household chores, or is someone else? When you walk, you said it gets worse as you go. You are aprox 6 weeks out of an MUA, and swelling takes place because the tissues inside the knee are trying to heal. I know you said you use ice, but how often? Are you elevating (toes above nose)? If you can answer some of these questions we might be able to help you from our vast variety of BoneSmarties! We care, but we don't have enough information to help you very much. I don't know anything about MUA's, I have just had 4 knee surgeries. Take care, and maybe someone can help you find relief! We care about you!

 

[Birdiegirl123]

Icing doesn't help muh. Spent two uneasy ago in bed elevatingand ing and got off the bed with no good results. Something weird is going on. Unfortunately had a Xmas show today and nta good portion on my feet ..not ood..knee isn't tht swollen , but completely stiff. Now when I try to do heel slides,the ROM is really bad. Have another appt next Monday and hopefully will find out the next step.

 

[RestAssured]

I hope so too! I don't know what to tell you except that I will be praying for you!

 

[Josephine]

I spent a lot of time just resting. There is no point in taking pain killers cause the pain is only there when I start walking.

You should take them anyway as pro-active medication. You may well be able to do with the tylenol/ibuprofen cocktail. It's worth a try.

At first they thought it could be ilio tibial band tendinitis so I had a cortisone shot. I was getting incredible tenderness in the shin area. It was so painful that no one could even touch the area. So I had a shot of lidocaine and after two weeks that pain got better.

Then that confirms that it's ITB syndrome.

Now first of all when I sit, it's not an easy sit any more. It feels as though there are elastic bands inside my knee and it doesn't bend easily. Then when I start to walk I get this stiffness primarily on the right side. It feels like there is a piece of wood and I get pain and I can't bend my knee and propel my foot forward. The more I walk the worse it gets. After standing and walking for just three or four minutes, I am dragging my leg and crying in pain and frustration. its the only time i have pain. am also getting a terrible pain on the left side of my knee like its being twisted when I bend it.

Elastic bands are a manifestation of pain which needs to be medicated "Tight band" feeling across the front of my knee. Add to that the ITB and the bursa and you have a really nasty and chronic case of post-op knee pain.

You said earlier that you have a a bursa and then that your surgeon thinks you have RSD. Has he taken action on either of these? Because RSD is an extremely difficult condition to diagnose and though I wouldn't immediately jump to that conclusion - because I think you have at least three conditions going on at the moment, none of which he appears to be treating actively - it is a possibility and you need to be referred to a pain clinic as they are the people best able to diagnose it.

 

[Birdiegirl123]

Well I have been seeing a pain management doctor for at least 6 weeks but I couldn't get him to change my medication. both he and my doctor kept on prescribing OxyContin and oxycodone neither of which actually helped. I take Tylenol with codeine everyday and it doesn't help. . I think that they thnk it's RSD because of the pain in the shin and on the side of the knee. The shin pain was extreme and I couldn't even touch the area. But strangely enough all that pain is gone as
Well as the pain on the side where the tendon is. now I am left with this crazy stiffness. I have tried to explain to my doctor that when I walk and try and bend my knee, it doesn't bend and it feels like wood in there. I
Don't know how to describe it any other way. I can't walk and I limp because it doesn't bend ke it should . He has suggested doing a nerve block or seeing a pain management doctor that doesn't ultrasound and injections. As I said before it also feels like there are elastic bands surrounding my knee and I still cannot ride the bike which is a mystery to all.

 

[Birdiegirl123]

Thanks Josephine. I am going to write down and discuss some of your points with my doctor.