Knee pain, swelling after surgery

[Nannie39]

Almost four months after surgery, I am still experiencing massive swelling and excruiating pain with inflammation. I was having a great recovery for the first ten days, then BAM!  My leg, knee and ankle swelled to gigantic proportions.   My doctor has said only that I have arthritis in my knee and I have to be patient.  On at least three occasions, I have been in tears in his office and asking what to do about it.  He still tells me be patient.  This is surely not normal.  I went to another doctor last week who sent in his PA to tell me that they "don't like to tread on another doctor's territory" and won't see me again, but the PA prescribed Prednisone 6 day dosage that seemed to give me some comfort while I was taking it.  The day after I completed the dosage, the pain and swelling was back in full force.  No one will see me without a referral because this certain doctor operated on me.  What am I to do?  I am so frustrated after four months of extreme pain, all I do is cry.  I've turned into a big crybaby and that is not me!  Help, somebody!  

[kayla1991]

I am only 20 and since the age of 12 was suffering very bad with my right knee. i was in and out of the dotors and they said there was never anything the matter with it. i went back a few years ago and they said it was oss good shlatters diesea, which is apprently more common in boys from age 12. they told me i has to get physico done and it should sort it. i was never booked for an appointment for it so i decided to keep going back ( as you do when your in alot of bloody pain) i was reffered to a spealist called hinerkt, which told me i had torn my Meniscus cartiladge, and that he would not know the extent of the damage and whether he could fix it with out going in. so i signed the paperwork had the op and was told i was not alowed to walk on my leg for 6 weeks and had to wear a knee brace and was only allowed to do 90 degrees..... I am very nearly 6 weeks in after having my op now, and should hopefully be having the brace taken off and should be allowed to start trying to walk on my right knee with my crutches.. the only problem is when i lift my knee to starighten it, it makes a loud cracking noise and then the pain increase rapidy, ive been quiet lucky as its very rare i get pain from it but when i do my exercises i go from perfectly comfotable to in the worst pain possible.. i am very concerned as my knee is still very swollen and no matter what exercises i do to gain my muscles back in my leg it just dont want to gain any muscle and loose any of the swelling..... my knee is about 3 times the size of the other one after 6 weeks and i was told 7 to 15 days the swelling should have completely gone.. but what ever i do its not seeming to work..... im so confussed and i have a part time job which i am very very worried i will end up loosing :( please can anyone give me any answers :(

[shootin6PP]

Funny, I had meniscus surgery 3mos. ago. All seemed fine except for slight pain when it would rain. I woke up this morning and my knee, calf and ankle are so swollen they're almost unrecognizable. I'm gonna make an appt. with the Ortho ASAP. Why this is happening 3mos later is beyond me. Although, I am in the middle of Hurricane Irene. I'm really wondering if that's causing this?

[miky111]

I am just searching how many people actually have this problem  as friend of mine does.  I am an old fashion girl  and I believe in old cures.  My dad saved his eye by not listenning to doctors (who where gonne remove it)  and used garlic juice to kill the bacteria which was eating his eye.........and he did it.
I would recommend mix apple cider vinegar with good honey (half and half)  and have a spoon 3 of apple cider vinegar 3 times a day.  Also do a apple cider vinegar wrap 3 times a day :  boil water,  let it cool, mix in apple cider vinegar, put in cloth, sqeeze it out, wrap it on  your knee  then wrap plastic around it  and then towel.......  for about 20 minutes 3 times a day.
Also I read on Czech side that Silybum marianum- Milk thistle works:  mas the seat,  use 1 spoon to 150ml of water cook for 10 - 15 min. Let it cool. Put paste on cloth and wrap on the knee and then wrap with bandage,  not too tight.  Leave overnight  and by morning swellling should be gone.  
Let me know if you try it !

[hurtssobad]

I am interested in hearing the results of your holistic approach as I am considering that as well.

[musician1963]

It appears I am not the only one experiencing pain in the knee. I had surgery on my right knee on March 19th (Athroscopic surgery). In addition, the OS found my knee bone extremely deteriorating from arthritis and had to cut down the bone. I was told I would be up and about in in 48-72 hours. I was suffering so bad from pain, I was unable to return to work for 2 weeks and when I did, i still wasn't doing very good. I returned to the OS again and he did a third aspiration and took out two vials of fluid. I was given a shot of cortizone and a prescrpition for Vicadin which I told him do not work. I felt good for 4 days and then BAM it started again. Now the pain is worse than every before-worse than before the surgery. I returned to the OS the other day and he did a fourth aspiration and promised me this would help. He said some people take longer than others to heal. It is now over 2  1/2 months. I am unable to function. I cannot work, I can not walk at all, i can't get around the house because I have stairs and I can't climb. The OS gave me a leg brace to wear but that is not helping. I do not know what else to do. All I do is cry at night the pain is so bad. I wake up numerous times during the night becuase it hurts everytime I move. I am going for a second opinion next Monday but I did not tell the doctor I was coming in for a second opinion. I will tell him when i get there. What is he going to do, throw me out? Something has to be done. I can't go on living like this.  Any suggestions.

Bill

[totalmelody]

I have been having a very similar issue with my knee as  Nannie39.  I injured my knee two years ago, which I never had resolved due to communication issues with the hospital, so I dealt with it and the pain eventually went away.  This past October, the knee that I had injured began to swell up and cause a great amount of pain whenever I rode my bike or walked too much, so I went into the Orthopedic surgeon.  He looked at the MRI's from when I originally injured my knee, and said that I had multiple hairline fractures in the knee cap and a very strained MCL.  I had another MRI, and although those had luckily healed, it looked like I now had a torn meniscus and still a strained MCL.  This was in OR where I go to school, and when I went home to CA for break I had surgery in December '10.  Turns out the meniscus was fine, but the MCL needed a little more repair, and my Plica tissue along with a lot of other scar tissue was removed.  Recovery was fine, and by the time I got back up to school I was able to walk around pretty well.  Late January however the incisions got infected, and I was treated for celluitis due to a stitch abscess.  It took two rounds of different antibiotics to fix it, and I had a heck of a time getting the surgeon up here who told me I needed surgery in the first place to see me again since he did not do the surgery himself.  Now it is almost March, and I still cannot bend my knee all of the way.  It gets incredibly stiff, especially after sitting for a while and when I first wake up in the morning it takes me a minute to be able to bend it at all.  I still have a lot of pain in it, almost more before the surgery (at least more consistent, sharp pain), and it swells up with too much activity. The incision sites are also pretty tender still, although closed up.  I am too scared to continue too harshly with my exercises because of the pain and the swelling. Does this sound like something that will eventually go away as my knee gets stronger, or something the doctor should look at again? I'm getting sick of constant pain, I thought my knee problems would be over by now!