knee surgery

[babydoll216]

i had total knee surgery 2 months ago,i am still having pain,my knee is still swollen and i can not sleep at night is this normal,when will i start to feel better,i am still on pain med,but only twice a day.

[babydoll216]

well they were doing pt at my home after surgery,but now i am not getting pt because we have no insurance,and can not afford to pay for it. i have been on pain med since i have been home i went from taking it every 6 hours to now twice a day,i had total knee replacement. it is so bad at night i can not sleep it hurts so much,i have talked to my doctor,he says it will go away in time it might be 6 months or more.i am walking by my self and even mowed the grass today but a night is when i am really bad,will the aching ever go away

[Totie]

Go back to your surgeon for a check up..

But you know I had knee surgery 25yrs ago, and still painful, epsecially in the winter time. My pain however is not depleting pain, nor is my knee swolleen.

You need to ask your surgeon these questions.

[namnam46]

Hi babydoll216,

First, I want to welcome you to the Pain Management Forum and let you know that we are glad you found this Forum. I want to let you know that there are no Doctors on this Forum, only CP  {Chronic Pain}  Patients that help each other with our own expertise and experiences that we have developed through our own CP Issues.

I'm so sorry that you are encountering so much pain with your knee.  May I ask which type of surgery you had done on your knee.  Was it a Total Knee Replacement (TKR) or was it one of the Arthroscopic Surgeries on your knee or was it something else?

I have never had any knee surgery but have had 3 Total Hip Replacements (THR) on the same hip so I understand the pain and discomfort that you are going through.  I've had a very dear Friend that had the TKR several years ago and know what she went through after it.  It's my understanding that there is even more pain with the TKR than with the Hip Implant, so my heart really goes out to you.

When I had my 2nd THR, I knew that something wasn't right and mentioned it to my internist and he immediately did an x-ray and spotted something that didn't look right, the angle at which the hip was sitting.  He sent it to the radiologist and then called me back within an hour and let me know that the implant was loose!!!  It stayed that way for 4 more years, as the Orthopedic Doctor that put it in would not acknowledge it and kept telling me that everything was fine!!  I had the corrective surgery done this past September and now it's great.  Now after about 8 months, everything is back to normal and there is no pain!!! :)
I can't tell you how nice it is to not have it moving around in my body anymore.

What does your Doctor tell you about this pain that you are still experiencing?  Are they doing x-rays at each of your follow-up visits to be sure that everything is looking good?  Is the pain changing or is it the same?  I know that with the hip implant it takes longer than 2 months for the pain to go away when you are walking and moving around.  

Are you going to your Physical Therapy Sessions?  That is very important for you to be able to regain your complete mobility and function in your knee.  Of course, when you are doing your sessions, it will cause more pain and stiffness because you are having to move it around, each time a little more than the last time.  I know from experience, how important it is to be sure that you do all that the Therapist is asking of you at home as well as during the sessions.  If you don't then, the pain will last even longer because your knee will be very stiff and you won't gain the mobility that you need for a smooth gait in your stride.  Please understand, I'm not suggesting that you aren't doing all that is asked of you, I'm just trying to cover all of the things that make your recovery as pain free as possible.  :)

I want to reiterate that my Heart goes out to you and this continuing pain you are having to experience.  I hope that you will let us know what the Doctor is telling you about this pain.  If you feel that it is more than you should be experiencing then you should insist that he/she do additional testing on your knee to be sure that everything is correct, i.e. an MRI or CT Scan, etc.  If he/she doesn't want to or if you still feel there's something more going on, then do as I did and mention it to another Doctor of yours that you trust and let them check it out for you!!  Please don't hesitate to be an advocate for your own health issues.  If you don't, then no one will!!

I'm going to be looking for your updates and I hope that I was able to help you in some way as I know how alone you can feel sometimes when you are experiencing all of this!!! Just know that we are here for you whenever you need us.

I'm wishing you the very best.............Sherry  :)