On January 4th I am to have one of my knees replaced. Both need to be done but one at a time. The knees are bone on bone and the femur on my right leg is starting to tilt inward. I’m off all meds but can feel symptoms slowly creeping back. I can’t be on any meds because of the surgery. My hands and ankles and my one shoulder kill me.
Do any of you suffer from night sweats? I know it’s not from anything else as I needed a hysterectomy at a very young age.
Has anyone had a knee replacement that could give me some positive vibes. Right now I am being chicken little lol.
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EdieB
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The wife of a guy in my art class had a knee replacement quite recently and is back in action. A friend’s husband was back on the golf course in no time and my husbands accountabt was back at work fairly soon too.
The secret to a good recovery is to prepare in advance and to do exactly what your physiotherapist towels you to do. Don’t skip on the exercises you will be given. The success stories I have heard have all been people who have done that.
My husband had a hip replacement almost exactly a year ago and went back t work in January and he was 71. He did everything he was told to do and I think almost as important didn’t do anything that he was told not to do. I found it really nerve wracking that he would want to do ridiculous things that there was no need for him to do - like changing the lightbulb in our downstairs loo a week after he got home. I’m afraid I just told the physio on him when she came. She was on my side!
You will be amazed at how good it feels afterwards not being in pain.
If you get an option on having it done with a local / spinal anaesthetic then take it. My husband has that and so did my friend’s wife. It sounds grim but you are not aware of anything that they are doing and the recovery afterwards is amazing because you don’t have to recover from a general anaesthetic as well.
I couldn’t believe it when I followed him back onto the ward and he was sitting up saying he was hungry. Then the physios came in and got him up out of bed - have to say I said ‘goodbye at that point ‘
I found this really helpful website / forum. Loads of information and ideas to prepare you bonesmart.org/forum/
Hi Simba. Thanks for all those upbeat reports. The Doctor doing my knees is the director of Orthopedic. I made my appointment in August for January because that was the only open date. He does surgery with robotics which does great for precision. He also does the spinal. I hoping he can do it for me with my bulging discs osteoporosis etc.
I had my knee replaced 7 weeks ago and the whole experience, including spinal, was really quite reasonable and nothing to worry about very much. However it is important to strengthen all the local muscles beforehand and after as much as possible. I joined a local gym. Good luck with it.
Hi Robert. I have been walking 2 miles a day almost everyday to strengthen my leg muscles. Not always easy to walk but I push thru it. Just don’t ask me to stand up from a seated position! Then I am in big trouble.
My husbands physio commented on the fact that he must have been fit before his op. Somehow or another could tell. The physios at his hospital ran a session on pre op exercises and I think I found pre op exercises on that BoneSmart website! Poor man, I was right on his case.
But in addition to walking you need to strengthen the flexors and extensors of the knee, either in a gym (easiest) or exercises at home with some resistance to the movement
I can well understand how keeping away from meds for a long time would be a problem. As you I do wonder how people who go through these big ops and manage their RA?
Hi Edie B. I've had RA for 28 years. I have 2 knee replacements. I was 53 for the first one, and 60, the second one. Mine were bone on bone too. Both done with a spinal block. I used to be in agony. I did the physio, it was life changing. I never looked back. Being able to walk properly was amazing. No more pain. I've walked miles. My problems at mo are the pain from my flares. Mtx gave up the ghost with me after 20 odd years. Benepali, taken off 3 times in 4 months, low white cell count, New biologic to start tomorrow. Good luck with your knee replacement.
I had my left knee done in 2014 at the age of 46. I was told for years to ‘put up with it’ because I was ‘too young’. Not something I’m going to hear for much longer I suppose 👴🏻
Unfortunately my knee was so bad by time they did it that I’d been walking with an ever increasing lean for the previous few years, which in turn contributed to major spine problems requiring major surgery and leaving me permanently disabled, but that’s another story.
The knee itself has been amazing. The surgeon I used also used technology (some kind of laser guidance to improve accuracy).
As others have said the physio / exercises are absolutely crucial for a good outcome, but I must confess I hadn’t done much when I had mine done, and my back problems affected my recovery somewhat, so I was a bit later afterwards getting into the gym, but eventually I have managed to get my left leg almost as strong as my right (and the difference is mainly neuropathy from spine).
There was a bit of post-op pain, and it was difficult to deal with because I was already in a high dose of morphine and they didn’t want to prescribe more, but once that has settled the joint itself was remarkably pain free and now I wouldn’t know any difference between the two. In fact my right knee is a little stiffer than my TKR knee.
I have had a knee replacement and it's been great. The main thing is to keep up the physio exercises and your new knee will be pain free. Good Luck x 😊
Hi Toby. Thanks for the positive message. I walk most everyday to keep my knees moving and build muscle tone. I have heard from everyone that the most important thing is the physical therapy afterwards!
I had bilateral total knee replacements 4 weeks ago. I also need an ankle replacement on left. I have also had 2 hip replacements and a revision. Almost bionic lol.
The other comments I agree with especially about the exercise and movement after surgery. I had the spinal block as well as anaesthetic but the spinal block didn’t work that well in me, I could feel and move both feet in recovery. I was on Arava and prednisone, I stopped the Arava a week prior to surgery and stayed on the prednisone. I haven’t started back on the Arava and I’m not going to.
Like another reply, I have a tolerance to the morphine based pain meds so I had quite a bit of after surgery pain as they wouldn’t give me a higher dose, otherwise pain would have been fine.
I was in hospital for 5 days, was up the day after surgery, it’s hard but you have to do it. Getting the leg straight is vital within the first month or else it doesn’t come. I also went straight to rehabilitation for 2 weeks and did hydrotherapy every day which was fantastic, makes exercising so much easier, lovely warm water and weighless.
I’m home now, my new knees are working well, they feel a bit weird. My ankle is hindering my walking as I can’t weight bear on it but everything considered I’m feeling ok and it’s still very early days.
I wish you well with your op, getting up and exercising and having less pain.
Ps. There were quite a few people in rehab who had bilateral knees and all but one were woman... of course we all laughed about that one. Oh by the way, I’m 60.
Hi Daisychain! Thanks for your positive thoughts. I don’t believe there is a physical therapy place that has a pool or hydrotherapy as part of their program. I would have to go to a gym. I will look into that! It would be well worth it for better results.
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