To have underestimated the pain following knee replacement surgery

@Knavesmirelass @seasally thanks

My friend had his done on May14th and he is doing great, he's out and about walking unaided and doing really well and he was given permission to get back to driving after 3 weeks. His knee lets him know if he's overdone it some days so he will ease off a bit but in general he's got great movement. He followed and did all of the physio given and he stayed well on top with the meds so as not to allow the pain to creep in and disrupt the physio. Hope that helps.

The surgeon and the nurses warned me that knee replacement was a very painful procedure ( they weren’t kidding )
Doing my physio exercises was the most painful thing post knee replacement , but I knew they were essential for a good recovery.

I took cocodemel at regular intervals, rather than waiting until I really really needed them . I used an ice pack for 20 minutes before doing my physio exercises. It helped having a friend doing the exercises alongside me. When I had to do 15 repetitions they wouldn’t let me stop after 3 but when feeling kind they allowed me to stop at 12 😂
Good friends were vital in my recovery
Stick with it. I am now pain free and fully mobile.

@SkiAndTravelTheWorldWithMyDog I was back to all my normal activities at 3 months, gym, yoga and walking the dogs. I was lucky with my recovery, had nerve blocks along with the replacement and I think that really helped. I've noticed on the FB gp the ones who had partial replacements seem to be more active faster and are able to bend much deeper. I think if you are quite active to start you should be fine, keep doing lots of pre op exercises to prepare yourself. Everyone has a different rate of recovery but they all get to the same place in the end. Good luck!

I'm due to have a partial knee replacement soon so I'm grateful for the advice in this thread. Can anyone tell me what your movement was like after 3 months. Are you still restricted or getting back to normal? I'm quite an active person. Thanks and sorry for going off at a tangent. I have just signed up to the facebook group. Thanks

Octavia64 · Yesterday 10:25

Echo the others - take the drugs and get moving.
i had ankle surgery and the important thing is to get mobile asap.
hi Octavia64 (sorry ti hijack this post but I will reply to the knee issue ) I’ve been offered a new ankle on the nhs but am putting it off as long as possible. Could you tell me please if you feel it’s worth it and can you actually get yourself to the toilet independently the first two weeks, I haven’t the upper body strength to swing along on one leg as I have arthritis in every joint.
Onto the knees, I’ve had a partial and full knee. The full knee was extremely painful and I was pacing ( on crutches) all night for about 4 weeks. I can’t stress enough how important the exercise is especially the straightening and bending, the more you do it the sooner the pain will go. I can now walk a few miles regularly and without walking aids on the days my ankle allows. You will enjoy it immensely when you get mobile.

@Caligirl80 not suggesting anything - just saying what I had. And I mentioned whether or not someone was allowed to. The OP had mentioned the possibility of taking both. As with any drugs one must ideally take medical advice/follow dosage and so on. In fact I was surprised to be prescribed ibuprofen because for many years I was told to avoid it!

However, I’ll get my comment removed because I was in two minds at the time of posting. Anyone on here could be on here saying anything.

You're supposed to keep on top of the pain so you can exercise it. Have you got an ice thing from hospital, that's wll great for after exercise.

This!!

They can definitely be used together, but might be avoided if there are particular concerns about bleeding or the implications of bleeding in the context of the operation being done so it’s a case-by-case decision.

I had my knee replaced a few years ago. As you say, the pain is excruciating. Don't leave it too long to have your staples removed because that is also painful and they get tighter by the day. Also try and put some kind of moisturiser on your scar.

Unusual to be given ibuprofen after surgery: it can have blood thining qualities and cause bleeding - so it would be unusual to have directly post surgery when there are still open wounds. Far more likely to be prescibed paracetamol with codeine. Please don't suggest that people take ibuprofen/NSAIDS or indeed any other drugs post surgery unless it's been prescribed by their medical team - none of us on this page are equipped to give medical advice over a forum page.

If they've given you pain meds and you are in pain sufficient that you cannot move/cannot do the physio then for goodness sakes take the pain meds! And take the meds on a regular basis! The whole point is for you to be able to do the movement necessary to keep the joint moving/muscles strong etc etc - otherwise you'll end up in a whole bunch of trouble.

The important thing with post-surgical pain is that you keep ontop of it - which means taking the meds as prescribed, using ice as suggested etc etc. The docs wouldn't have given them to you if they didn't thing you'd need them. As soon as you feel the pain relenting a bit then you can start to take less of the morphine.

It's a shame they don't use nerve blocks more for knee surgery in the UK. At any rate it is what it is: please for goodness sakes do the physio. If you are in too much pain - even if you are taking the pain meds - to do the physio then go to A&E. Make sure you are keeping an eye on things like potential indicators of infection (so, any nasty discharge from the knee, knee is hot to touch, you are feeling unwell/temperature etc etc - you should have been given a number to call at your hospital for the department who did your surgery to call if you had post-surgery issues: CALL THEM!!! They are the ones to contact, not mumsnet. On this site you'll get either people who say it's normal or people who say it isn't- - and that's not going to address your personal situation because no one here has actually seen your knee/can examine you etc etc. Only your medical team can do that.

Different people react to pain in different ways. When I had spine surgery I was in HORRIFIC pain - I had a morphine IV clicker and it took a bit longer to bring the surgical pain under control...but in my case it was because my sciatic nerve was damaged and very inflamed. When I had abdominal surgery I did not need nearly as many pain meds - though for some people that surgery/condition is considered worse than child birth. Everyone is different.

I have had both knees replaced with a year gap between each operation. The. Pain was tough and when I had my first knee done I gave in to the pain and avoided moving and doing the physio as much as I should have. This knee is much stiffer as a result. I learnt my lesson the second time around and made sure I did the physio. I found heat pads helped when the pain was bad. It will be all worth it when you can walk well without pain!

The pain relief, apart from making you feel a bit better, is intended to enable you to do the really important stuff - move.

I had spinal surgery last year and the surgeon gave two instructions - take the pain medication and walk. The latter was made easier by their not letting a patient out unless they could walk and do a flight of stairs.

It worked. After a beastly first week.

I was told to strictly avoid any NSAID meds post hip replacement whilst on blood thinners

As others have said take the pain killers and keep moving.

Ice is essential - as you weren't sent home with an ice pack that fits around your knee it's great that you've ordered one - keep it in the freezer and use it for 20-30 minutes, then make sure you have a break for at least as long. This will make a huge difference to the pain management and needs to be day & if you're woken by pain at night; you may need more than 1 ice pack if you've not got the ice bucket style/ice/pulse machine so it has long enough to get cold enough.

Also keep an eye on the wound healing, as occasionally there's internal infection which increases the pain - I'm sure that won't be your problem.

Good luck and remember this is short term.

Unless you have a history of addiction then just take the morphine. YANBU to be surprised by the pain because from what I’ve seen they’re useless at providing useful information beforehand. Despite repeatedly asking beforehand, only on the day my MIL was being discharged from hospital after a hip replacement did they mention she’d need to have someone at home to look after her. Thankfully DH and I were in a position to just pack up and move in with her for a couple of weeks, but we wouldn’t have minded a bit of notice.

Definitely take the morphine. I broke a shoulder bone and weaned myself carefully and quite early off pain relief. The consultant wasn’t delighted and told me to restart it, or I’d make poor progress with the rehab exercises.

Knee replacement surgery is one of the most painful things you can go through. If it weren't for the fact that it has such a good outcome with long-term benefits, no one in their right mind would ever do it. Take the maximum painkillers and do your exercises, it really does hasten the recovery time.

My mum had both her knees done, when she came round from the surgery they forgot to give her morphine. She says the pain was so bad she wanted to jump out the hospital window 😨
But now she freely says her new knees are the best thing ever, no more living on painkillers for chronic arthritis, no more falls, etc.

Good luck, and be assured it'll get better every day until it's a distant memory!

Poor you.I had a partial knee replacement and that was easily the most painful thing Iv'e experienced .Take all the pain relief you can and do the exercises but don't beat yourself up if you can't do them fully for a day or two if it's too swollen. But ice and elevation are your friends. I used a Cryo cuff and it was brilliant. You gravity fill it with iced water.Each night I froze a small Pyrex bowl of water then put it in the chamber next morning and it lasted all day. I used it for weeks after the op .Especially as I started doing more and my knee ached and was a bit swollen again by evening. I don't regret the op but seriously hope it last me out and the other knee doesn't need surgery!

There are a lot from the states on the FB groups and some get quite competitive over their bends and how early they managed to hit 90!! I was only 29 when I had my first knee and it took me over a month! I still can't get a full rotation on an exercise bike 13 months after my second! But for me, they have definitely improved my standard of living!

I hope you manage to get some sleep. I know how isolating it can be at night when you're in pain x

Poor you. My husband had a knee replacement and said it was painful afterwards and he is very stoic. Take the pain relief that you need and hopefully that will ease it enough to be able to do your exercises. It will get easier.