3 weeks out from TKR... I did NOT sign up for this...

All those symptoms you are having are normal. Im 5 weeks out now and i was allergic to the adhesive tape on my knee which they glued, red terrible rash all over my knee! 2 weeks into it i find out im allergic to my pain meds. So im not even on pain meds. Extra Strength tylenol is my go to for pain. Everynight is a night of pain, and definetely no sleep. Just cant get comfy. Sleeping in my recliner as cant sleep in the bed. That tingly feeling is normal. My dr told me at night to put on an ace bandage as the blankets irritate it. All that you have will get better. Just keep your head up. Somedays i do alot of crying!! Good luck and keep us posted!

We've ALL gone through the same thing because we were never told how difficult it would be and/or we expected a fast, pain-manageable recovery. WRONG!!! The whole thing usually takes a full year. The worst part is the first 3 months while you get your ROM back and the pain eases off. Then six months of atrophied muscle rebuild to walk correctly, regain your balance and start doing stairs like a normal person again. Most people report "feeling more like themselves" around 9 months and then you dance at your 1 year anniversary.

Three tools: time, work and patience. That's it. There are no expectations in TKRVille. Click on my name, Discussions, See All for loads of discussion topics that can hopefully help. Welcome to the club, Kneebie...

First of all every single patient is different, every surgeon, every hospital and the advice from experts, forums, physios etc. So read them and gain confidence but do not follow them if you don't want to. The other excellent forum (Bonesmart) puts much more emphasis on rest, especially in the early stages. I've had two done and the first was only painful for the first week but the second was more like three and horrific sharp tingling in the calves. It went. Mostly it seems to go by 4 - 6 weeks or at least lessen unless there is a problem. I found if you keep a daily diary it helps. We have poor memories for pain and I didn't think I was making progress till I read what I wrote at ten days!

Trust your body to heal itself - it will. I wouldn't do much walking or weight bearing but move about every hour or so. In between keep it rested and elevated. Do whatever exercises you can without forcing it or increasing pain. Swelling is what causes pain and lack of ROM so don't push it, especially early on. The natural internal healing progresses for months and although my knee isn't swollen any more it still isn't quite the same shape as the other yet after 7 months, but it will be.

You should be over the worst very soon so stay positive - it will be okay.

dear purplerlover, THIS makes me SO mad. I could cry for you. You need complete pain cover for at least 4 weeks so that you CAN do your exercises! I had l took long acting pain killers targin at 8 plexia at 10 mornnig and night with endone and panadol 3 hourly as required and set an alarm on my phone! I could do the exercises then ice elevate.

Go back to your GP and tell them you need more pain relief! It's barbaric you are suffering like this.

8 weeks now and have panadol during the day and long acting plexia only before bed.

A smaller pillow for between your legs helps at night. It does start to get better after 4weeks...well for me it did. xxxxxx

6 months later and I still have pain, still cant straighten all the way even with MUA ....but it is a little better, so I remain optimistic....hang in there and let them know you need pain meds. I had to be diagnosed with chronic pain in order for insurance to give me more than 1 week worth of pain meds.....and I am not an abuser!!

at 3 weeks you will still be in a lot of pain, ask for a nerve pain med like Lyrica that will help, also dont overdo the exercises , I did very little to start with except bending and straightening my leg , just in bed . I did go out with crutches .I found at about 8 weeks pain suddenly lessened . Once healed try water exercises, I am a year now and its fine , I had little swelling , and not a lot of pain at all after 3 months . I didnt have any bruising either so we are all different, but yes the pain did get me down the first couple if months , especially at night , I would just watch Netflix and then sleep whenever, another thing too is the tiredness lasted a while , total exhaustion fir a few months . Good luck , it will improve , you will not be able to do much for at least 2 months , just short trips out! Also with getting your knee flat on bed, keep lushing it down slowly with ice on it , if its swollen you will not get it flat , i found some days i could others not . As i said i didnt do much physio to start with, but did go in pool and to water aerobics as soon as it was totally healed , but now have as good bend etc as you can get.