Amount of rest and pain meds 5 weeks out of TKR
Posted , 9 users are following.
Hi All,
I am at 5 weeks out of total knee replacement. I am a 61 year old female, and was very active prior to knee problems, activly hiking, riding my horses, running my business, etc. My surgeon and PT keep telling me that I am ahead of the curve, but I don't feel like it. Reading the progress of some of you, makes me want to ask a few questions. I do realize that everyone heals differently, but I am trying to get a good picture of what this process should look like. I am doing my PT exercises regularly, and attending PT 2 times per week. I just need to rest so much between attempting to do any task. If I mop the floor, or run a quick vacuum, prepare a meal for my family, etc. I need to lay down for at least 30 minutes to an hour. When I do my PT, it leaves me wasted for the next day, and I need even more rest. My surgeon has released me to drive, and has told me that I should be getting back to my regular routine. My routine is very busy! I run a cosmetic business, I take care of horses, etc. Getting back to this routine seems impossible at this point! I drove one day, and I have gone grocery shopping with my husband twice. I visited my horses for the first time yesterday, so I am trying to get back with it. I appreciate your time in answering:
1. How much rest is too much rest at 5 weeks in? I seem to spend 75% of my time resting either on the bed, or in a recliner.
2. How long did you need to continue taking the pain meds? They keep me groggy. I am trying to cut down, using 1/2 pill at a time. After PT I have to take a whole pill.
3. How long before you were able to get back into some kind of normal routine?
Thank you for taking the time to respond. Blessings on your recovery!
Laura
1 like, 27 replies
jenny80029 gelpolishmama
Posted
? 75% of the time sounds pretty like what I needed at that stage!
Could get your iron levels checked out also.
Normal routine for me was more like four months post op.
I am fit and active also, and just 52. But it is a major op! Watch a video on you tube if you have not already!
Pain meds I was off by three months...I think I started tapering off around a month ish.
Take a look at my profile and skim through my blog if it helps. The page, which is part of my usual artist's blog ( the page link will be in menu down right hand side of it) was written to convey the need for patience, something our cultures in the western world are not really geared up to! It has a lot of useful suggestions and information. Everyones journey is very different but it can be reassuring to read of others trials and tribulations, as well as see progress made...at its own pace, unique to the individual.
gelpolishmama jenny80029
Posted
Laura
davidjk22 gelpolishmama
Posted
There is no stage you should be at at anytime during recovery , you are where you are . We all heal differently , some quicker than others . If your pain meds make you groggy ask your Dr to change them . Don't try to hurry recovery it wont help , plenty of physio , but not overdoing it , try pain relief before physio , managing pain is better than trying to relieve it after . It was 6 month before I returned to work 19½ years ago , no problems since .
gelpolishmama davidjk22
Posted
CHICO_MARX gelpolishmama
Posted
1. How much rest is too much rest at 5 weeks in?
There's no such thing. At 2 months, I was still sleeping 12-14 hours a day but it's all very individual. If your body needs the rest, then rest. There are no set rules.
2. How long did you need to continue taking the pain meds?
Take them for as long as you need them then titrate down. Lots of people take something before a grueling PT session, others need them for sleep, still others need them 24 x 7. Most of us are off the heavy duty meds between 30 and 60 days, ending up on Tramadol or Ibuprofen. Again, if you're in pain, take your meds ON SCHEDULE.
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/staying-ahead-of-the-pain-563395
3. How long before you were able to get back into some kind of normal routine?
There is no timetable...there is no normal. Generally, it takes a full year...
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/the-tkr-recovery-bell-curve--563756
...but everyone's different and there seem to be big improvement leaps at 3, 6 and 9 months with people returning to work in the 4-6 month range depending on job and level of recovery. Then there are those rare folk who kick this pig in two months. The problem is that you'll have no idea where you fell under the curve until you are completely recovered, look back and know where you landed. You can't see the end from the middle.
Give up all your schedules, timings and expectations. You will be better when you are better...and it's something out of your control. All you CAN do is finish PT for your ROM, do all the home exercises and then, down the road, get to a gym to regain all your lost leg strength. I'm almost at 17 months post-op and I feel really good about this. It's a marathon, not a sprint...
gelpolishmama CHICO_MARX
Posted
Chico, I spent some time reading your archived topics...thank you so much for the time you have spent chronicling your recovery. It is so helpful to read another's perspective. I think my worst problem here is that my husband has accompanied me to my post surgery appointments and has been witness to my surgeon telling me that it's time to get back to my normal routine. I think my husband is very much tired of having his wife laying around the house after 5 weeks! Not to mention the 6 months of chronic pain prior to surgery...After reading everyone's responses to my inquiry, I am now determined to NOT give a damn about what other's expectations are of my recovery...thank you, all, for your very generous input. Laura
davidjk22 CHICO_MARX
Posted
Both my tkr's took 6 month before I returned to work , I worked hard at the physio but not so hard as to cause problems . I was on Co-Codamol 30/500mg , Tramadol 200mg slow release and and Diclofenac when I came out of hospital . My Dr monitored my pain relief and I managed to have a steady recovery . As I have said before it is 19½ and 17½ years since my ops and I have had no problems at all . It is advisable if people realise that just because one person recovers in say 4 months not everyone will , lots of things in the equation , the surgeon , your general health and fitness , age , weight to name a few . When you see light at the end of the tunnel , just hope it's not someone with a flashlighe bringing you more work
.
jenny80029 davidjk22
Posted
😀😁😂😃😄 love the flashlight joke!
jenny80029 gelpolishmama
Posted
It is good for our husband's to manage the households! Very good life skills! 😀😁😂😃😄
Oldfatguy1 gelpolishmama
Posted
Its terrible to have someone else try and dictate another persons recovery. Tell your husband he's damn lucky to just be helping you through this little setback in his life.
My wife is in advanced stages of Parkinson's disease. I have the cooking, cleaning, bathing, medication, helping with dressing and all the other stuff that goes with it. Also, she has developed dementia and that has progressed. This in top of my 6 leg/knee surgeries in the last 4 years including one 4 month period without having a knee in place due to a major staph infection.
I get really irritated when I hear someone complain that the process isnt coming along to their satisfaction.
Tell him to quit whining and grow up.
Oldfatguy1 jenny80029
Posted
Like I've said many times...I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and it turned out to be an oncoming train
CHICO_MARX gelpolishmama
Posted
Damn straight!!!!!! It's your knee not theirs. Back to work in 5 weeks is delusional. Yes, there have been the exceptions as we've seen here from time to time. They're the ones with the DNA that does NOT create scar tissue. Definitely not the norm. If anyone gives you grief about this, club them with your cane or run them over repeatedly with your walker. Personally, I'd do both...then two taps to the head and dump the body in the Meadowlands...or into the wet cement foundation of the new apartment building going up around the corner. No trace. At least, that's what we'd do back in Brooklyn. Just remember to leave the gun and take the cannoli...
jenny80029 Oldfatguy1
Posted
Both 😃 and 😣 ! But says it well!
jenny80029 CHICO_MARX
Posted
😀😁😂😃
gelpolishmama jenny80029
Posted
Isn't that the truth! Thanks so much for your valuable feedback.
gelpolishmama Oldfatguy1
Posted
Hi Oldfatguy...I am sorry to hear of your wife's challenges. She is blessed to have such a loving husband. Thank you for your valuable input.
Laura
cheryl86544 Oldfatguy1
Posted
I'm so glad you said that oldfatguy!! I couldn't find a "nice" way to say it.