Chronic Fatigue 3 months post TKR

Asked the same question of my GP when I was sleeping 12-18 hours a day.  Her response...

"All of the energy in your body is being directed to healing your knee.  Nighty nite..."

Once you get past PT and then into an exercising program...

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/post-tkr-exercising-565527

...your endorphins will kick in, strength will return and fatigue will lessen over time.  BUT YOU HAVE TO WORK AT IT!!!  Eat healthy, lots of protein, no junk food, hydrate a lot, get to the gym, lose weight if necessary, reclaim your life!  This doesn't happen sitting in a chair.

Plus...90 days is still waaaay too early to be worried about this...

I was soooooo tired the first few weeks. I spent more time in a reclining position and was worried if I would ever get any strength back! Exercising, PT, and the mere basics were about all I could manage-just barely. At about 5 weeks I decided I needed to start moving more and get off the heavy drugs. I was fortunate enough to be able to get by and this made a huge difference. 10 days later I find I am still tired but each day a bit better. Don't get me wrong, it is no cake-walk, much stiffness, manageable pain, sleepless nights, etc but for me more activity helps-but it is challenging! (Prayer and patience has helped too)! I sincerely hope you will get your strength and stamina back very soon. Thanks for sharing your experience, Cynthia. It has been so helpful to see how other have journeyed through this.

Absolutely!  I thuink I was in bed by nine every night for months.  apart from the lack of sleep so common to TKR patients, there's the healing which saps hour energy, and the fact that every little job, however small, takes twice as long.  I remember struggling to pick up laundry and put it in the machine . . something you do so easily without a painful knee!  Anyway, it will go away, but don't forget to eat well and drink plenty, and sleep as much as you like!  

Hi Cynthia, lots of great responses here, just to add one more thing.  I've had a lot of surgeries and general anasthetics linger in your body for a long time.  For most surgeries I'm had a year of exhaustion.  This surgery even worse because of the difficult rehabilitation. Blood tests would be good just to check iron etc. Good luck, hope we all get less tired soon!

Accepting we all recover at different rates, it is easy to feel left behind and wonder if the moment will ever really arrive when all this seems worthwhile.

Yes Cynthia like u I'm sturgerling had Tkr in Feb then MUA 12 weeks later. Always tried everything is a effort so your not alone 😔 

You've got fatigue?  With a new knee?  Try a new knee and add in some spinal fusion.  Yup...that's my life.  Eight months post-op, I developed stenosis (think sciatica but down BOTH legs) at L2/L3.  Knocked me down...again.  Waited five months for the LLIF fusion spine surgery.  Now I'm trying to recover from the back AND the knee simultaneously while working full time and taking care of my wife who had a brain aneurysm and two TIAs, constantly falls and has ripped up her rotator cuff twice in the past seven months.  Tired?  Can we trade lives?  Please???