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Depression following TKR - personal research ...

Posted , 17 users are following.

Lindyblue
Lindyblue

I'd like to do some personal research that I'd like you all to help me with ...

I don't want to focus on this horrible negative response to our surgery, but I feel it might help me and others, to know how important this side effect is in influencing our recovery and how others have dealt with and recovered.

So ... can we give it a go? 

Just put your surgery date, surgery type (TKR, Partial, Bilateral etc) .. and depth of misery (I say that tongue in cheek, lets not all get too depressed over this) and at what point in time. Add what helped (if anything other than just time?) 

Cheers and keep smiling (says she with tears in eyes, lol) 

Lindy

I'll start:

27/4/15 - TKR - a little teary when I started coming off meds at around 4 weeks. Removed last Morph. (Norspan) patch 5 days ago. Depression and insomnia - bad since.

0 likes, 24 replies

24 Replies

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  • joyce_61477
    joyce_61477 Lindyblue

    Posted

    03/03/15 Bilateral TKR's-I was teary from about 2 weeks. At 4-6 weeks very teary and depressed. That is also when I was off all narcotics. Went to GP then and have me Remeron to help with depression and appetite. Felt better week 14 and stopped taking the Remeron. So for me the Antidepression med may have helped a little. But seeing my walking improving is really what has helped ....so Time is critcal .
  • andrea30334
    andrea30334 Lindyblue

    Posted

    5.3.15 Total Left Knee Replacement cried and swore for 2 weeks really depressed and fed up wished id not had it done. Then gradually got better I wondered if it was the anaesthetic??? And prob all the strong meds??
  • andrea30334
    andrea30334 Lindyblue

    Posted

    5.3.15 Total Left Knee Replacement cried and swore for 2 weeks really depressed and fed up wished id not had it done. Then gradually got better I wondered if it was the anaesthetic??? And prob all the strong meds?? Still not sleeping through though.
  • willdo1023
    willdo1023 Lindyblue

    Posted

    Manny initial TKR 1 April 15 very miserable at 8 weeks had a Orthoscopic Manipulation and the pain was worse than the TKR. Doing better now but still bad nights and still on High meds for pain. Very slow healer. Shoulder surgery took alost a year to get my range back with therapy 3 times a week. Knee looks like going the same way. Percocet 10-325 Every 8 hours. Ambien every night to sleep and still have trouble sleeping and Xanax for anxiety when it gets hard to handle and I'm at 13 weeks. Very hard road for me.
  • pru57396
    pru57396 Lindyblue

    Posted

    13.05.15 total left knee replacement. I was very tearful the day I came home from hospital(5days post op) but a lot of that was from being tired. I didn't sleep and couldn't get more than an hour or two without having to get up due to the discomfort. I went to my GP who prescribed some mild sleeping tablets which I took every other night for 4 wks by which time I could get about 5hrs.i occasionally had a tears day up to about 5wks but that is now all in the past(I hope!!!)
  • sarndra
    sarndra Lindyblue

    Posted

    20.3.15 - Bilateral TKR. 4 days in hospital followed be 9 days in Rehab. Pain management great. In lots of pain walking for nearly two years prior & depressed. Following surgery, that pain was gone, I was euphoric,partly due to the drugs, but mainly that it was over & was nowhere near as bad as I expected. Still took 1 slow release Oxycodin a day to help with exercise until 9 weeks, now only paracetamol. I am walking well with no pain, still some swelling & the odd discomfort that comes & goes, plus being winter in Australia, my knees do not like the cold. Best decision I ever made.

    i was also fortunate not to have problems sleeping on my back which I never thought I would cope with. After exercising in day, I was so tired at night I just crashed at night. 

  • susan89127
    susan89127 Lindyblue

    Posted

    I am 6 months post op from partial knee replacement and feel more tearful now. I think in the early days I was so hopeful that the op would sort out my pain but I am still struggling with pain at the op site. Still using one crutch and have pain when standing from a sitting position. I am so disappointed.
    • patsyrose
      patsyrose susan89127

      Posted

      Hi Susan

      uou sound very similar to me.  Have you been back to your surgeon?  Mine thinks that I have excess scar tissue and will need an operation to cut this nearer the year stage.  He will also replace the spacers Nd wash it out.

      Like you, standing from sitting is incredibly painful and, because I can't straighten my knee, walking is agony.

      Patsy

    • susan89127
      susan89127 patsyrose

      Posted

      Hi patsyrose, I am due to go back to see consultant in September and I hope this time it will be my actual surgeon. I haven't had an actual appointment yet. I am still going to physio and after completing a 6 week gym circuit course I felt there wasn't much improvement and was hoping they would refer me to consultant for a quicker appointment but I have to attend more physio as they think my muscles are still not strong enough. I am cycling every day and walking as much as I can but nothing seems to stop the pain. I have been lucky that I never had a problem with bending or straightening my knee and have been able to do all the exercises given to me, albeit painful, so I just don't know. I am disappointed as I honestly thought that with having a partial it would have been a much quicker recovery. It is causing so many problems as my husband is a below knee amputee and so much depends on my recovery. Susan x.
    • pam1313
      pam1313 susan89127

      Posted

      I had new plastic knee cap and metal trochlea 15 weeks ago. I had no problem with straightening, bend was a bit more difficult and is still not enough for my liking. My problem has been my muscles not working as I waited 11 years for this op as I was considered too young before (I'm 56 now).For all those years I wore a knee support, I questioned whether I was ok to do this and was told it was fine, but now I'm told that knee support did the job of my muscles and now they've forgotten what to do. I'm exercising every day to try and build them up, and I do think (hope) knee is feeling less tight and a bit stronger this week but it has been a much much longer, and stressful, process than I ever could have imagined. I think some of my problem is that I've lost my confidence.....the knee "let me down" for so long that I've forgotten what it's like to walk normally. Not sure how I remove that thought from my head and regain my confidence. It's so annoying as it impacts on my life so much......gardening is my hobby and my poor hubby is having to not only work full time but then come home and start again in the garden.....the only thing I manage to do is water in the greenhouse. If any doctor again tells me " this is normal for some people, be patient" I swear to God I'll be up for murder lol!

      Am signed off work until 16 July with not a cat in hells chance of going back even then. I too was told this op had a quicker recovery time than PKR or FKR......well they lied!

      Am due to see my consultant on 20 August, so hoping I'm in a better place by then.

      Every day I thank God for this forum....its nice to know we're not suffering alone isn't it! 

    • Lindyblue
      Lindyblue susan89127

      Posted

      I'm so so sorry to hear that Susan! Have you been back to the surgeon? Surely after 6 months, you'd be feeling better I would have thought? I have been told that after 12 months .. that's when you can expect to be 'normal' again *hopeful*
  • pam1313
    pam1313 Lindyblue

    Posted

    Surgery 24.03.15, so 15 weeks post op from new plastic knee cap and metal trochlea (patellafemoral arthroplasty). Could sleep 4+ hours straight after op but on waking knee was so, so stiff! This sleep pattern continued for about a fortnight and then went awire for about 6 weeks and I was so tired. I'm 56 and was suffering the odd occasional menopausal night sweat, but since op these have returned ten fold......aaargh! Meds -naproxen, 2 x 500mg, twice a day, lansoprazole, paracetamol and a tablet once a day for a week to thin my blood. I also had oral morphine whilst in hospital. Mood - very tearful from about 3rd week, depressed because of lack of progress (knee healing fine, but have lots of muscle wastage so working heard to build them up), and I seem to be frightened of most things, mostly that I won't return to my normal self!
  • helen59197
    helen59197 Lindyblue

    Posted

    31/03/15. TKR.  Been a long road.  Tears,frustration,pain. Finding this site saved my sanity.  Now at 14 wks have returned to work, I'm fairly self sufficient around the house (except carrying laundry downstairs) back to enjoying gardening.  By the end of the day my knee is achy and stiff but I can live with that as long as I can be mobile and active during the day.
  • patsyrose
    patsyrose Lindyblue

    Posted

    Dec 2012 right TKR - came off mess at about 6 weeks, although came off the tramadol sooner.  Went back to work (work at home) and started driving at 6 weeks.  Never cried - just fed up at slow progress.  Had manipulation May 2013 and road to improvement started there.

    Sept 2014 left TKR - hurt as soon as I woke up in recovery and had to get more media from anaesthetist. Struggled and at about week 5 really started to go backwards.  Went back to work and driving at 6 week stage and stopped all mess.  Knee started to have problems with straightening in Feb.  Had manipulation in March...but still couldn't straighten.  Now getting worse and hurts all the time.  Consultant thinks I'll need another operation shortly.  Again, I'm severely fed up with it, but have never cried.

    can't do trains, so my lovely theatre trips to London are no more.  Also, can't do anything that involves much walking.  I'm only 55.

    Patsy

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