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Extreme pain after hip replacement

Posted , 10 users are following.

Hope1422
Hope1422

5 weeks ago I had a total hip replacement which was my second. I had a nerve block for the op and sedation which went well. About 6 hrs after the op the physio came round and suggested a very short walk round the ward. I said yes, had a short walk with not to much pain and got back into bed. About 3 hrs after the walk I started to get bad pain in my hip and knee which rapidly got worse. I called the nurse and was given some extra pain relief. A short while later the pain got so bad It was off the scale I was crying and writhing on the bed. Called the nurse again and she then said she would put a call out for a doc. After what seemed a long wait for the doc and me screaming out loud with pain he arrived. I was given a shot of morphine I believe in the mouth. Again it did not stop the pain and I called nurse again. At this point pain was so bad I was trying to push my furniture over by bedside in sheer frustration at the pain levels. I was screaming and shouting out loud for help. I must say at this point I was on my own in a ward. Called nurse again and doc was called again. After what seemed a long wait he came and a morphine pump was ordered. So I had to wait for that and all the time I was screaming and shouting with pain off the scale. The pump finally came and I had 2mls of morphine every 2 mins with a nurse in attendance. It took about 7 shots to even take the edge off the pain and in all I had about 45 mls of morphine to reduce the pain to a manageable level. The surgeon who I spoke to the next day said it could have been bleeding after the op, as I was feeling better I did not push the incident further he also mentioned politely about how women go through a lot of pain at childbirth but it does not stop them having more children. A person I spoke to later who was in a side ward with visitors was mortified at my level of shouting during the incident and the time in between each call to the nurse to sort my problem out. I am fine now and just writing about my experience makes me feel better. I will not name the hospital or surgeon as there is no need to worry people about to have a op there. One point that did surprise me was I had no morphine pump after my op for pain relief and no drain which surprised me. I would be grateful for any comments on my experience. Hospital was in the SE U.K.

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  • Sandy98765
    Sandy98765 Hope1422

    Posted

    Hi and I'm so sorry about your experience. I had anterior hip replacement about 10 weeks ago. and the surgeon blocked the pain somehow after surgery and this lasted for a day or so. The nurses consistently gave me Percocet pills. The only thing I experienced besides full body pain not like yours, was extreme irritability I wanted to yell at everyone.did you have lots of swelling?  I never experienced pain like that however my whole body was so sore I couldn't even pull myself up without help. That lasted one or two Weeks talked to one lady that had hip replacement she was walking around without crutches after 2 weeks and taking stairs! I was on a cane after 3 weeks and continued for about 9 weeks. Stairs wouldn't work for me until after 9 weeks. I had some bone damage, cysts,etc that I guess can slow recovery and I wonder about what they found with your bones ? One thing I know for sure is everyone is unique .good luck with your recovery! I'm starting to be so glad I had this surgey hopefully you will be too! 

     

  • sarah22500
    sarah22500 Hope1422

    Posted

    Hi Hope I am so sorry to read about your terrible ordeal. I don’t know what’s up with some wards, I’ve just come home without any pain meds and I’m in a heck of a lot of pain myself. Three of us complained about the lack of empathy from some staff and physios who just yanked our legs to the side and back without any slowness or consideration. One physio left me ON FIRST DAY in toilet by myself and forgot about me. I rang all the bells but no one came. I got more and more faint and had to make my way out on my own. I was soaking wet with sweat and as white as a sheet and immediately given oxygen. I kept saying I felt really ill and faint every day and I looked ashen but they just told me my blood pressure kept at 95 because I wasn’t drinking enough darned water. On the day before discharge they took another blood test ( the one just after surgery was already very low - 85 ) and when my results came back I wasn’t allowed home because of severe anaemia. My new test had dropped again to 76. 

    In the night we were bursting to go to the loo and rang our buzzers but they just carried on talking amongst themselves. A relative of the lady in the next bed went up the next day and complained bitterly. My surgeon did a good job but never came to see me before discharge, saying I had needed a transfusion.

    My hospital is in East Anglia and I have to say I was not impressed with the level of care one bit.

    • annone70291
      annone70291 sarah22500

      Posted

      Can I just say that instances of inadequate, or bad, hospital care should be reported to the Care Quality Commission. You will find their address on their website which will have lots of useful information. 
    • RichardKen
      RichardKen annone70291

      Posted

      Dear Ann

      I completely agree with you. I also think that if anyone has had a bad experience at the hands of a particular surgeon or hospital then we should know the details here. Perhaps it would save another person from the same fate. If nothing else a reduced demand for their services might help them to see the error of their ways in an effective way....in their pockets-.

      Cheers Richard

  • auntiebeanie
    auntiebeanie Hope1422

    Posted

    Hope I was not very bad pain like you after my surgery. I have a high pain threshold but as soon as I moved it was b awful. My surgeon didn’t approve of morphine either however because I am allergic to some of the other painkilling drugs they used I was given Oxycodon which hardly touched it. I was in a SE hosp too.  It was found about 10weeks that I had nerve damage and was given Amitryptaline to take for a short while at night it worked thankfully. 
  • brenda67955
    brenda67955 Hope1422

    Posted

    Not many Hospitals use the morphine pump any more. I got a tylenol IV
  • Dsilk05
    Dsilk05 Hope1422

    Posted

    Oh Hope I’m so sorry. I cannot imagine what you went through. How was ur first THR? Same doctor and same approach? Did you also have the nerve block the first time? Could it have been a nerve causing the pain?

    I’m almost 3 wks post op second THR. Both anterior. First one was so easy. 

    Now this one is very uncomfortable. Don’t know if it’s pain as I am very pain tolerant or just uncomfortable. Have always been sent home with pain meds but didn’t end up taking any more than 1 pill. 

    My problem area is from my hip joint down the side of my thigh and a lot of times to the knee. Mostly the side of my thigh is what bothers me more wen I’m walking. I know they say walk walk no matter wat but the discomfort is what gets worse after the walking. I’m still using an aid to walk though last time I had tossed that walker aside by this point. 

    My surgeon as well said that it could be blood from after surgery in the area that bothers me. But it should go away. 

    Every person and every surgery is different. 

    By the way my surgeries have been done here in the US. 

    I wish you a quick recovery and be good to yourself. 

    • Hope1422
      Hope1422 Dsilk05

      Posted

      Thank you for your reply, like you this is my second hip replacement and again the first op went easy with little pain. Hope all goes well for you.
    • Dsilk05
      Dsilk05 Hope1422

      Posted

      Hope, yes please ice ice ice your leg. This is what has helped me the most!!! 

      I’m in the US and that is one thing physical therapists says to do. 

      I have noticed Hospital nor release instructions said nothing about icing. 

      I hope u decide to do it. 

    • Dsilk05
      Dsilk05 Hope1422

      Posted

      Hope, yes please ice ice ice your leg. This is what has helped me the most!!! 

      I’m in the US and that is one thing physical therapists says to do. 

      I have noticed Hospital nor release instructions said nothing about icing. 

      I hope u decide to do it. 

  • chuck24117
    chuck24117 Hope1422

    Posted

    Sorry for the pain, My first night after surgery was really painful also, I love the s****y remarks these surgeons can come up with! We just paid them 10s of thousands of dollars to fix our broken parts and our pain for a better life, and they come up with things like you said: (women go through pain having kids but they still have more kids???) I hope you took a swing at him for that  one.

    I remember mine telling me jokingly that people come to me with pain and we just move the pain around to other spots! I got that one on my day ten when my leg swelled to the point my skin split. My reply to him was I had 4 customers of mine that are attorneys!

    I am on week 13, I still have some pain, very different from before surgery, but I am working outside again,

    Good luck Hope! Take care! Lots of Ice!!!

    • sarah22500
      sarah22500 chuck24117

      Posted

      Hi Chuck, do you know the physios on my ward here in the UK told me they don’t normally give ice to hippies, just knees. I was quite shocked. Why do you think they believe we don’t benefit from ice?
    • RichardKen
      RichardKen sarah22500

      Posted

      Dear Sarah

      Perhaps because the physios there has not thought beyond what they have been taught. The same way that some insist on their patients dispensing with aids and walking with a limp rather than using two crutches until they have built up sufficient muscle strength to walk with a good gait!

      Cheers Richard

    • chuck24117
      chuck24117 sarah22500

      Posted

      Sarah , I'm in the states. That sounds crazy to me. No ice??? I mean heck every injury, cut, Stitch's, surgery , physical therapy, ive ever had, involves ice, is there an ice shortage in UK? While was in hospital, they had these little crappy ice bags, my nurse rotated twelve of them about four at time out of the freezer, non stop ice. The pt department of hospital had these really good big ice packs, they wouldn't let me take back my room. Well I looked them up and ordered two them for when I got home. I still ice every night. I'm 14 weeks post op posterior rights side 40, and work outside all day. Trust me ice is the best thing. The pain killers can't reduce swelling, ice can.

      Good luck finding ice over there 😋

    • sandymrs1992
      sandymrs1992 chuck24117

      Posted

      Hello Chuck, I am 11 weeks post op. I can walk around , do light housework and yard work, but man, at the end of the day, the outside  leg really is aching. ( to the right of the scar on the front of the thigh. I am really impatient to get back to my normal chores. You are 3 weeks ahead of me on timeline.

      1.  Do you have to sit down during the day due to pain?

      2. At the end of the day, does it hurt to walk up stairs?

      3. At night does it still ache so much it is hard to sleep?

      I just need some timeline to help me with the future. I had pain with childbirth, but I knew at 9 months it would be over! It is very frustrating and depressing with this hip surgery to not know when to expect the pain to go away.

    • chuck24117
      chuck24117 sandymrs1992

      Posted

      Sandy. Yes yes and Yes. I was august 17 posterior right side, I am 40 and I wore out my hip by kicking things with steel toe boots, and living active lifestyle young football power lifting and now owning a landscape company.

      My surgeon said I was the worst swelling case he ever saw when I swelled on Day 8. At that time I stopped all PT and was just forced to strick bed rest with leg at 45* in air complete ice wrap, and complete pressure wrap toes to groin. My PT people and surgeon told me that I am about 3-4 weeks behind a normal recovery.

      Today I was out rain walking in mud, driving a bunch, I went to the gym, (I have no more PT left this year) 

      I can say this, right now, I have slight throbbing thi, some groin pain. I stopped wearing my heavy work pants and belt, and switched to overalls, The weight of heavy pants, usually a utility knife and pliers in pockets, and heavy belt would make my incision throb big time. PT told me the more I roll the incision with rolling pin the faster the scare tissue breaks up and no more pain.

      My biggest problem is from my swelling event, My knee was left frozen in place due to loose blood that couldn't be drained. I spent 10 days forcing my knee back and forth to free it up. It works good now, but I now have patella tendonitis, bottom of knee cap hurt bad or gives out trying to anything single leg. I really have to think when walking to push off with operated leg heal , toes, push so I don't limp. I am told this is normal and you have to retrain to walk normal.

      Stairs going up, I sometimes have to cheat and swing upper body up instead of a steady climb, going down is ok other than leg is stiff and I kind of hobble. stairs are not very friendly yet, although a ladder was ok during work but limited.

      I do still wake up at night, with different leg pains or back pains, my guess is 3 out 4 nights I wake up.

      I am not taking any pain meds and refuse to, my best friends are my 2 big Ice packs. ColPaC Black Polyurethane Oversize

      One of these covers whole but cheek, and wrap one around thi and groin, FEELS SO GOOD!

      I hope this helps, feel free to private message me or we can talk. This is a great journey in life. My neighbor is 72 and going in for new hip Thursday. I just talked at great length with him yesterday and walked through his house, and gave him some of the grabbers, sock tool, and leg strap.

      Just remember I am 40 yr old, with all kinds of equipment and land, and employees, and work non stop, or at least try to with new hip. Even with my set backs, I would still do it again, as coaching my 9 yr old daughters softball team is much more comfortable, and all the parents have really noticed, I am not as crippled.

      Thanks!

    • RichardKen
      RichardKen sandymrs1992

      Posted

      Dear Sandy

      I'm sorry that you are having to deal with bad leg aching problems. On another thread yesterday I mentioned about the benefits of using pressure points for controlling pain.

      After being asked for more information I posted a search string to a very interesting online publication and wonder if you saw this.

      I've used the pressure points method with a lot of success for many years and wonder why so few people seem to know about this way or controlling pain.

      All the best, Richard

    • sandymrs1992
      sandymrs1992 RichardKen

      Posted

      Can you post the pressure points on this site? I cannot seem to find it. Or e mail it to me at I will be willing to try it ( after going to buy a rolling pin) :}

      Moderator comment: I have removed the email address as we do not publish these in the forums. If users wish to exchange contact details please use the Private Message service.

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