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hi am very depressed 4 weeks after tkr surgery

Posted , 69 users are following.

patricia36643
patricia36643

I have shed many tears since surgery and have found the pain pretty terrible although it us improving. I wonder if it is to do with the fact that I had a phone call on a tnursday aftetnoon to go in the fo1llowing morning to have my surgery! Not only did I not have time to prepare but I also had it done under a spinal. No pain but very harrowing sounds.

3 likes, 118 replies

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  • joy47826
    joy47826 patricia36643

    Posted

    I certainly would not dwell on what was, everyone here goes thru a lot of pain and hard rehab after these replacements.....I had a spinal for hip replacement and it was fine....move forward and keep on with the rehab program.   good luck.   and 4 weeks is nothing in the whole scheme of these replacements.....believe me....4 yrs later and I deal with a mess from hip replacement...and doing all to save my own knee.....can't imagine going thru this ever again.   J
    • susiemah
      susiemah patricia36643

      Posted

      I am nearly 5 weeks post op and can relate to everything you are saying Patricia. The crying does diminish as does the pain but you and I are early days. I had a GA and think you are brave to have a spinal with no sedative. It is over and maybe talking it over with a professional might help put the trauma ( from sounds) you experienced to bed. We are all different and are spooked by different things. Swelling is still bad for me despite ice , elevation, physio and medication. The nausea passes too which is a little scary as your body simply gets used to it. I have found the whole think traumatic and I am so anxious but I keep reminding myself that I am alive and there are plenty of people worse off. It helps. My scar tonight looks really inflamed in one part no is hot no so I may be off to GP tomorrow morning if it is the same. A TKR seems to be a massive roller coaster only understood by survivors. There also seems a conspiracy to keep it all quiet and not to share too much before the op. You had no time to prepare and so that must have bene hard. Be kind to yourself and share your feelings on here. Take care x 
    • liz03288
      liz03288 susiemah

      Posted

      Hi, your post helped my anxiety almost 4 weeks post TKR. Cannot believe how horrible this has been, very little support from surgeon, except to prescribe. I agree with your comments completely and don't feel so alone. There is no preparation out there - people aren't honest about this level of trauma at all. It is confusing and scary to go through alone, without any validation that horrendous is the new normal for many weeks, not just right after surgery. Thanks!

    • Lywn
      Lywn susiemah

      Posted

      I need the other knee done but right now I just can't face it. 

    • ColleenAdams
      ColleenAdams liz03288

      Posted

      I'm coming up to four weeks after TKR. You're a more recent post and about four weeks ahead of me. How are you feeling? Sleep getting better? Have you recovered ROM yet? 

  • lynn08926
    lynn08926 patricia36643

    Posted

    I can only reinforce what has already been said. Tears, feeling anxious and loss of self-confidence are all part of this most difficult operation.  You are feeling NORMAL.

    It is a long road to recovery, but you will get there. Pain control, icing the knee and, vitally important are your exercises and physiotherapy.

    Stick with us on this forum.  The help and support you'll get will see you through - promise!

    Saw my consultant today about knee number two - something I couldn't have contemplated a few months ago.

    Lynn 19 weeks post op

    • joy47826
      joy47826 lynn08926

      Posted

      I guess it blows me away that so many YOUNG people in the UK do these replacements like it's nothing...here in the U.S. I know only 2 people who have done the knee and they were 76 and 60's I think....I hear 45 etc....don't you do all to save your own joints....I do at 76.   Do you not do bone support supplements in your lives?  
    • lynn08926
      lynn08926 joy47826

      Posted

      Well, I'm not so young at 63.

      I think you are getting a skewed view of what is happening in the UK regarding TKR.  Thousands of people in the UK have these replacements each year with great success, most of us on this forum included. But the recovery takes a long time and we support each other until we disappear and get on with our lives.

      None of us have this operation for fun.  It is done as a last resort when the knee is in a bone on bone situation.  All the supplements in the World can't do a thing about that.

    • jean95756
      jean95756 joy47826

      Posted

      Wow Joy 

      If you think we all go in for this TKR for the fun of it you are sadly mistaken 

      we have this op when the knee joint is bone on bone no matter what age we are our quality of life is the important issue here.

      i would never wish this Op on my worst enemy...

      you more than likely live in a far warmer and temperate climate than we do here in the UK

      i suggest instead of criticising the people in the UK.... you find a site in the US to air your views

      Jean (76) 

    • patricia36643
      patricia36643 joy47826

      Posted

      I would imagine not many knee replacements are done in the US as you would probably have to pay thousands of dollars whereas we  are more advanced in that we have a National Health Service!!
    • joy47826
      joy47826 patricia36643

      Posted

      I see the difference between our countries and perhaps if we had 56Million population vs 300million+ we could offer more "govt" health care....we do our best and don't turn people away and help thruout the world....so yes, it probably keeps a lot from more replacements.....BUT, I've always had a mindset to do no surgery and if so an emergency or last resort....

      I  held off on this hip replacement and finally did it at 72 and it's been a lifechangiing experience for me and not in a better way....no groin pain but lots of other complications....like worse knee.....but I do all alternative protocols to keep a knife away from me again.....

      Once burned, lots of fear there....same with pharma drugs,,,,I've been burned there and a family member too, so do all my healing alternatively....

      It's good to hear from folks on the Alternative Board as we share a lot of the same mindsets.....fear of drugs and surgeries....

      But, if you are all better in the long run, more power to you...once they are done, there is no reversing....  we hear that bone on bone mantra here too and I'm sure if I saw a knee doc now, he would say the same thing...I can bend the knee good, wear  a support and use topicals and will most likely do a prolozone injections soon....but now working with a ligament/tendon supplement that contains MANGANESE which many many are very low in and needed for bone health.....I do a lot of work to get minerals into my body and especially for bone support.   J 

    • joy47826
      joy47826 jean95756

      Posted

      I don't think it's a critism, just another point of view....if all don't think the same, one should leave the group...how human is that?   I would not say that to another person, we have opinions and thank goodness we don't all think the same....   Joy 76

      Coming here for hip replacement support and learning so much about our friends across the pond has been a mind expanding experience I wasn't looking for but got it.   interesting!!!   

      There is a lot I don't like about our country as well as other countries around the world....but we are all where we started out in life....

    • carol45436
      carol45436 joy47826

      Posted

      I am 67 and was offered this op many years ago. I decided to put it off until now because I could still live a reasonable life, However I had reached the stage where I could no longer walk and my leg was totally deformed. Believe me Joy no one has this operationc lightly and no surgeon worth his reputation would perform it if there was no option. it is interesting that for many years I lived abroad in a warm dry climate but when I returned to the UK my knee became much worse. I think that should be taken into account. Meanwhile the purpose of this forum is to support each other and give the benefit of our experiences to others going through this op. Not, I think, to start a debate on the whys and wherefores.
    • jean95756
      jean95756 joy47826

      Posted

      As you say we are all entitled to our opinion 

      but isn't it much nicer to be here to encourage others and to explain to them that we all went through the bad times but there is light at the end of the tunnel

      jean 

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