How do you decide if you need a revision?

I had two replacements....not revisions.  Had you perhaps injured your new knee after surgery?  I was told that the only time a new knee would need a revision was if you had fallen on it and made trauma to the new knee.

13 months down the road.  Wherabouts is your pain.  Is it near the join is or where your muscles should be.  It could be you are feeling your nerves knitting.  At this stage it could be a number of things, that all sound pretty serious, but are all explainable.  It could be chronic pain syndrome, to which there is nor cure but it is treatable. Ti know anything we need to know a few things.  You may not need a revision.  My advice, don't go for the revision, find out where and what is causinf the pain and go from there.  Some of us are in pain years down  the road, there are meds out there to keep it bay....

Please get a check up first

If its tracking wrong. My replacement was due to the lower piece breakingbloose and spinning. Every time it moved it hit a nerve and the pain was unbelievable. When he opened it up it was so loose he took it out with his fingertips.

The consultant should order an X-ray and mri to look for alignment and loosening of the joint plus blood tests to see if you have any infection in the joint. I had TKR in Dec 2013 and it was never a good outcome. I eventually had a second opinion and the joint was too big for me and also misaligned. This Friday I am having (if it's not cancelled again!) revision 2years since the original op.

My TKR was done on 27th Oct 2014. I had so many early problems (huge heamatoma that needed 2 weeks bedrest after being taken back in twice for unbelievable pain with the leg simply filling up with blood). It always hurt, they kept telling me it was "normal". My GP was the one who listened. He has known me for years, knew I wasn't a wimp, & knew something was wrong, so wrote & asked for a 2nd opinion. It was by now, 6 months down the line, but things moved quite fast after that, first I had an ultrasound, which showed it was misaligned by 6mm, then a long leg x-ray, plus pysical examinations of the clunking swollen knee. I was put under the care of a consultant who specialised in revisions (to date he's done over 300 just in this area - so this is very common) - he installed faith, but I still had to wait until Oct the 27th this year for the revision. The operation was over 4 & a half hours - when opened up, not only was it misaligned (which shows up on the scas), but it was mechanically loose. Somehow, my own ligaments had been trapped (PAIN) & withered. It would never have worked. SO - I'm at 6 weeks today - it feels right, I have a good bend & 0% straightening. Last night, I crossed my operated leg over the other & it was a good few minutes before I realised (I could NEVER do that with knee No.1). Yes, I'm still on a few meds per day, merely to help doing the excercises, but nothing like to doses I had to take before just to get through each day. So insist on investigations, I am so glad I did. Tomorrow I have my 6 week check up with the surgeon, who I am already grateful to. Just need to master stairs properly now, then my life will be back on track after losing a whole year of it to TKR No.1. Good luck to Nicky - the 15th is my husbands birthday, so will be thinking of you. It's so worth it.

hi suzy i had a revision because of severe pain and very little bend .my doctor like you said that i should look for a revision as i was 56 yrs and he felt like me that i was too young to leave it like that     .trying to get a surgeon to do the op is another matter!!     i didnt want to have the same surgeon because he broke my leg putting in the last one and i did not trust him ,most surgeons dont like to fix failed knees and paticularly a knee that they didnt do i was sent on a merry go round no one wanted to do it and i was a private patient . if you do decide to go ahead with a revision most surgeons will make you wait a year  at least since the last op so that the bones have healed .make sure the surgeon has done revisions if your in alot of pain i dont think you have much choice  ,i m 15mths post revision the pain has not gone its less and my bend has improved .my leg is still very weak im trying to improve that at the moment ive had 3 major ops and 2 minor ops in a year and a half so maybe thats the reason its taking so long to get strenght in that leg .i hope this info might help .i know im far from perfect but if i had my time over i would still have had the revision ,but if i had my time over again before the bi lateral i would never have got the first op  but i guess its easy to say that now but way back im not sure that i would have listened to anybody telling me not to go there  id probably have thought it wouldnt happen to me .  good luck suzy i hope it works for you as a life with so much pain is no life at all  x

Hi,

it 's Linda again...

So after 7 weeks post-op.....does anyone still feel the need to nap in the afternoon and continue with pain meds to get you through the day?

Then more to help you sleep at night without tossing and turning?

I'm trying to wean myself off, but it's hard.  Then going through PT isn't helping much either without pain meds.  Has anyone just tried Ibuprofen throughout the day.....or am I rushing my recovery time?

Thanks so much for your input.  😉