Knee is total agony.. Chronic Pain 🙁

Hi Ange!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are suffering so much. I can indeed sympathize with you on that! I went 'round and 'round with insurance because there is a protocol that they follow (x-rays, physical therapy, cortisone shots, arthroscopic surgery, etc.) BEFORE they will consider a person for any knee replacement.

In four years of wasted time my knees got worse, pain increased, and my X-RAYS showed INCREASED damage. I was BONE-ON-BONE with no cartilage. EXCRUTIATING pain that radiated from knees to ankles and from knees to hips. I had very limited quality of life.

Fast forward to last June. I had my first TKR. Honestly, the surgery improved my quality of life almost immediately! The pain I experienced was HEALING PAIN, and that awful radiating pain and throbbing I had had for years was GONE! Of course there was recovery as you have following all surgery, but I felt better day by day. I KNEW that without surgery I would continue to feel WORSE day by day.

Three months later I had my right knee replaced. It went even better than my first.

Nearly a year post op from # 1 surgery and eight months with # 2, I am able to stand and walk as long as I want. I have arthritic pain in OTHER joints, but my KNEES feel great. I worked outside in my garden about eight hours the other day -- needing breaks for iced tea but not to sit down and rest every few minutes like before. My knees were strong and steady on uneven ground. Before, I was extremely unstable even walking on a flat surface due to my bowed knee bones and no cartilage to act as a shock absorber. HUGE IMPROVEMENT to my ability to do things I enjoy doing WITHOUT constant pain.

I wish this improvement for you, too!

You mentioned that your dad experienced this prior to his TKR surgery. There is osteoarthritis on both sides of my family, so symptoms sounded VERY familiar when they began. The disease causes cartilage to deteriorate. The loss of cartilage causes the bones to rub together. Our bodies weren't designed to have this happen, so PAIN...LOTS of it...happens. Medication can help, but even medication can't remove the fact that knees are NOT functioning as they were intended to function.

Proper X-RAYS will show the condition of your knees. I hope that you will get relief from your pain and treatment that will lead to improvement.

For me Ibuprofen which is an anti-inflammatory helps better than any prescription medication. My best pain relief, however, was SURGERY to eliminate the CAUSE of my pain!

I hope this helped to answer some questions.

You need an MRI which will show soft tissue damage such as meniscus and cartilage damage. Until you get that you add hould stay off of it as much as possible, maybe add an over the counter nsaid type anti inflammatory. Ignoring it or trying to work around it is probably going to add more inflammation consequently, more pain. Ice the entire area for about 20 mins at a time. Talk to your primary care Dr. immediately about better pain meds. Not getting the cart before the horse but suspect you might be looking at a scope and some sort of repair. Yes, you are not the only one that has found out the horrors of knee pain the hard way. Its very hard to explain until you have been there. Dont expect a much different reaction reaction from your co-workers, friends and family than you had with your dad. Let this forum know the outcome and you will get much help and information from those that have suffered through it.

Hi ange I've just had TKR 19 days ago. I'm 53 and for the past 14 years have suffered pain constantly I was fobbed off as being to young for surgery in December 2015 at a knee clinic I was told to come back in 10 years, my doc told me to go back and push for a referral and in February the hospital said it was so damaged that only option was new knee, over the last 4 years  I've got by with cortisone injection which were great at first but more you have them the less effective they become, but might be worth asking doc about them

Small update on my weekend... Zapain & Oramorph make it more comfortable... For certain amount of time!! Thought I felt great yesterday so ventured downstairs & did some house work, sat in the garden for a while then boom!! The pain came back all of a sudden with a vengeance..😟

Took myself back upstairs to a cool bedroom with fans blasting in all directions, felt sick & slept most of day...

Dreading work tomorrow, feel like sawing leg off at the knee 😖

Can't take meds when working so will have to suffer til I'm home, feeling sorry for myself at moment & need to man up & get on with it 🙁