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hi again. I will be 5 weeks on Saturday tkr. I had physio yesterday and my bend is only 62 degrees. This has been hard to achieve due to my sensitivity to many drugs, but I am hoping that I have finally got them sorted now. Despite this I am doing my exercises & walking in the house without crutches. BUT sleep is still a massive problem. The physio told me yesterday I am not sleeping in the correct position & therefore twisting my knee during the night. She told me to put a pillow between my legs for support. I think I have just had the worst nights sleep yet in trying to achieve this!!! As my husband is away at the moment, I have the whole bed to myself, please please can I have your thoughts & experiences!! Many thanks x
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mandy35295 Kmcg14
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Kmcg14 mandy35295
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sarah87162 Kmcg14
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What I did was to have apillow underneath my knee rather than between them. I also used to put ice on my knee when I woke in the night.
If you can, I think it is probably better to sleep on your back
I have got used to this now but it was not easy at first.
I had TKR 3 years ago so trying to go back and remember the things I did.
It may help if you can find something like a grocery box and put yur leg through it, so that it acts like a cradle they used to use in hospitals to keep the weight of the bedclothes off your knee. Again this only really works if you are sleeping on your back.
Hope this improves for you.
Take care and keep in touch
Praying for you
Love Sarah xxx
Kmcg14 sarah87162
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Annodoremouse Kmcg14
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I am sensitive to many drugs and my GP gave me CoDydramol 500/10 a pretty basic medication post op but very effective. I was cutting down from 4 weeks and only increased after a car crash. Finally off them all together by 12 weeks
Kmcg14 Annodoremouse
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Camper Kmcg14
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Kmcg14 Camper
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hazel14959 Kmcg14
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Kmcg14 hazel14959
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terri59470 Kmcg14
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For me, I cant even sleep in a bed - Ive tried a few times,but my knees "flop" to the sides too much - not only the TKR side, buth the unoperated one now has severe Osteoarthritis, and is causing me as much pain as the TKR....so I sleep on the sofa, on my back, with the back of the sofa keeping one knee in place, and a memory foam therapy pillow wedging the other one in place. I have a feather pillow under my TKR knee, from just under my bum cheek (sorry ) all the way down - I find this moulds to my leg and supports my knee really well. Sleeping with a pillow BETWEEN my knees, as your Physio advised, has proved really uncomfortable for me, as has sleeping on my side. As for sleeping on my front - no chance! I also spoke to my GP, and she prescribed a low dose of Amitriptyline (10mg) which acts as a slight sedative and also calms down nerve pain.
I think, out of all the nasty things that TKR brings us, sleep deprivation is right up there as one of the worst.
You really are still in the early days, and it can be really daunting trying to cope with everything all at once - pain that youve never had before, odd sensations which you wonder are normal, physio, exercises - to try and do all this on very little sleep can be tortuous. Do you nap during the day? I think its important, especially in the early(ish) days, to rest and sleep whenever you can. Here comes the TKR Mantra - "Dont stand if you can sit, dont sit if you can lie down, and dont be awake if you can be asleep!". I know we have to balance a lot of activities, and keep a lot of balls in the air at the same time, but rest is the absolute number one priority for healing.
Well, if Ive not bored you to sleep with all that, Id like to wish you well, and I hope you find what works best for you. Keep popping on here, if you cant sleep you will often find one of us lurking around in the wee small hours.
Take care of yourself
Terri xx
Kmcg14 terri59470
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Oldfatguy1 Kmcg14
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Kmcg14 Oldfatguy1
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Oldfatguy1 Kmcg14
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