Wife's replacement knee has gone sour.

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Three years ago my wife had her knee totally replaced. She had good motion and pain-free service for about a year. Then she developed pain and the doctor xrayed and said that she had formed scar tissue within the incision - it was visible as a darkened spot on the xray. She has been using an anagelsic cream for about a year but the pain is very severe at times. What is a solution? We have tried massage etc.

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  • Posted

    Starting all over slowly on the exercises would be the 1st step. My guess is that when she obtained desired ROM she stopped. The analgesic cream ist a healing product for deep tissue only for pain. Try a Try a Vit E oil. Its a very thick product that treats scar tissue and heals. Warm the leg and massage it in with the thumb using as much pressure as she can stand. Apply about 15 min of heat afterwards. Do this 2 to 3 times daily. Along with the excercises she should feel the tightness loosen thoughout. Use it on the entire knee so that it softens the tissue in a large area. It might take a couple of weeks to start feeling the effects. I've had to rebuild my knee 5 times completely and have had 11 surgeries plus radiation. I didn't hear about the oil until I had the 555th surgery and radiation. Personally I've had really good luck. My scar is a foot long and only the middle 4-5 inches is really visable and none of it is really inflexible. Scar tissue is one of the nastiest parts of the process because of the internal stitches as well as the external. Other than that an invasive surgery to release them the natural oils is the most likely process of healing. I'm in the US and the oil I mentioned is available OCT at any pharmacy. Its sort of pricey as a bottle of less than an ounce is around $ 20 but it lasts a long time. You don't have to use mu c h each application as the massage part is really important.
    • Posted

      Thank you for the information. I'll purchase the oil and give it a try right away. The formation of the scar tissue was really unexpected as her walking regime was constant from the very first days following her surgery. She reached a mile daily within a few weeks then reached and maintained at least three miles for the past 3-4 years. Her range of motion was (and is) good but she does get a lot of tingling around the knee. Her doctor said that this nerve damage would probably heal and the tingling would go away, but that hasn't been the case. Once I purchase the oil and start the massages I'm certain that I'll have additional questions. Thank you again for the information.
    • Posted

      It seems like there is always popping up with the rehab. Like i said I've had to rebuild the leg completely 5 times an have had 11 surgeries which include a broken femur, 2 bouts of epi staph which required 2 months of antibiotic infusion, the last time the prosthesis had to be completely removed, 2months of infusion (2 x's a day) and the leg had to be immobilized for 4 months w/minimum weight bearing (toe touch) then the new appliance installed and immobilized for another month before restarting therapy. Its always something different every time. My problems started @ age 65.5 and I roll over the body odometer to 79 a month from today. It just takes an open mind to change and willingness to. Fight the battles as the come. This forum has been really good for information sharing. There are people from 10 different countries that have contributed do you get a lot of ideas and a better understanding of health care throughout the world as well as how the system works for various age groups. I'm in the U.S. and on the Medicare program for people over 65. Just keep asking questions and remember everyone on here is speaking from experience of either themselves or as in you case, someone very close and dear to them. One of the worst case scenarios is someone trying t o be an expert when they are just working from hearsay or minimum data because they have stumbled onto the site and have just enough information to be dangerous.
    • Posted

      ....incidently, the cream that the wife uses is Voltaron Gel. It's expensive but does serve as a effective pain killer. Only about 4% of the aspirin from the gel gets into the system, the rest is localized to the knee. This protects her stomach from harm whereas taking the aspirin directly upset her stomach. The orthopedic doctor gave us the impression that massaging the gel into the knee would eventually break up the scar tissue but this hasn't been the case at all, but it does provide some relief from the pain. Do you have an opinion on this gel? I now have the vitamin E oil so will compare. 
    • Posted

      I'm not familiar with the product. Is it OTC or prescription only? Maybe I just missed it but where did you say you are located. This time of year is extremely difficult in my part of the world. Cold, damp, continually changing barometer just magnifies every pain.
    • Posted

      Its a prescription item and a bit pricey at $44.00 a tube - but an effective pain killer. I'm located in north central Idaho - a northwestern state - we're located in the pathway of the artic storms so we see an up-and done barometer at times also. 
    • Posted

      I may have told you before that I'm in the Kansas City metro area and the weather here has been very stable...........remaining the same for about 15 minutes at a time. It has finally turned winter but barometer swings are real killers when it comes to joint pain. My oldest son's best friend from college days lives in Sand Point I'D. and has stayed not that area mostly because of the outdoor sports, sling Olin particular. They went to school at. U of Wyoming.
    • Posted

      Should have read....sking in particular
    • Posted

      Seems like that entire family of ointments, lotions, creams and oils are expensive for some reason and insurance co-pays are terrible. I'm getting ready for cataract surgery in 2 weeks. I picked up a thimble full of eye drops for post surgery. My portion was $45 but the list price is $272. The same holds true for psychotropic meds. My wife has advanced level of Parkinson's with depression and anxiety as early on severe side effects. They tried a couple of different drugs on her including Abilify. List price $454 for 30 pills and our portion $103 even with a $100 pharmacy voucher provided by the dr. Then come to find out she couldn't take it as it caused false Parkinsons symptoms increasing the tremors which in turn upped the depression. I wasn't even depressed to start with but that kind of copay was beginning to make me that way.
    • Posted

      The wife and I just completed cararact surgery - both eyes for both of us. We have the final post surgery one-month check next week. We were evidently fortunate as  the medication prescribed for us was only $8.00 co-pay. We are using prednisolone acetate 5ml. I did find it at between $21 to $42 CVS - Walmart, but as I mentioned our cost was $8.

      I'm sorry to hear of your wife's Parkinson's. My wife's brother-in-law has Parkinson and had medication problems as well. He also had the DBS which served him rather well for 6-7 years during which time his medications were reduced and in some cases suspended. 

    • Posted

      The predinosole is the inexpensive one. Ilvero is the pricy one and the told me the hospita I will send me home with a 3rd variety.

      BDS is great for the ones it helps. We have seen some outstanding cases. Hers isnt the garden variety that even is considered. Mainly because of the lack of tremors and even though she moves slowly she isstill mobile

    • Posted

      The accompaning drops that we had to purchase fortunately were also inexpensive - Ofloxacin .3% a generic. The two were our purchase, the cataract surgery organization did provide free packets of 'liquid tears'. Anyway, we have faithfully used the drops, 4 times daily ever since and hope to run out of the darn stuff soon.

       

    • Posted

      I remember when my father in law had his done 35 years ago.........hospital stay of 3 days where they put sandbags on both sides of his head so he couldn't accidentally roll over. Then he had to stay with us for a couple of more days because they lived 25 miles away and they didn't want him risking a high speed accident plus he had to check in with the dr every day for 3 days. Technology and product (lens) have sure made this proceedure much safer and simpler. I have advanced glaucoma which is very much under control but adds to the concern a little. I have a very conservative lady opthomologist in her late 50's /early 60's. The senior dr in the practice is about the same age and was an asst professor at University of Kansas school of medicine for a number of years so he was involved in a lot of research. His wife is a pediatric opthomologist and also taught at KU. Nice to have that kind of background if anything goes wrong.
    • Posted

      Now it's an outpatient event that takes less than three hours from the time we were picked up at the house by their driver to our return! Neither the wife or I had any complications except that I had taken quite a trauma on my right eye during military service and a few of the zonules were broken loose and further breakage would have resulted in that lense not being able to be secured. The surgeon had the skill necessary to make it a good clean job. Incidently my wife and I had our left eyes done the same day, followed exactly one week later with the right eye being done. The entire procedure in our case was almost a non-event except that my damaged eye was in discomfort a bit more than the other. The glaucoma calls for a much more nuanced approach for sure. Is the medication that you mentioned associated with your glaucoma treatment needs or strictly for the cataract surgery?
    • Posted

      I've used eye drops nightly for years because of the glaucoma. They use a number to indicate pressure on the eye. Lower the number the better. When I started I was at 14 now down to 11 and has been for at least 10 yrs. I retired at the end of 2002 and was using the drops then. I think all of the drops I've been given prior to surgery are for the cataract surgery. I'm always amazed at the number of different protocols for the same delicate surgery.

      Well, its getting close to 1.a.m. and I have to meet friends for breakfast @ 8 so going b to call it a night. I normally fix breakfast for my wife but Thursdays she has cold cereal so I can have a chance to get out and solve the worlds problems. This morning we have a bigger job than usual with the stock market hit and the supposed hydrogen bomb of N. Korea. My oldest son was CEO of joint venture in so. Korea for 5 years and I spent some time over there during that time so I guess that will mean I'll be the resident authority to lead th e discussion. Huge responsibility but someone has to do it. May be a 3 cup of coffee morning instead of the usual 2.

    • Posted

      By now you've probably overloaded your coffee circuits, if not then enjoy. I spent a tour in Korea during the war - was assigned to a engineer outfit which also included a stint on Koje Do where we housed upwards to 90,000 Chinese and North Korean prisoners. The NK were a handful, both on Koje and on line. 

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