Hi guys,

I just got out of the hospital the other day, I had my left knee replaced and clinically I´m doing fine but I feel like shit. Yes the exercises are done many times a day, yes I´m walking more each day but I still feel like shit.

I´ve gone cold turkey on all opioids and am now only using a Cox 2 inhibitor and paracetamol. How much of this low grade fever, nightly sweats and anxiety can be attributed to not using the old codeine and tramaldone?

Any and all tips are appreciated,

cewe

My best thought is to be patient and be a good patient. The knee did not get bad overnight and it will not get great overnight but will improve. I have hiked in the mountains with a lady with two new knees so you can do it in time also. Good Luck to you.

Hang in there. I had open gall bladder surgery in September of last year. I had gangrene in my gall bladder and was pretty bad off. After the surgery, I felt like a truck had run over me. I had to convince myself daily that I was going to get better. But three weeks after my surgery I went deer hunting and killed a nice seven point. I had to get help dragging it out, but I went hunting. Listen to the doctors and the therapist, and fight the blues. They'll go away if you tell them too. Good luck. You'll be back on your game sooner than you think. BTW, my low grade fever lasted quite a while, so did the night sweats etc. Some of that is mild withdrawals from all of the pain medication. The fever is your body getting used to the new knee, and being upset about being cut on.

Low grade temp and night sweats are very common after any kind of surgery; and for me fever doesn't even start until 100.5.

Hi cewe:

I have a blown left knee, and I went to three different specialist, all three said I am to young for a knee replacement.

Let me know if you think it was worth it in a month or two. I have to take celabrex to get through the day.

Sooner or later, probably sooner, I am getting it done.

Regards... Jim P.

You will see a great deal of improvement in about a month. I played golf 3 months after mine. Stick with the exercise program. Biggest problem is giving the soft tissue time to heal. I'm playing golf with a pal that had a double done end of February and he is doing well now. By the way he's 74!

quote:

How much of this low grade fever, nightly sweats and anxiety can be attributed to not using the old codeine and tramaldone?

All of it.

I just went through a repair on my right knee that "repaired" everything. What your doc puts you on is not necessarily what you need.

I was put on some combination that was absolutely bizarre.

I objected, and they heard me. The motrin in 600 to 800 mg pills helped the most. The spike pain from trying to walk was addressed by a
milder pain med.

My issue was that I had no support on the inside or outside of my knee. And they still wanted me to do physical therapy. I tried it, but the cross motion with no support was very painful. My lateral tissue was about to burst, and my interior or anterior support "took 6 months to grow back".

If Motrin does not cut it, have a MILD narcotic to cut the pain. And don't push it beyond normal bounds. I tried to push it, and I took the recommended dose, and I could not fall asleep.

That's a long way of saying that you have to be your own docter. A little pain is OK, but they prescribe these days for no pain.

Do exactly what they tell you to do in physical therapy. It is amazing how weak you leg/knee will get. It is amazing what PT can do to help you.

I busted up a knee a few year ago. They operated. I followed the doctors orders. I was on an alpine ibex hunt about 5 months later. I now run at least 8 miles a day.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the moral support and feedback, I really need it.

PAHunter: I think this is going to work out, progress is daily -if slow- and pain is a "better" kind than I used to have. I´m 48 and ruined my knees with powerlifting in my 20´s. I had absolutely no cartiledge left on the inside, median, half of my knee and the lateral half wasn´t much better. I also went through a tibial osteotomy 3 years ago that did me hardly any good at all -just complicated this procedure.

Put it off as long as you can but not as long as I did -I´ve been doped up for the past year in order to work and in the end it just ain´t worth it.

If I can get out of the funk I´ll do better.

Reading/writing this helps

cewe, I had my right knee replaced 12/10/04. I was in the office a few days before Christmas and returned full time the first week of Jan. I started therpy as an out patient 4 days after surgery. I was driving 4 weeks after surgery and hunted Cape Buffalo that fall and Thar & Chamois the next spring. I was 65 when I had mine done and if I had it to do over I would have had it done 5 yrs earlier as I lived on Vioxx and Synvisc for 5 yrs. There was no cartiledge in my right knee it was bone on bone and I had a severe limp, I could not walk a block at a time. Work on rebuilding the mussels as larry said it take time to rebuild that leg. Good luck!

Hi Cewe, Just to wish you a speedy recovery. Hope it will all work out for the better.

My knee finally went completely south on me May 30th. I was faced with rebuild or replace. I limped across a little of Namibia August of 06 and had been taking it easy on the bum knee forthe past 15 years. With no arthritis in the knee and still what they consider young for a replacement,,52 years old.,,,last Thursday they rebuilt my right knee. I get my stiches out this afternoon and I have a good deal of Rehab to go. I am back to seeing patients half a day while on crutches. My goal is to be ready to spot and stalk by Aug. 08 when my next safari is booked. Hang in there and we will be back hunting in no time. I spent the last 5 days watching Africa hunting DVD's to take my mind off the pain and to remember what my goal is. Back to the bush...drwes

Cewe
My Wife had her's replaced last year. 3 - 4 months after you will be better than before, so long as you do the physical therapy. Start planning a hunt for next year. It will be a great incentive and you'll be able to do it.
Good luck.

TeryR

Cewe,

Patience and perseverance...In that order... Aren't docktors supposed to be the worst patients anyway..

Give it time and the healing will make ammends...

Mike

Mike: Docs are the worst patients, nurses run second but it´s a tight race

I want to be in shape for dovehunting with my sons on the 10th of August so that´s my first goal. Did you guy´s return to work after 4 weeks? My surgeon gave me 3 months (which gave my boss some sort of hernia...from the way he was yelling...)!

I think most of my trouble right now is going cold turkey on the opiates but it´ll be worth it. Second this was a much heftier op than I could ever imagine and I´ve been cut up a lot.

This evening I walked about 400 meters, a little less this morning. Exercises three times a day.

But where do they sell patience?

Retreever, by legend we are the worst; in reality it's our mothers and wives.

quote:

Originally posted by cewe:
Hi guys,

I just got out of the hospital the other day, I had my left knee replaced and clinically I´m doing fine but I feel like shit. Yes the exercises are done many times a day, yes I´m walking more each day but I still feel like shit.

I´ve gone cold turkey on all opioids and am now only using a Cox 2 inhibitor and paracetamol. How much of this low grade fever, nightly sweats and anxiety can be attributed to not using the old codeine and tramaldone?

Any and all tips are appreciated,

cewe

If you've been on the opioids for a long time, your withdrawl is not unlike the kind a herion addict goes through. You might want to let you doctor know and he can either advise you on somethings to make the clensing more comfortable, including a couple days worth of loq does Valium. Be careful as it can even cause siezures, so stay in touch.

Good luck!

Hope it continues to get better every day!!!!!!!!!!!

One of my operators had it done in Dec. along with shortening of the leg bone to fix a limp, and returned to work 6 weeks later. He just had a follow up evaluation, and it was doing wonderful, but they told him a major replacement with bone modification takes 2 years to fully heal and rejuvenate.

Five surgeries so far for me on the right knee. Several cartilage repairs, meniscal cyst removal, and staph infection and necessary cauterization following ops. Still getting by at 57 years old on just 800 mg. Motrin. Start 3 days before strenuous hunts, taken continuously throughout, and for 5 days following return. Yeah it still hurts, but the knees work!

Doc said to wait on knee replacement until I was 62, and it would last as long as I would. That is the goal.

Hi,

It´s been ten days since the op and I´m feeling much better (the low dose Valium helped). Visited my surgeon today and he was very satisfied (suprised) at the amount of movement I already have.

I still have a long ways to go but at least I don´t feel sick anymore!

quote:

Originally posted by cewe:
Hi,

It´s been ten days since the op and I´m feeling much better (the low dose Valium helped). Visited my surgeon today and he was very satisfied (suprised) at the amount of movement I already have.

I still have a long ways to go but at least I don´t feel sick anymore!

Glad to hear it! I went through some uncomfortable days after coming off a long stretch on Vicoden after my bone infection. The low dose valium helped me too. that's why I suggested it. Glad to have that behind us, huh? Cheers on the improvement!

Cewe, my only advise is to not stop the physical therapy because you are feeling better. Thats exactly what a friend did and he lost quite a bit of flexability. He wouldnt listen to the doctor and now has a limp to remind him of the cost of not following doctors orders. So do the therapy and dont give up.
Eterry

Ngagi: Well now we know how Gene Hackman felt when making the "French Connection" Seriously though I should have had this op 12 months ago, it would have made things a lot easier. But it´s part of my profession to be indispensible (HA!) ie to think one is.

It ain´t so.

Today I´m paying the price of overdoing the walking bit yesterday -pain last night, swelling etc.

One learns.

Eterry: No way I´ll skimp on the PT -half of my friends are involved in different types of PT and they are all keeping an eye on me!

Cewe getting off of the opioids is definitely part of the hard time you are having. It will be much better for you when you are off of them for a bit longer. Unfortunately feeling like you are being pulled through a clothes wringer is normal. The blues are a big part of it. That is why many people who get on narcotics for whatever reason prefer to be addicts than go through the withdrawal. Keep in mind it is nothing but the blue. There will be a time when life will be much better and you want your life back. Paying the price is hard. Good luck and good hunting(soon) "D"

D Hunter: Thanks for the support, it´s incredible how blind one gets to taking painkillers...

The clothes wringer ran all night long last night, I think I changed sheets three times...there was once a time when sweaty sheets meant something else than being in pain/withdrawal

Those were the days!

CEWE,
Get well soon ans I fully trust you will.


Best wishes-
Locksley,R