High heart rate after TKR

Have you asked your doctor about this change? Inflammation can cause increased heart rate. Also persistent pain and/or stress can raise your heart rate.
Are you taking any new medications after your surgery? There are several medications that can alter your heart rate.. Antibiotics can raise your heart rate. When I had TKR surgery in 2010 I was given 5 different kinds of antibiotics. I didn’t normally measure my BP at that time and my PT didn’t take BP measurements so I don’t know if my BP changed during the recovery period.
There are other medications and supplements that can also raise your BP. If you are now taking new medications - ask your doctor or pharmacist about possible side effects.
Best wishes to you for finding a solution to ease your concern.

Thank you! I started out on oxycodone, celebrex, Tylenol and aspirin. Stopped the oxy at day 7 and the celebrex at day 14 as I don’t like the side effects of either drug. Stopped aspirin 2 days ago. My heart rate went up after I discontinued the oxy. It can be a side effect of Celebrex, but stopping that didn’t help. My BP was high one day but has been normal since. I have a lot of trouble sleeping (last night 3 and 1/2 hours restful sleep and mostly restless due to discomfort). I take 3 mg ambien in the night when I’m feeling desperate to sleep. Also melatonin, but I can’t tell that it helps. I have a call with my internist later today, so hoping to get some answers and solution! How is your knee 13 years later? Thanks so much for your reply!

It sounds like you’re trying lots of different things - I hope you find the one that works best for you.

The TKR that I had done on my left knee in 2010 was doing really well - it almost never gave me any problems at all until Sept 2023 when I was in a bike accident and fractured the Tibia where it connected with my partial artificial knee. I had to wear a non weight bearing leg brace for 6 weeks then gradually increase the amount of weight that I placed on it plus physical therapy. It seems Ok now but I also damaged my right knee in the same accident and I may have to have a TKR on that knee.
When your doctor did your TKR surgery did he do the minimally invasive procedure? It is done as an outpatient and the muscles and tendons are not cut during the surgery, they just push them to the side then after the knee appliance is placed the muscles and tendons are moved back to their normal position. It generally heals faster than traditional TKR surgery. If it turns out that I have to have my right knee replaced I am hoping to have the minimally invasive procedure.

Best wishes to you,
Lynne

Hi Lynne,
Sounds like you’ve been through it with both knees! Did you have to take all the antibiotics because of infection? Ouch!
Just curious, are you a cyclist? I’ve enjoyed road biking, touring and mountain biking. Looking forward to getting back to it although staying off the roads with all the distracted drivers these days.
Honestly I’m not sure if my surgery was minimally invasive. When I inquired about that years ago, I was told by more than one surgeon that the difference is the size of the opening (scar) and the tools they use. I’m told there is no other difference. Over many years I saw 9 different surgeons hoping to stall the surgery as long as possible. The one I chose was the top pick of the surgical staff at a major hospital here. He is also a fellow and has an outstanding reputation. He was the first one to tell me to stall the surgery until it hurt to walk to the mailbox, simply because they cannot guarantee the outcome. That was 5 years ago. His numbers for complications were also excellent. So…all of that just to say I didn’t really care. I wanted to feel I was in the best hands.
After talking with my internal med doc yesterday, he isn’t worried about my heart rate. He thinks I stopped pain meds too early, lack of sleep and anxiety around the pain caused the increase. He advised me to go back on the Celebrex which I did today. Crossing my fingers!

Wishing you the very best outcome with your knees!

Vickie

Pain can raise the heart rate , and anxiety due to the pain can also raise heart rate.

Are you showing any signs of infection - redness and persistent swelling at or around the knee, elevated fever, flu-like symptoms? Infection from a TKR is rare - 1% of cases - and I think you'd know if you had an infection at the surgical site. 59 to 62 is a very good resting HR and you're experiencing about a 25% increase.

I didn't monitor my HR after my TKRs so I'm afraid I'm not much help. Ladybug makes an excellent point that anxiety and pain can raise heart rate. The stress of PT and daily rehab could also be raising your HR.

It's been 4 weeks though so your pain levels should be a lot lower than the first two weeks. In any case, check with the doc.

All the best.

That is likely what’s happening. I’m not getting enough sleep due to discomfort. Averaging about 4 hours/night. My internist prescribed trazadone. I took it last night and I think it had the opposite effect - couldn’t go to sleep. I was accustomed to almost daily exercise, so maybe that’s a factor, too. Definitely anxiety/stress around the discomfort, lack of sleep and heart rate issues. Thanks so much for the response!

No infection. Last night my heart rate bounced around from 62 to 95. My pain isn’t bad, it’s more a strong discomfort that includes some nerve pain (zingers). It’s still early at 4 1/2 weeks. Maybe lack of sleep and discomfort are causing my heart rate to increase. I’m contacting the surgeon’s office today to see what they recommend. I really appreciate the responses! Thank you 🙂

It's tough when you can't get enough sleep, and that alone could probably increase your HR. Gotta give the knee time to heal, and it will!

You mentioned zingers. It's not unusual for the skin on and around the knee to feel numb. This happened to me and it eventually went away. It's inevitable with a surgery this invasive that some damage will be done to nerves. A lot of things get moved around, like the patella. And nerves don't like to be moved around......

Also, my inner thighs turned bright red/blue after two days. Reason? A tourniquet is applied to the thigh to slow bleeding. They never told me. This can cause some residual pain, zingers as well.