Looking for ideas to help get a better night s rest after TKR

@bigklssick, God Bless You! I am 4 months post op and just started sleeping through the night around 3.5 months and I was released from PT. I had reached all of my goals. My knee is straight, but, is still stiff. I do the exercises at home and bought a recumbent bike to loosen my knee up. It helps greatly. You have to keep moving to regain strength in your knee.

The Celestial Seasoning teas are very relaxing as well. I prayed a lot and I am praying your sleep will be sweet (Psalm 4:8). This surgery is not a sprint....it's a marathon, but, you will get to the other side of it! It's hard to be patient with it isn't it?

The scar has been ultra sensitive and so I wasn't able to sleep in my bed until it "toughened up". I am a side sleeper and the pressure from a pillow under the knee caused more scar pain. So many nerve endings at the scar site. I still massage it twice daily with Aveeno lotion.

I slept in the recliner with my knee propped up at the foot with 2 pillows. I did find a raised cushion seat (Amazon) helped as I covered it with a sheet and it helped me to get up and down better as it raised the recliner seat. I used a sheet over me and and kept water and pain meds close at hand. I used one of those grabber sticks to pick up things. Those first weeks without sleep are hard. Sometimes I could go back to sleep and sometimes, I could not. Staying on top of your pain with the pain meds is important to help you get some sleep too.

Icing the knee helped me to sleep better too. I had one of those ice machines...as things moved along I was able to just use ice packs out of the freezer.

I am a slow healer, so I am sure others on here have moved along quicker in the healing process.

Four months finds me at a really good place. I know that sounds like such a long time when you are at 12 days. 12 days is still early.

Blessings & Prayers....

Bless you for taking time to correspond. I will take your advice and pray for a better nights sleep. Thank you 🙏🙏

Much of my inability to sleep after surgery eventually was because of excess energy that didn’t get used up during the day and gave me a kind of restless leg syndrome at night so I couldn’t relax. I found that doing the before surgery exercises that I was given to do laying down in bed would help tire my legs. Ten sets of pointing toes down, hard flexing toes up followed by ten tightening the knees as if to pull the back of the knee into the bed. Keep doing until your legs are too tired to continue.

Use ice packs and elevate your knee by placing a pillow under it. Ice works better than any pain medications you will get.

Appreciate the response, you mean ice like crazy right before I hit the sack, I have the ice machine so I’ll try it tonight

Place towels between the ice pack and you knee not to get ice burns. Pray you get a blessed night sleep

I am 7 weeks post op, I find if I use frankincense and peppermint lotion before bed it helps me greatly. Stretching before trying to sleep reduces the pain as well. I have been off pain meds since week 3. As my old PT used to say, “motion is lotion” keep it moving as much as you can.

We got a new mattress at +3 weeks and I am only now (+4 wk) able to make it through the night with only a couple of wakeups. I find the recliner was really easy to sleep in, something about both legs and back not being totally flat out, so now I start the night with operated leg up at least 2 pillow, non-op leg up one thin pillow, and a wedge + pillow under shoulders/ upper back. That gets me the first part through, and then I have to try flat legs, on one side or the other (op leg down is easier fir some reason) or even on my belly for a while with a pillow under the pelvis. And not trying too early! I’m a total side sleeper btw, beggire.

@markleanna101

I am 4 months post second TKR. At my doctor friend’s suggestion, I am taking Magnesium Glycinate and it has helped me falling and staying asleep. It is much better than taking Melatonin as it only helps me with falling asleep but not staying asleep.