Severe Burning Pain after Knee Replacement

Posted by jeffyoung @jeffyoung, Nov 22, 2019

Had Total Knee Replacement 4/1/18 at VA. No PT ordered. Was on my own doing rehab exercises. Pain has not subsided. Using a crutch. Taking pain meds. Exhaustion sleep. Severe constant burning in left front knee. What is wrong?

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I can't believe that you didn't have PT. Can you call the doctor?

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@saeternes

I can't believe that you didn't have PT. Can you call the doctor?

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I agree. I never had PT either, saw one for 5 min and had a book to take home. My concern is that you are having that level of pain and still needing to use a crutch seems not adequate given when surgery was. I agree to ask for PY referral and get your doctor to assess the pain.

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@saeternes

I can't believe that you didn't have PT. Can you call the doctor?

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The VA finally ordered PT 6 mos. later. Lots of pain to not help the pain.

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@glasgow46

I agree. I never had PT either, saw one for 5 min and had a book to take home. My concern is that you are having that level of pain and still needing to use a crutch seems not adequate given when surgery was. I agree to ask for PY referral and get your doctor to assess the pain.

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I was given 2 pages of exercises to do and I done them religiously. I returned to the VA twice complaining of the pain and was told it was part of the healing process. They discontinued my pain management when they began weaning all the vets off of pain meds. Now their pain management is PT. No help. This only aggravates it. I started to see a pain clinic on the outside about 6 mos. ago. They continued my regimen of pain med. but this only takes the edge off. I do not want to be on pain meds. the rest of my life. I want to find out the cause of this and remedy it. Finally got an MRI about a month ago and went to see an outside ortho doc. today. The only thing he could say was that the device was put in properly and my leg had the proper range of movement. He did say that maybe my system had rejected the device or maybe nerve damage. He ordered lab work for maybe an infection in my knee. So I wonder where I go from here.

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@jeffyoung this is simply not right. To still have pain and need to use a crutch a year and a half later says something is wrong. I hope the outside ortho is a really excellent doctor and can help you. My first thought is that the new knee does not fit right. I had a friend with that problem. She hobbled around for two years before finding a doctor who found the problem and did a revision.
I hope you will post again with the new doctor’s findings. With VA are you able to go to a large teaching hospital to find a really good doctor? If the current ortho can’t find the cause of your paiN, I hope you will be able to.
JK

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@jeffyoung

I was given 2 pages of exercises to do and I done them religiously. I returned to the VA twice complaining of the pain and was told it was part of the healing process. They discontinued my pain management when they began weaning all the vets off of pain meds. Now their pain management is PT. No help. This only aggravates it. I started to see a pain clinic on the outside about 6 mos. ago. They continued my regimen of pain med. but this only takes the edge off. I do not want to be on pain meds. the rest of my life. I want to find out the cause of this and remedy it. Finally got an MRI about a month ago and went to see an outside ortho doc. today. The only thing he could say was that the device was put in properly and my leg had the proper range of movement. He did say that maybe my system had rejected the device or maybe nerve damage. He ordered lab work for maybe an infection in my knee. So I wonder where I go from here.

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It will be good to get it checked for infection. I get varying jolts and pain on outer aspect of my knee and over kneecap. Often like a zapping, which I was told was where nerves were cut. Must be discouraging for you, I hope you get some answers.

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I have been researching CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) and nerve ablation to remedy. I believe I may have this. Any suggestions.

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I also have severe burning pain , it has been almost 4 years , since I had bilateral knee replacements. I have not had a day without pain since. I took Percocet for nine months, before weaning myself off
The drug only dulled the pain. Ive tried a nerve block, gabapentin, & even acupuncture. My Dr suggested I might have crps, but no testing or help for it was suggested. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

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I also have severe burning pain after bilateral TKA. I was diagnosed after blood test from National Jewish Hospital with a very high nickel alllegy, I had one knee revision with nickel free but still bad. Second surgeon said connective tissue inside knee during surgery looked like a bad sunburn. Unfortunately, bad tissue grew back causing pain again. Heading to Mayo for hopefully some help.

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Is anyone else experiencing this? No luck with my original surgeon. I have sought a second and third opinion and have had 2 nerve blocks and a targeted injection, also no luck. It seems to be centered in my patella band.

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