Anti-Inflammatory Supplements after Joint Replacement

Ismorgan, I am almost 3 months out. I have quite a bit of soft tissue swelling. It really gets bad when I push too hard. At my 6 week check, my surgeon suggested Voltaran and that really helped. He said to give it a whirl again. He said it would take a year for the swelling to go away. I still ice and elevate. I also do most of my exercises and yoga/stretching faithfully (once for sure and maybe even twice a day). I purchased a percussion massager and go along my IT band, quads and glutes. This seems to help push out some of the swelling. I love raising my leg straight up and resting against a wall, again stretch and lushes out the swelling. I hope you find relief. Swelling is difficult.

If you have a blender and like smoothies, you can dice up a small piece of ginger and add it to your smoothie. Trader Joe's has some pretty good Ginger Turmeric tea if you like tea.

Thank you for your post @nipahl. it sounds like you have accepted the challenge of what I call, "just deal with it". You have adopted a program that you follow religiously on your way to that one-year goal of making the swelling go away. The "legs up the wall" addition is very helpful. I certainly appreciate you sharing the Voltaren. I used that years ago and am glad it has been made OTC purchasable. You can get stronger content with an Rx. I used to get it in patches that I placed on my knee. Is that still available?

It is good to know about the massager and that it can help release the swelling.
Let us know what else might be helpful. Do you see a physical therapy specialist?

May you have happiness and the causes of happiness.
Chris

Hellos @artscaping. I am not sure if Voltaren comes in a patch or not. That would be nice. You do measure out the gel you use and have to apply 4x’s a day. I did do PT but was discharged at 4 weeks. I continue with a lot of the exercises they provided.

I'd like to hear from those who have experience with anti=inflammatory pain killer "natural" so-called supplements. If they work, they didn't work, and what you took. I can't figure it out yet. Although I am expecting to go for a hip operation, I still would like to hear from those who have had real experience with supplements.

I'd like to hear from those who have experience with anti=inflammatory pain killer "natural" so-called supplements. If they work, they didn't work, and what you took. I can't figure it out yet. Although I am expecting to go for a hip operation, I still would like to hear from those who have had real experience with supplements.

There are a couple schools of thought on anti-inflammatory medications after surgery.
One of the latest (just discussed with my daughter's excellent ortho on Saturday) is to replace opioids with a combination of Acetominaphen (Tylenol) and Ibuprofen. This has been shown in "blind" tests to provide as good of pain management as oxy after a few weeks out from surgery. Her current regimen calls for oxy at increasing intervals, with a combo of Tylenol & Acetominaphen between, plus ice. It seems to be working on a major trauma repair to her arm.
The older school of thought was that NSAIDS somehow impeded healing - I haven't done any research, but I believe most docs no longer believe that - there is more of a consensus that anything that reduces swelling & pain to improve the ability to move & do therapy is a bonus.

And don't forget the ice! We have a saying in our family, coined by my husband while he was being an EMT in his first retirement. "If someone could get a patent for ice, it would cost $100 a cube." That's how valuable it is. 25 years ago, I was given an early, experimental version of the "ice pump" after knee (ACL + MCL) surgery, and asked to use it full time for 14 days. I tried it, and was amazed. Ever since, in our family we ice FULL time for at least one week after any surgery, and then many times a day for several weeks, and finally at least 3-4 times a day until pain and swelling are gone. My daughter has been on ice 24/7 since she came out of the OR. It helps keep the swelling down and helps keep pain under control. Thank goodness we have an absolutely fabulous icemaker in our new refrigerator - it produces enough ice for my daughter's arm and three very thirsty water drinkers.

The final NSAID you might want to consider it Voltaren gel, which is topical. There is a 1% strength available over the counter, and if it helps a little, you could ask for a prescription for a greater strength, up to 2.25%, I believe. The advantage is to be able to target the actual spot that hurts, without putting the drug through your digestive system. This is one of my long-term pain management strategies for arthritis and chronic pain & inflammation.
Sue

Thank you for your above words of wisdom and I hope your daughter continues to recover well.
Your post is I nteresting as I had TKR Feb 16 and have been on 600 mg of ibuprofen 2-3 times a day, 1000 acetaminophen 2-3 times a day and 5 mg of Oxy 3 times a day. The latter is late afternoon, evening and overnight. Days are still painful and today I pulled out my 1% voltaren gel I have for my feet. I am surprised that the OTC pills don’t touch the pain and all I’m doing is aggravating my gut. Any thoughts so appreciated.