How to treat anxiety after knee replacement

I’m no medical professional but have lived long enough to have experienced anxiety. It’s no fun and can be very confusing. My suggestion is what worked for me…

When your knee became a daily problem you sought out a professional to help you get better - TKR. I suggest the same for your anxiety. Seek a psychologist/therapist that can help with these very real issues.

I wish you the best of luck with your journey. Be patient with yourself but don’t let up until you get where you’d like to be, psychologically speaking.

Anxiety and depression are both common after TKR. You might look for a support group online. Knowing you aren't alone helps.
Lack of sleep due to the painful recovery from knee surgery can contribute to the problem. Your body has been through a big assault and major injury--that is what surgery is. The brain can react by ramping up the fight-or-flight syndrome. The xanax you are taking will help for a couple if weeks, but you need to stop using it after that. It's a benzodiazepine, and all of the drugs in that class are addictive if taken too long. You don't need another problem on top of the one you have. Look up some deep breathing exercises online for relaxation or sleep. They may also be labeled as "vagus nerve" exercises. I have chronic anxiety and deep breathing techniques work better than anything else. If your anxiety affects sleep you can also try listening to relaxing music. Online it can be labeled as deep sleep or meditation or wave (alpha, beta, theta, etc.) music. Some people try "noise" in various colors, such as white noise, green noise, etc. The noise is supposed to help block outside sounds in the environment that might keep you awake. Any one of those kinds of music or noise might help. If you are waking up with anxiety in the morning try doing the breathing and/or music then. It's trial and error, but it's free help and non-addictive. Therapy is another route and expensive. You can look up Cognitive Behavioral Therapy online for tips and techniques to help yourself. I hope something in this list will ease your situation. Good luck.

Pretty much everyone of my friends that have had TkR goes thru some form of depression at some point. I did get discouraged for a bit. The days are so long during recovery. One day was like a week for me. Once I got to really feeling good about myself, my doctor told one of my joints did not get glued in at all (did a bilateral). Now that really let the air out of my balloon that day. So now just doing a wait and see to see if it holds. Good luck!

There are many over the counter medications that helped me without having to get a benzo...Ashwaghandha and Magnesium Glycinate. I also started online therapy for about 6 weeks.. Both of these helped tremendously! Good luck!

@catheem Valerian is a very good herb to treat anxiety.