Post TKR chronic pain

It's certainly frustrating! I have a good caring doctor, but I'm afraid that one day he may also tell me there's nothing more he can do.💖🙏

My husband is post TKR surgery, almost 8 months. He has been to several doctors who have just said he needs to live with the pain. They keep on hinting it is in his head. However, he has more pain than before the surgery. He gets so much pain, he throws up sometimes. Where do we turn?

My hope (and I won't give up) is to find a Dr that's willing to go beyond
the new knee to find out why the pain. When I find someone I will travel
for a diagnoses. I applied to Mayo but was turned down for an appointment.
Someone out there has found that Dr already.

I pray your husband is able to find someone who will listen and take his pain seriously. I'm 7 days out of a MUA and I'm changing my PT because his mantra of, "no pain, no gain ' is not being handled by my 67 year old knee. I also have pain, but I'm praying mine will lessen in time. I'll keep you both in my prayers.💖🙏

Hello Donkey,
Your posting sounds like my situation. I can't say that my experience will work for you but you asked for ideas where you could proceed. I had a TKR on my right knee in September 2018. Generalized pain continued subsequent and all the surgeon could say was that the knee looked good on xrays. Finally, I found Dr. Fred Cushner at HSS, who required a referral, and I went to NYC in 2020. He agreed that the knee looked good but recommended my surgeon "look" at my back. An MRI found stenosis in my lumbar spine. I was told repeatedly that "this is a very odd presentation", but I had injections which worked for two years to alleviate the pain. I was warned that the injections wouldn't work indefinitely. Now I have a spinal cord stimulator.

I am in the same situation except 28 months out. I continue to go to PT which helps. They do cupping, scraping and the most helpful so far is dry needling. My ROM has increased and I can walk around the house without a cane. I did find a compassionate Ortho who said the surgery looks great but you have a bad knee and prescribed a Dyna splint to straighten my leg which was at -8 and has improved to -2; this he said is essential for proper gait and less pain. Also he has referred me to pain management to address nerve pain with a potential Iovera injection or genicular rhyzotomy. My appointment is in 2 weeks and I will know more then. Unfortunately most surgeons feel their job is done after what they call a successful procedure ie right size, no infection, nothing loose. Also most surgeons don’t believe removing scar tissue is beneficial in relieving pain. I wish you luck-keep advocating and pushing for help!

Thanks for the information
Seems when we fall into the 25 % that have problems the orthopedic drs don't want anything to do with us. The ones I have seen go no further than looking at xrays. Don't consider soft tissue or ligaments.
I will definitely follow up on your information

Thanks for your response. I did therapy for a year with massage and dry needling which did help. Also had nerve ablation in December which did not help. I'm 75 and always been very active. My situation does not stop me just slows me down to a crawl.

Yikes, hopefully ablation works for me. I am 75 as well and was always active but this has seriously slowed me down and impacted my life tremendously. We just really need these forums to gather information to advocate for ourselves!

You are correct.....I know there are some that have already gone down this road with success and there are some drs out there that go beyond the surgery. I am in Arkansas and just want an accurate diagnosis. Without the diagnosis therapy and pain management is guess work and could actually be enhancing the problem and pain