TKR. Anxiety issues

I went through the same anxiety 😕. The recovery is very slow and hard. Just hang in there and be patient with lots of prayers 🙏.

Hi Judy. I’m sorry you’re feeling so much distress. I’m 10 months post-op and felt the same way at your stage of recovery. My best advice is to work with your personal physician on this and other issues, such as trouble sleeping. (I didn’t think to do that early enough.) Your surgeon’s team can’t support you with anything other than your operated knee. Best of luck to you.

Sounds like a common condition for post knee surgery. I had it. With the shock, pain, lack of good sleep, stressful but too little exercise, and the stress of having your life turned upside down, anxiety and agitation are a natural part of the whole journey. There is a very good article in the October 5th, 2022, issue of Psychology Today on the effects of surgery on emotional and psychological states. I think it might give some perspective. The title is What Everyone Should Know About Post-Surgical Depression. Hope it helps. You aren't alone in your experience.

I had bilateral TKRs 2010 6 months apart. I did have anxiety. The recovery is tough. The surgery and recovery is one of those life changing events. At the time my first husband was very ill. He passed in 2012. Try meditation good nutritious diet hydration rest.

I am 2 months out of a double knee replacement. Overall, I am doing really well. But one of the quirky things I am dealing with now is not being able to sleep at night because of tightness in my knees and calves, which I didn't expect. So I now have a routine before I go to bed. I use a heating pad on my knees to ease any tightness, I put ice on my thighs and the top of my foot to help any swelling. I sit on the edge of the bed and swing my legs for a few minutes and do my flexion exercise. When that doesn't work, I put a pillow, longways, under my calves. It takes time but most of the time I am able to go to sleep. Has anyone else had a problem with being able to sleep post TKR?

TKR recovery is full of anxiety.
I am 10 months post op and still have mild anxiety.
Lots of rest, ice and pray 🙏.

Hey, Im 6 weeks post op TKR in my right knee. I get tightness in my calve and thigh, I also get electric shocks going up me leg, which sometime only come at night and keep me awake, very annoying and frustrating. Im nearly of my pain killers and manage to get around the house without support. I get very frustrated and fed up being stuck indoors, but hopefully after Thursday (can drive after 6 weeks), will be able to go out in the car and get some walking done.
TKR is hard on the body and mind, I dont think anyone can ever prepare for that. I guess patience and time is needed, but not easy.

I think most of us can agree that the rosy picture that's painted of recovery just makes the reality a shocker. I know I felt pretty miserable, helpless, uncomfortable, and generally thought I'd made a mistake in having the surgery. Pre-surgery I could walk, but very slowly. Pre-surgery I had very little pain. I had to remind myself that pre-surgery I was clinging to the doorway for support when I entered my front door, one step up, and it was only getting worse! Recovery is slow, and a bit of a different path for each of us. At some point I realized I was doing a bit better than I was before surgery, and instead of getting worse I was getting better! I guess that was the real turning point.

It is a really tough recovery that takes a year. Unfortunately, for me, I’m 8 years out and developed a chronic pain condition from it and am worse than before. I can’t walk much at all nor do steps. Just be glad you are in the early stage, where pain is to be expected & ask for more medication if you need it.

Hi Judy,
I have walked in your shoes. I feel terrible for you that you are in such pain! I had a TKR five years ago, and my knee has never been the same. I told this to my surgeon and his answer to me was “You no longer have the knee that God gave you”! What kind of an answer is that??? After my surgery, while recouperating at home, I became extremely depressed and I couldn’t eat. I had never had depression in my life but now I sympathize with people who have it! I lost 18 pounds in a short time, I couldn’t sleep, the pain meds made me nauseous and I couldn’t only take Tylenol Extra Strength. I have had several surgeries and two babies over my lifetime but I truly *never* had pain like that TNS! Along with depression, I also developed anxiety that I wasn’t getting better. My surgeon did not give me any help………It was my primary care who came to my rescue and listened to me and prescribed some medication for anxiety and sleep. Thank God for her! My TRK is still not great and my left knee is bone on bone, but I have decided to live with that left knee pain. I could never go through another surgery like that ever again! MaryAnn from Boston