Moosilauke, four years after my knee replacement story began. I was reminded of this when I returned to climb Mt. I'm at 7+ months and all that crap is behind me.it just takes time, work and determination. With patience, a strict physical therapy routine, and mental determination, you can get back to what you love to do after knee replacement surgery. This takes a while and 10 weeks is still early in the game. In any case, take the meds as long as you need them and then titrate off of the opiods to 800 mg Ibuprophin TID or Tramadol (both are RX).
If you're still having pain that requires that level of medication, talk to your doc about a temporary higher dosage or a switch between hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco) and oxycodone (Percocet, Oxycontin). Pain killers: Most people are off the opiods at around 12 weeks. You may have a tube (catheter) inserted for a few days to drain urine from your bladder, especially if both knees have been replaced at the same time. While for me it is not 'hard to do anymore', I pride myself on doing the best job. Chiropractor and PT fixed it but it was not pleasant. Requires skill: I am a total knee replacement specialist and have devoted my career to total and partial knee replacement and all the technical aspects of getting the job done as precisely and beautifully as possible, for each person's unique knee situation. Change of gait to compensate for the knee can cause all sorts of back and hip mis-alignment problems. I got sciatica because my SI joints locked up 5 weeks p/o.
Relying on your arms instead of your legs (getting into bed, rolling over, etc.) can be some simple examples. I think others will agree that it's pretty common to have pain elsewhere when part of your body is working right.