I'm 1 week post op and have read loads of posts where people claim to be pain free after their op. I find it difficult to believe that after having such invasive surgery where muscles and ligaments are either moved around or cut that there is no pain.
Although I dont have the OA pain I have an ache in my buttock and thigh area that resembles being kicked by a horse. I put that down to the brutal procedure of thr. I appreciate the superpath is less invasive but surely there must be some post op pain.
I understand how you feel as I heArd people saying the same . I presume they meant that their old pain had gone as you will def have pain for quite a while but it will go . I went for my second check up yesterday am now 18 weeks post op and doing well . Next appt in a years time .
Good luck
Hi Sue,
The night of my THR I had an ache like the worst pain I'd ever had ~ which even morphine had absolutely no effect on. After 4 days I was released to a local community hospital, purely because I live alone in a Highland rural cottage. I was taking the prescribed painkillers (paracetamol & something else) for the couple of weeks they'd been prescribed. It may have been simply because, like so many on this site, I'd be unable to sleep on my back, so that between tiredness & a couple of good stiff whisky & sodas I was unaware of any pain. But that's how it was for me ~ no pain to speak of by 4 days post op. Hopefully you too will soon no longer feel bothersome pain, although 'discomfort' can come & go for ages afterwards.
In any case, hope you're relatively pain-free soon.
Good luck.
The pain I had pre op is gone but I muscle ache in buttock and thigh even though I'm on paracetamol and dihydrocodeine.
My leg is black and blue from top of hip to knee which is due to the trauma muscles experience in surgery.
Are you saying your muscles are pain free Ross ?
I was able to stop taking pain killers one week post op. Yes there were aches, itches and muscle cramps as things recovered but They were not very bad and I was able to use them as signals by my body when I needed to slow down. Needed painkillers for a few days after I started walking unaided, as my muscles complained a bit!
Hi Sue my right leg was very swollen for 10 days, and bruised at the ankle and a big thumb print on my lap, that was sore too. Also the glued seam is still sore, but I can lie on it now for about 30 mins, then its back on the back, I take Tramadol to kill the pain thay work quite well and Amatryptilyne 5mgs to help nod off to sleep, I get 6 hrs regularly, then up for a couple of hours, Deadliest Catch, or Wicked Tuna, then back to bed for a 2 or 3 hr kip, then the late afternoon or evening and a walk to the shops, and in bed again at 2.30/3am. well it works for me and an understanding wife.....
Kind regards Ian.
Hi Ian, what's the thumbprint on your lap?
I suppose it depends what approach each of us underwent. Mine was anterior, cemented, ceramic ball, plastic socket, clips in wound.
Walked on frame 2 hrs after op. On crutches next day; full weight bearing. In hospital 3 days as I was constipated otherwise would've been discharged on day 2.
How does that compare with anyone else?
Hi sue, I was relatively pain free after the first week but yes, definitely felt as if I had been kicked on the butt by a horse! I though it was the manipulation of the muscles in that area that caused the discomfort as my wound is on the side of my thigh, not my buttock.
Yes; muscles pain-free. So there's hope!
My wound is in the same place as yours too. | think we refer to being pain free as the horrible pain has gone, I don't have pain as such just a dull ache, as in some of my previous blogs I was taking 11 pain killers plus orimorph before the op now I am taking 1 Naproxin morning and night, thats why I say I'm pain free, the after pain doesn't compare at all to the pre-op pain. Also I can stand up straight and am not bending over as I was.
Post op my movement was limited and I had some pain but I didn't need painkillers.
I understand that in comparison many people were in extreme pain and on massive doses of painkillers before their op. Maybe because of this extreme pain the post op aches from muscles being yanked about or cut is no.more than pure discomfort to them? Doesnt it also depend if you are in the UK or on another country as well as what procedure was used? Superpath is minimally invasive but rare in the UK; the anterior approach which I had is the opposite.
If that's not the case then I must have something wrong as my butt has a dull ache most of the time.
I'm 8 days post op, UK, no manipulation, massage; just the exercises, walking and strictly following dos and don'ts.
Please provide the same info since can compare practices and recovery.
:0)
Correction: I had posterior approach.
Hi Sue, I am in Holland and many on this forum are from elsewhere, like USA and Australia - it seems that we all experience some post-op pain but, as said, the gnawing bone-on-bone pain prior to surgery not any more - definitely other pains are coming upo when you physically start doing more - I hit the wall in week 3 and honestly, now in week 12, still have "pain" in buttock, upper thigh, knees and lowe back ...
Prothesis are put in your body and she is trying to heal as fast as she can - muscles and tendons and all kinds of trauma has been done - it would be great if we all could have the superpath procedure - maybe soon ???? available in Holland in just a few hospitals too ... take care .. I hope we have helped you in a way - we are individuals and healing at our own pace - however, if you are so worried, please contact your GP or surgeon - just to put your mind at easy ... be gentle with your self ....
Hi Sue,
As stated by others, pain free just means that it's actually a gradually decreasing, comletely different kind of pain you're in after thr op.
Was I pain free? By no means. However, I went from pain that was just always THERE to pain when moving, pain when doing something wrong. That's the big difference, it became managable but mostly, it's decreasing daily for me. So while the past 4 weeks had pain in them, I still claim to be without actual pain. I don't know, maybe my concept of what pain is has shifted a little as well.
Hi Sue
Sorry you're feeling rough/disappointed at the moment. Just to be clear, I'm 4 weeks post op after the wonderful superPath approach and I still have pain, it is just very different from the constant, grinding pre-op pain. I have been able to drop a few doses of pain meds, but I am still on 30mg co-codamol and paracetomol. I also have the buttock ache, quite deep in the muscle, so although I can sit for longer now, I am still a fidget, always trying to find a new comfortable position. Also, there is the stiffness, particularly when having been sitting in the car. This is normal, I am told, regardless of surgical method, because of what they have had to do to remove the old hip and put the new one in. I'm a bit squeamish, so I don't like to dwell on what was involved, but when I have my "I'm really tired but I don't feel like I've done anything" days, I try to remind myself of it. It is major surgery and Week 1 is the hardest. It will get better. I certainly didn't have the bruising that you did, which in itself must really hurt/ache. I just know that I feel so much better now. Hope that you will soon start to feel the same.
all the best
Cheryl
Thanks Cheryl. Youve put my mind at rest. I did find it difficult to believe anyone could be pain free when muscles and ligaments go through such brutality; excluding the superpath approach. Your explanation sounds realistic. The pain from rotten hips is different to post op trauma pain. Unfortunately for me I have more pain than before the op but it needed to be done and Im sure in time the aches will subside as my muscles repair and get stronger.
Thanks once again. Have a good day!
X
Hi there , nice to see someone from the Highlands on here . Did you have your op in Raigmore Hospital ? My sister works there ! What part of Rosshire do live ? I am from Inverness but have lived in Wales for 20 +years now . I had both my hips done 3 months ago now and was pretty pain free apart from where they'd tugged me around . I'm hoping to drive up to Inverness in August sometime , I do miss the Highlands , good luck with the rest of your recovery , Ruth
I'm two and a half weeks post op. In terms of pain then yes I have pain - it's not a sharp pain but more like a deep ache in my hip and under my buttock. I am managing this with paracetamol with very occasional single codeine when I feel it necessary.
The pain you are experiencing sounds normal to me - having had two previous hip operations (pins and removal) I seem to remember the buttock pain taking around 3 months or so before it reached the point where I didn't notice it anymore.
Just keep doing the exercises - they are very important in order to ensure the muscles recover fully and are stretched and flexible.
Hi Sue
i'm also a week post op. I am taking tramadol and paracetamol 4 times a day for pain and although the pain is a little less each day, I do still need this amount of analgesia. Although I don't have the arthritis pain in my groin any more, I do have quite a lot of muscle/ligament pain there. I had to change my dressing yesterday and since then the pain from the wound has virtually gone, presumably the wound was stuck to the dressing and being pulled every time I moved, which it's not now. I guess it just comes down to the fact that we're all different, had the op at different stages of the disease and at different fitness levels and have differing tolerance to pain.
Hi Ruth,
Indeed it was Raigmore. And I live on a farm outside Tain in Easter Ross.
Amazing the number of nurses at Raigmore who were married to or had fathers, brothers, etc in the Queen's Own Highlanders. Bit like home away from home!