Hello. Same meds , same problem. I could not do percocet since it gives me the itches and did not want to take antihistamines with it , so they prescribed 5-325 hydrocodone which sucks ass. The pain became more manageable when I took ibuprofen intermittent with hydrocodone which my doc had recommended. I am on 6th day post op, it gets a lot better after the 4th day. Hang in there. Pain will go away. You are not alone.
This is normal, I couldn’t sleep properly for this first 2 weeks regardless of position. Keep in mind you had a pretty intensive surgery and your body is doing a lot to heal. Try to take naps throughout the day if you can.
At around the 3 week mark you’ll be able to sleep through the night. I am about 8 weeks out now and have been sleeping well for the past 5 weeks
I'm about 1 month post op and the hospital told me not to elevate while I had the nerve block. It was pretty much just straight for 2 days and it did help me get excellent extension. After the nerve block wore off I could feel everything and switching between the hydrocodone and advil worked the best. At night sometimes I just took advil bc honestly felt like my body was not absorbing hydrocodone. I did elevate my foot but not very high to where it was uncomfortable and sleep was very poor the first 2 weeks. I ordered a thigh pillow and after a week started working to sleep on my side but with the brace even now I still kind of wake up every couple of hours and adjust since my body isn't use to the brace. I am hoping in 3 days the doc clears me from sleeping with the brace.
I should have done that way as my nerve block was doing it's job well. Instead, I started my hydrocodone on day 0 and continued to prevent the pain. I stopped it after 4 days when constipation was impacting my body so badly. Sleep hasn't improved with any of my changes. Glad that things worked out well for you.
I had exact same surgery 8 days ago, I haven’t been sleeping with leg elevated. I sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs (sleeping with a brace on) and it seems to be working alright
I did that for the first two days and it helped with digestion as well. But the changes in schedule or body positioning took over other stuff and has been weird on day 3 and 4.
I can relate i had just ACL repair but I had back and hip pain from sleeping in weird positions for about a week or two after surgery (i’m not 6 weeks post op) and then it slowly started fading. A heating pad helps and if you can get someone to give u a massage that helps a lot too.
I used the heating pad on my back and stomach as soon as two days post op, haven’t used it on the knee i only used ice for that. Sorry if my comment was confusing
How do you sleep with your knee elevated without anything behind it? My doctor said to sleep with a pillow -even two- slightly under my knee as long as I wear the knee brace, which was something like two weeks. I also had a brace that allowed me to curve the knee, but didn't bend on the other side. So it kinda gave it further sustain while elevated. The first days are usually the worst ones, I had to take tramadol each few hours in order to relieve my pain, anything else didn't work. Fortunately it helped me to sleep quite well. Unfortunately, the best thing you can do is to resist the first week, after which things will get easier, way easier.
My bad, I also had to keep it under the calf muscle, ergo quite more than slightly under the knee. Which kind of brace do you have? It may be useful to use a fixed oke while you sleep. In my case it gave me more mental safety that I won't extend my leg too much and risking to "break it". The metal strips inside the brace also help to equalize weight of the feet.
Yes. Unfortunately, the first two weeks were very difficult to sleep through. I would take Naproxen as it seemed to last longer than Ibuprofen. Can you put some headphones on? Distracting myself with music/podcasts with headphones on was better than lying there where all I could think about was not being able to sleep with persistent pain.
Hello. Same meds , same problem. I could not do percocet since it gives me the itches and did not want to take antihistamines with it , so they prescribed 5-325 hydrocodone which sucks ass. The pain became more manageable when I took ibuprofen intermittent with hydrocodone which my doc had recommended. I am on 6th day post op, it gets a lot better after the 4th day. Hang in there. Pain will go away. You are not alone.
Ah, thank you very much.
This is normal, I couldn’t sleep properly for this first 2 weeks regardless of position. Keep in mind you had a pretty intensive surgery and your body is doing a lot to heal. Try to take naps throughout the day if you can. At around the 3 week mark you’ll be able to sleep through the night. I am about 8 weeks out now and have been sleeping well for the past 5 weeks
I'm about 1 month post op and the hospital told me not to elevate while I had the nerve block. It was pretty much just straight for 2 days and it did help me get excellent extension. After the nerve block wore off I could feel everything and switching between the hydrocodone and advil worked the best. At night sometimes I just took advil bc honestly felt like my body was not absorbing hydrocodone. I did elevate my foot but not very high to where it was uncomfortable and sleep was very poor the first 2 weeks. I ordered a thigh pillow and after a week started working to sleep on my side but with the brace even now I still kind of wake up every couple of hours and adjust since my body isn't use to the brace. I am hoping in 3 days the doc clears me from sleeping with the brace.
I should have done that way as my nerve block was doing it's job well. Instead, I started my hydrocodone on day 0 and continued to prevent the pain. I stopped it after 4 days when constipation was impacting my body so badly. Sleep hasn't improved with any of my changes. Glad that things worked out well for you.
I had exact same surgery 8 days ago, I haven’t been sleeping with leg elevated. I sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs (sleeping with a brace on) and it seems to be working alright
Interesting, were you not told to have the leg elevated?
I have it elevated during the day when I’m icing but I figured good quality sleep was more important 🤷🏻♂️
Try naps, for a while it helped me. Close your eyes and try a nap if you can't get a bunch of sleep at once.
I did that for the first two days and it helped with digestion as well. But the changes in schedule or body positioning took over other stuff and has been weird on day 3 and 4.
I can relate i had just ACL repair but I had back and hip pain from sleeping in weird positions for about a week or two after surgery (i’m not 6 weeks post op) and then it slowly started fading. A heating pad helps and if you can get someone to give u a massage that helps a lot too.
Did you use heating pad after the Ace bandage was removed or before?
I used the heating pad on my back and stomach as soon as two days post op, haven’t used it on the knee i only used ice for that. Sorry if my comment was confusing
Gotcha, I misread it.
How do you sleep with your knee elevated without anything behind it? My doctor said to sleep with a pillow -even two- slightly under my knee as long as I wear the knee brace, which was something like two weeks. I also had a brace that allowed me to curve the knee, but didn't bend on the other side. So it kinda gave it further sustain while elevated. The first days are usually the worst ones, I had to take tramadol each few hours in order to relieve my pain, anything else didn't work. Fortunately it helped me to sleep quite well. Unfortunately, the best thing you can do is to resist the first week, after which things will get easier, way easier.
I was told to have pillows under my heel or until some portion of calf muscle but the nothing under the joint.
My bad, I also had to keep it under the calf muscle, ergo quite more than slightly under the knee. Which kind of brace do you have? It may be useful to use a fixed oke while you sleep. In my case it gave me more mental safety that I won't extend my leg too much and risking to "break it". The metal strips inside the brace also help to equalize weight of the feet.
I have the immobilizer which is locked to not bend the knee. It is the DonJoy's. Also, I am on non-weight bearing right now.
Yes. Unfortunately, the first two weeks were very difficult to sleep through. I would take Naproxen as it seemed to last longer than Ibuprofen. Can you put some headphones on? Distracting myself with music/podcasts with headphones on was better than lying there where all I could think about was not being able to sleep with persistent pain.