I have had both knees replaced and it will take a while before you get comfort with the replacement....about six months from the surgery you will be thankful you had the surgery....but believe me I relied on my pain meds and I do not know why they tell you not to sleep on side....I did not have that required of me at all....I had hard time sleeping too....but believe me things will get better....are you using the electric knee bending machine in your bed? they should have you using that daily twice at least....for first three weeks or so....I went to rehab as I live alone and could not just come home and do things on my own....so I had PT in the aftercare at the rehab then I started PT in home when I came out of rehab until they put me into rehab where I drove to the location for rehab.....but yes it takes about six months....and you need to be bending that knee as the electric machine keeps going up and down when you lie in bed....and it will go for about 15 to 20 minutes at least twice daily....maybe three times....I used ice packs too....

if you have anything that I can explain I will try my best....my last one was year ago aug 31st and I have little stiffness but the pain is not there as it was before.....

Thanks, billwfriend for answering my comment. No, I have not had the machine. It was not offered to me. I had surgery on a Wednesday and came home on Friday and started outpatient therapy on the following Monday. They tell me that I need to get my knee straight and if I sleep on my side, I will bend it and it will never straighten. It's almost contradictory. Gotta get it straight, gotta bend it. LOL. My main problem is getting it to bend though I think. It is just so stiff. I do think I will try taking more pain medicine. I take one at night but wake up in the middle of the night, about 2:30 or 3:00 and have to take something else. Sometimes I take half a pill. Sometimes I take Tylenol. I have to be careful with the Tylenol because its also in my oxycodone. Don't want to overdose on the Tylenol either. Tomorrow my therapy appt. is at 8:45. I'm going to take a pain pill about 7:15 before I go no matter what I've taken during the night. I've got to get this knee bending. I also have pains shooting through the inside of my knee below the knee and wonder about that. Of course, the therapist said if I had watched the video showing what they do to you that I would wonder that I could walk at all. I don't think I want to watch it.

billwfriend, do you think it's beneficial to exercise before you go to bed? Or will that just make me hurt worse?

Jewl. I had my knee replaced last May (5 months). I'm 80. The therapist came to the house twice each week for four weeks. I drove at four weeks and went out to therapy for another eight weeks, twice a week. They did a lot of bending of the knee. I think that's what it takes to get the leg going again. A couple of years ago, I had a fall. The Xray never showed an injury but when the Dr operated he said it looked like a fracture.
I had so much pain in various parts of my leg and worse in my foot before the surgery that what I had after seemed like a lot less.
I used walkers and a transport chair for a while before and after surgery and now due to back problems and leg length discrepancy am using a cane which I consider an achievement. Keep moving the leg and use ice to relieve the swelling. You will heal. It just takes a little while. Every person is different. I wish you the best. Let us know how you progress.

Are you doing in-home rehab, going to an outpatient facility, or what? In home rehab services are the lowest level of physical therapy, some call it "lame." Make sure you do your exercise routine every day no matter what. Being in-patient in an intensive rehab facility (IRF) is 2 hours of therapy plus 1 hour of group stuff every day. They can prescribe more pain relief in a hospital setting. Then there is where one goes to a PT place as an outpatient and it is the middle level of services. The problem with narcotics is the opioid addiction situation so we are seeing doctors not want to prescribe these. I have also read that opioids only do pain relief for a couple of weeks before one's body switches it to the mood alteration part. Additionally, many narcotics last 4 hours, but there are 12 hour versions. And if we allow the pain to spike, it takes more pain med to control the pain. Let your doctor know you need an office visit to discuss your pain and other symptoms that are bothering you. If you can take NSAIDs, there are some good 12 hour ones. I have not had one a joint replaced but I worked in an IRF. I hear it takes quite a while to heal and a lot depends on the muscle strength and health status of the patient before the surgery. I hope you find healing and figure this out.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I really do pretty well during the day. I don't take a lot of pain meds during the day, even though I wonder if I should. Nighttime is a nightmare for me. I looked forward to going to bed and relaxing and resting. That does not happen to me. No matter how I space out the pain meds, I never sleep through the night. Last night I took my pain med at 9:30 because it usually starts bothering me about that time. Went to bed at 10 and read till 11 hoping I would get really sleepy and be able to sleep. I'm usually easy when I turn out the light and go to sleep. Every night, I'm awake by 1 am. Sometimes I can get back to sleep but always wake about 3 am. From then on, it's miserable. It aches and is impossible to get comfortable. I've gotten to the point that I finally take a half pain pill and it will usually let me go back to sleep. I just lay there wishing for 6 am. I take Tylenol Arthritis during the day but I'm constantly counting mg. of how much Tylenol I am getting and trying not to overdose on that. If I run out of pain meds and my surgeon doesn't want to refill, I plan to go to my regular and get advice on how to control the pain. I'm so afraid I will be one of those folks that they will have to go back and do manipulation on my knee to get it to bend. I just feel I should be making better progress.
I go out for physical therapy. My surgery was three weeks ago this past Wednesday. I went to therapy five days a week for the first two weeks. I am now on three days a week this week and next week. I think I have to be evaluated then and will probably go to two days. I do not have one of those machines that work the knee. The Physical Therapy place that I'm going to let me borrow an ice machine. It is wonderful. So much better than having to try to use ice packs. Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions. Keep them coming.

Should I do exercise and ice right before bed? never been sure if that would make sleeping better or worse. Decided to try it tonight. Guess I'll find out.

I just had a thought about what you said about not sleeping with the pain meds. Some of the common opioids (codeine or hydrocodone especially) make me hyper and I can't sleep on them. Nucynta allows me to sleep. Perhaps this could be happening to you?

I've read that the pain pills can have that effect too. My husband brought that up today too. I don't think so though. Like today, I took one before therapy and got pretty relaxed and sort of sleepy and at night, I get sleepy and go straight to sleep. I just can't stay asleep. I think just trying to sleep in that same position all the time on my back makes my knee hurt. I wake up with it aching. Just today, they say, I'm sure a pillow would make you more comfortable but don't use one. That's a bad thing. I use one. I have to. I don't put it under my knee. I put my whole leg on it from the foot to the knee. It doesn't bend. I've tried to just rest a little on my side and that feels better for just a little while but it finally hurts too. I'm really doing well and am satisfied with my recovery except for the sleeping part. I don't need much pain meds during the day. Yesterday I didn't take anything till 5:30 pm. I didn't need it. Then I took Tylenol. She suggested I just take a half pain pill before therapy. I think I will just take Tylenol except at night time and make them last as long as possible. I wonder if muscle relaxers would help.

Well, I asked my therapist today when I could sleep in normal positions instead of just on my back and looked at me kind of funny and said I could sleep in any position now. Well, I've been complaining every day about not sleeping and that was part of the reason and was never told I could sleep any other way. HELLO!!! Are they listening?? I'll see if it helps tonight, although I'm not sure it will be comfortable yet. She did say put a pillow between my legs.

I'm also having trouble with restless legs. I'm taking magnesium hoping that will help. Does anybody else have that problem and have solved it in any way.

How are you doing now? I hope you are getting better quality sleep. I have bad arthritis in a knee and ankles and feet. I found a solution that works for me. We bought a down comforter this summer. Just to replace what we were using on the bed. I discovered that it retains heat really well, almost too well, but my feet and legs do not ache in the night any longer. We stayed in a hotel in their polyester comforter and I was back to nightly leg and feet aching. I am also finding turmeric to be helpful and was something my new arthritis doctor recommended. I am now taking 500 mg 2X a day. 500 mg 1X a day didn't work and it took a few weeks to kick in. I can't remember how much this doctor recommended I take. Magnesium is supposed to help with restless legs, I also understand that one has to take enough magnesium to have loose stools. A little bit doesn't work and some practitioners think that certain types of magnesium work better than others. I tend to use epsom salts in a warm bath but you probably can't take a bath after surgery. There is a supplement called "calm" that is pretty good.

Aww I feel for you, I am on a waiting list for the second time to see surgeon about having it done ,not sure I want to, I helped take care of my mother after her having both knees done the first one she had done didn't work at all and they wanted her to have it done again which at 85 she's said no enough is enough.

Well hello everyone. Comments just popped up. It has now been one year since my knee replacement. So as an update, my knee is doing well. So folks who are thinking about all the pain and sleepless nights were worth it. I am having some problems with my back and hip. I have some disk problems from arthritis. It started about 8 months after my surgery. I asked my doctor if I could go back to therapy for exercises to help. I sure don't want to have back surgery. It has helped and I do the exercises and I walk EVERY day. Folks, don't skip the exercises. I really feel like the stretches, bends, and extensions are something that will be ongoing for all of us. I am on a chat group for hip and knee replacements and folks ask when they can stop those exercises. NEVER. I hope my arthritis in my back and feet will allow me to walk forever. I feel like it helps me so much. I started out very slow. I can still only walk about 3/4 mile but my surgeon said to just walk as far as I can and that's what I do. Sometimes only a half-mile or fourth mile. Depends on how I feel I walk as soon as I get up and get it done and when I get back, I do my floor exercises and stretches. Everybody, hang in there and good luck.

I've been thinking of having knee replacement surgery. Your experi9ience is