Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group total hip replacements and depression

Are you trying to do too much and are you sleeping well? After my TKR I got so tired from trying to keep up the house while not sleeping because I couldn't get comfortable. I was quite depressed for a few weeks. It slowly got better as I improved physically and could do more and sleep better.

Thanks bud I assumed you had meant 1 pill every 4 hours rather then two.....
Some people will take that for ages and be fine, others won't, our body's handle drugs in different ways, especially if your livers had a hammering from pain meds over the years.
I take the tramadols when needed, usually 1 in the morning and one at night , but on duller days i take one every four hours. If I'm bad, its two every four hours . But honestly, with just one, i can't feel the effects of the dope for hours long after taking it.
I'd even swear that when I've built up on them, half my pains i feel are caused by them? Hard to say what is AS pain and what is withdrawal pain ?
Your one a day may be the minimum dose, but that drugs powerful and will dig its claws in. Your body will crave it in some way or another, most likely exacerbating the natural high you've been on in an emotional sense.

I love what the opiates can do for me and I'm thankful to have them in my arsenal but i regret the dependency they breed and I'm conscious that after long term use he withdrawal can be terrible.
My quack has actially prescribed me two pain killers to take at once, and on occaision i have but try not to do it often, I use two tramadol and two 30/500 co codamols every four hours when I'm bad. But on The whole, i just take the 1 pill in the morning and one at bedtime as i said.

When you had your surgery I'm sure they will have dosed you up with all sorts through your cathita, anti biotics, steroids, morphine, loads of stuff... I even woke up to find i had some one else's blood in me !


You keep on doing it yourself mate , positive thinking and determination goes along way.

Your on your way, take your time, you will get there.
Buster.

oh man Buster, 2 co codamols AND 2 trams.....your pain must be through the roof bro

by a coincidence I am supposed to take the same, plus 2 x 600mg brufens as a chaser...the docs are nuts

you must visit the toilet once per month

once again Buster, thanks, and take care bro

Dear B

did you have a motor cycle accident and THEN discover you had acquired AS....perhaps through the accident?

No pal, my dads had AS since he was around 21, they treated him for a slipped disc back all them years ago.... But as time went on they clicked and at around 35 he got his diagnosis. He's 70 this month, fully fused now and although if he lays off his meds he is bad, and occasionally suffers with his hip and chest etc, he does enjoy a better standard of life these days due to the fusion having mostly all but done its best. The main thing is, he was a nass member for years and keen to keep his posture as best he could. Its paid off.
With hind sight now, I can see my own journey with AS as i look back along a long line of complaints.
I'm the youngest of three kids. My older brother and sister were lucky enough not to get AS, but I struck unlucky.
Age, 8/9 i suffered a few episodes of debilitating back pain. Mum took me the doctors, they took a look told her i had a very small spina bifida legion or hole in one of my vertebrae but this was quite common and not to worry. Advised AS didnt apply to me but told her she should guide me through my schooling towards a desk type job rather then a manual one. We just got on with normal kid stuff and paid little attention.
Later on in life, around 18, i began to suffer with lower back ache and I had always felt stiff and awkward due to being 6'2" and rather well built. If you wanted brute force and graft, i was your lad, i wasn't built for speed
After discussing my dads AS with doctor i got to see a rhuematologist who ran some tests.
HLAB27 was positive, characteristics and symptoms fitted for AS but mri was clear.
She advised that though the signs were there, the mri showed "no problem".........
Didnt help with my stiffness and aching back though, and burning lumber pain.
Well me being a young lad, i did the physio, hydro, accupuncture etc till i got fed up with it all, then decided to go my own way armed with the stretching exercises etc.
I worked as a central heating engineer, very very hard graft. Allthough it gave my body a hammering, the constant bending and lifting did me good.

Then, ten years ago this November, i got smashed to peices on my motor bike by a woman driving on her phone.
Broke/ shattered just about everything. Had lots and lots of surgery. Lots.
12 months in rehab learning to walk again.
Dark dark days..................

Got a friend post op knee replacement, and probably going through similar to you. That kind of depression is pretty normal. Good that you are recognising it. Think thats a real key to it - that you can be a bit analytical about whats going on. Then you can deal with it, or ignore it or rationalise it, but whatever way, its not going hidden and sneaking up on you like a lot of clinical depression can do.

Know exactly what you mean about the tramadols. I can't take them either, and will get nasty withdrawal after taking very little. My doc also prescribed 2 four times a day straight off, and I never got up to more than one three times a day - and at that felt so awful that I knocked them off and swore never again.

Hang in there. You are doing great.

I had been suffering worsening pain and stiffness from my neck and back but just thought it was the hard graft of work.
I spent a long time laid up, then working my hips and legs hard. The pain in my back was now mor apparent. My neck was goosed to.
Everything eventually took its own turn to,start hurting.

Eventually, i made my recovery from the crash and after a long time returned to work.
The pains i felt where masked by the Heavy loads of painkillers i took day to day, viox (now banned), tramadol and cocodamol cocktails.
When I eventually weaned off them i began to notice my back and neck, knees ,ankles, wrists everything was stiff, burning and aching most of the time. Foolishly, i just put most of these pains down to my crash..................
I got on with it for a few more years.
Feeling normal was a distant memory i had lost sight of a long time ago. I guess I never knew how bad I was.
Eventually, my guts started playing me up, probably the nsaids or maybe just the AS, but ibs symptoms...... Drugs had screwed me up by now.
Tiredness and fatigue were other complaints i had reported to the gp on my many visits.
Eventually, i had had enough on my neck ache, the head aches it brought.
Gp did X-ray, and said i was fine. Tested everything, bloods, but only bog standard stuff.
I now got to the point where I insisted that all my symptoms where related and pointed out that they were all symptoms of AS.
Reluctantly he reffered me to a rheumatologist.
She asked me to have mri and bloods done in advance of our first meeting.
At our first appointment in June this year she diagnosed me with AS.
Job done.

Al i had to do was wait all them years for the damage to be done and then point it out to them myself.
Good eh
I'm your typical bloke, i did nothing untill i was at the point were i absolutely needed help.
Well, now I've found it.
I start hydro tomorro. I am on route to anti tnf and fingers crossed will start the screening soon.

My bike injuries and my AS have together along with a life of hard graft, took their toll, but I'm getting on with it, what else can you do

So , there you have it pal.... Bit long winded but thought I'd share my story....
As i say, with hindsight, its always been there for me, the AS....
I do a desk job these days, but I am at the point now were i am beginning to struggle with normality. You know, daily functioning....work....doing stuff with mates, doing stuff with kids..... Its beginning to put a stop to some things and i have to think things out differently and plan ahead nowadays.
I dare say many other folk may have shut up shop along while ago if they were in my shoes, but its hard to explain.... When your so used to living with pain, pain killers anti inflammatorys and feeling like 5hite in general, well you knifed of get used to it???

I think if i hadn't of found help , proper meds and my eventual dx ,well i think the wheels would have come off by now for me if I'm honest.

Thanks for listening John...
Your pal, buster.

that's so tough Buster. Thinking of you,put up the good fight and you will do as well as your dear ol' dad

I had a similar experience to yours regarding work/toil.....in my 30s I had a sort of remission, I started training as hard as a pro boxer (3 hours per day) and had a body/frame of 140lbs 5' 8' to prove it

I can only imagine what that year long recovery was like....oh man

when I had my THR done 4 weeks ago all the nurses and physios made remarks about my shape saying it was not bad at all considering how long I have had AS.i have been a bit lucky that way.i work out at home with bench flyes and stuff and still put in a shift or two these days with the"keep fit" I think it keeps the curved spine at arms length

I had a go at hydro about six months ago, it does make you feel much better when you leave the pool (alive from the waist down) but alas it is short lasting, but the long term advantages will be worth it...and remember the exercises can be adapted for dry land

don't knock yourself out with work Buster when it becomes too much. a good letter from your doctor to ATOS will set you up

where are you in the UK?

keep in touch my friend

I am in Lanarkshire

PS let me know how you eventually get on with the TNFs...they are not for me but that's a different story......

thanks Cemc