AVN pain and tired of being on crutches!

Well, it has been 3 1/2 months on crutches and I am officially sick of them. My last Ortho visit wasnt great news because Xrays shows some collapse of the bone on the surgery leg, so he backed me up and put me non weight bearing again till my next visit at which time he will re-evaluate my progress.

In the meantime, my other leg has become very painful. The AVN lesion on that leg must be getting bigger because I have the pain of a major tooth abcess, especially when I am up walking on it. I hate to ask for pain medication but the pain is really starting to drive me insane. I was recently put on Cholesterol medication and I am taking a lot of Tylenol so I am doubly concerned about my liver. (I am due for a liver function test in a few weeks.) I know my Ortho is concerned about giving pain medications due to the worry that I may develop dependency but I dont know what  else to do. I use ice bags at night and hardly move from my chair due to pain and fear of bone collapse on the opposite knee. The pain is pretty severe and seems to be getting worse. I have  successfully avoided all pain medications for months but I dont know how much longer I can take it... To make matters worse, I have allergies to all pain meds except Oxycodone and Fentanyl. Everything elses causes SVT ( heart races to nearly 200 beats per minute).

Any suggestions?

Thanks for replying Judy!

 
After surgery, I was on plain Oxycodone for pain because the Percocet bothered my stomach ( crohn's). It worked fine and I stopped taken them days after surgery because my pain was controlled by Tylenol alone. I wish I could say the same now. The pain in left leg before surgery was nothing compared to what I am having in this right leg. I assume it is from all the weight bearing on that leg now and the AVN lesion on the right leg is such that the bone is nearly 1/2 hollow from the size of it as it appears on the MRI. The bone appears eggshell thin. I am wondering if there has developed cracks and that is why I am in so much pain this week. 

I am going to have a heart to heart with my Dr. and ask for pain medication. I will only take it when I simply cannot take the pain any longer. Today is one of those days. As I type, my leg is surrounded by ice packs but they are not helping.  

At my next appointment, when I ask the Dr. for pain medication, I will be asking for a wheel chair also. I can make it with my crutches to the bathroom and back to my chair but if I am on my "good" leg for more than 2-3 minutes, the pain is severe and travels up and down the entire leg. This prevents me from leaving the house unless I have no other choice such as Dr. Appt or grocery shopping on the stores motorized carts.  I am going stir crazy from seeing the same 4 walls day in, day out! 
Enough is enough!

Sorry to vent! This whole issue is starting to get to me!

Thanks for listening!

Debb

Post Edited (pmedic) : 1/17/2012 6:10:10 PM (GMT-7)

Hi Randy!! I am so happy to hear from you!
I am so sorry you are having problems with your hip! Did they tell you what their plans are to repair it? I hope the surgery to fix it that won't be as hard on you as a full replacement. Please let me know if /when you are going in for surgeries! I will be praying hard for my AVN partner!!
I had my Dr. appointment yesterday and Xrays showed no further collapse and some healing so he kept me non-weight bearing for another month. I told him how much pain I was in and he still did not give me pain meds. I didn't demand them but I told him that I didn't think I could take this pain much longer and he told me to ice my leg and take as few Tylenol as possible. His theory is that medication impairs the healing process. So, I came home and iced my leg (again) for 4 straight hours and today the pain is surprisingly much better :) I will see how things go in the next few days and if that severe pain comes back again, I will call and demand medication. I will also ask for a wheel chair since I forgot to ask him yesterday.
I wanted to ask about something my Dr. said a few months ago. I may have already asked you this, so if I did, I'm sorry, my memory sucks lately. Anyway, he said that if this decompression and bone graft surgery didn't take and I have to have knee replacements, I would be up walking the next day but 10 years down the road, because they have to remove so much bone due to the AVN, when it comes time for the revision, I would be left with severe pain and arthritis. Have you heard this before?