Suggest Treatment For Swelling On Knees And Pain After Hip Surgeries

Posted on Sat, 12 Sep 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 12 Sep 2015 Answered on

Mon, 5 Oct 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : After 2 hip surgeries recently on same leg, swelling of my knees to my feet is causing significant pain when moving from sitting to standing and likewise when standing to sitting. One position for a little while when changed hurts enough to take my breath away. I am also type 2 diabetic not yet on dialysis but am stage 4 severe. I have before any surgery been having some leg swelling and they were treated with water pills. For several weeks now post 2 surgeries, my feet, legs and knees swell till they look like sausages. The swollen legs feel slightly damp and very sensitive to touch. Neuropathy in each leg is present but when the knees have been flexed up or down a lot of pain occurs. And when the skin from my ankles to half way up my thigh is stretched that to is very painful and occurs in both legs. What can/should I do? ThankYou

Answered by Dr. Binu Parameswaran Pillai (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Leg elevation+ Water pills + Paracetamol/Tramadol

Detailed Answer:
Good day,
Noted your concern. Sorry to hear about the pain. From the history provided, i gather that, pain is the most bothering symptom which you have now. Since you have stage 4 kidney disease, we can not use common pain killers which can further worsen kidney damage. The best option would be paracetamol followed by Tramadol.

You must also discuss with your surgeon about this excess fluid retention following surgery. Neuropathy and kidney disease together with low albumin levels could be cotributing to the swelling in legs, but i suspect the increase in swelling after the surgery could be due to immobility following surgery.

Please discuss with the surgeon about adding diuretics ( water pills) and elevating your legs. This may help to reduce swelling in legs and that will reduce the pain further.

Regards XXXXXXX

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar