My doctor is talking about a total knee replacement for me because of arthritis. I'm so unsure of the whole thing. Has anyone who's had a replacement been totally pleased with the results and the restrictions required of this new life style?

Hopefully someone with first hand experience will be able to respond to you, but until then here's my 2 cents worth!
My Dad had arthritis pretty bad in his knees. His doctors told him that he should wait until he absolutely could not stand the pain before having knee surgery. Basically until it was a "bone on bone" situation. And they worked with him on pain medication.
The reason they gave him is that joint surgery is one of the toughest and takes the longest to recover from. This has been a few years back - and to be honest my Dad ended up dying of colon cancer withOUT ever having knee surgery!
:angel:

WAIT.
If you need a cane to get around but can stand the pain..then wait.

WAIT unless you are really in a lot of miserable daily pain and your Dr already is one of those already trained in doing the newest less invasive joint replacement procedure..

There is actually a brand new MUCH less invasive procedure for complete knee replacement surgery that was developed just this past year. The Dr's all across the USA are currently learing how to do it. So WAIT.

ASK your DR about the new less invasive complete knee replacement. (NOT the partial.. I'm talking about a new less invasive procedure for complete knee replacement). Ask when he is scheduled to learn the new procedure and will be able to preform it in your area.

I saw this news segment on TV last summer and they were saying one week after complete knee replacement surgery the patient could walk out of the hospital. They also said the newest material used for the replacement may last up to 25 years.

This new less invasive replacement procedure is also being tought for hip replacements. The guy they interviewed had a had a hip replacement just a week earlier and had a golf game scheduled for the following week.
This a MAJOR improvement over the currently done method of joint replacement.

YES the DR's are learning it but it will take time before all the DR's know it and it becomes the standard.

I do not know the name of the new procedure and so far have not found it on Medline.. but it defiantly is in exisitance.

A neighbor of mine had one hip replacement over a year ago and it was of course the invasive surgery that took her months to recouperate from. She has just informed me that 2 DR's in our county..just one city over.. are now trained to do the new less invasive procedure we saw on TV and she is over-the-moon excited about that because she will need the other hip done evidually.

My elderly mother (77) had acomplete knee replacement last May. She did it because she figured if she waited longer she would be too old to recouperate from it. They had tried to get her to do it 12 years ago when they replaced her other knee.. but she wouldn't do both then. Anyway so they did the surgery in MAY. She came home from the therapy wing of a nurseing home in JULY. It was long rocky road back to be able to climb the stairs to her own apartment. She never gained a lot of her stamina back. The elderly do not bounce back as fast.
12 years ago when she did the first knee it was only a month after surgery before she came home. BUT now, 12 years later, that replaced knee is now quite crocked. The older artifical knees do not hold up forever.

I have OA in both knees. My own left knee is rather crooked.. yep, I got my Mom's knees and OA hurts too but I have not seen a Bone Dr about them since 1999. I am now very happy to know I will not have to go through that long horrid procedure they are doing today but rather will be able to get the new less invasive one when my turn for replacement comes.

my husband has had bilateral total knee replacements on both knees 9 years ago he is able to walk and get around there may be some limitations as to getting on your hands and knees wont happen but to be able to walk and not have to be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life what a godsend go with the surgery you will be glad you did my hubby was 63 at the time of his surgey. and still walking stong today at 72.. good luck incidentley he had his knee replacement 3 weeks apart from each other.

how do I know if a replacement is in my future? I have injured both knees (hyper extended them when doing cheerleading jumps in 1995), stretched ligaments, especially bad in left knee. It pulls away. PT did a little test. I am 27 btw. Just wondering. It causes me enough pain to wonder about my future.

Well I understand the legiments can be a problem Mel but at your age you can't tell if later you'll need the replacements or not. The replacements are not doen becasue of legiments, but rather because of arthritis haveing destroyed the cartilidge, thereby destroying the bones coushioning and one bone rubs againest the other bone and tends to wear out (tear up) both bones bone...This can become rather painful.

I'm almost (shudder) 58 but at age 32 I had the very "old fashion" kind of surgery to remove the cartilidge on my left knee. It was because of a car accident (long story). Anyway at the my then age of 32 they removed that cartilidge and told me "it regrows". and it did. :)

But then later in my 50's I got osteoarthritis which began destroying it and now it is not going to be regrowing with enough speed to do me much good.

My son had a complete knee "reconstruction", not a replacement, when he was 31 because of an accident at work. That surgery was a rather involved deal.. they had to repair muscles, legiments, tendons, remove cartilidge, put in some pins, even took a piece of bone from his lower leg to use to for something in his knee but the knee itself was NOT replaced. The whole thing was absolutely not fun.

So they can do a heck of a lot with knees besides replace them if any of those other options are Feasible. Not all the options are easy ones but you know they fix what needs fixed.

Thank you snow. Makes sense :) I am planning on seeing an ortho for my knees just to be safe, and maybe do more PT if it will help. They are def arthritic as sometimes if I sit too long, my husband has to pull them out they get "stuck" and are so painful. I know the popping is "normal" but they do that constantly! I appreciate the feedback.

Oh I agree it always is best to ask a Dr.
all our guessing is just exactly that.. guessing.

Me for example. I have Xrays proving I have the OA in both knees. I have Xrays proving I have Degenerative Disk Disease in my spine. That's plenty of arthritis, so when my hip began to be horribley painful I just figured it was more of the same. You take it for granted you will just get the same problem in every joint sooner or later. But the hip..well I didn't want to know I'd need replacements there some day so I didn't want to take the pic. I wanted to just put up with it instead.. After months of hip pain and constant telling myself I "don't want to do this" the hip finally insisted I get it checked out.

Guess what ..NO arthritis in my hip at all..NONE :D .
A Very happy surprise.

I have hip bursitis instead. OK, that's a problem but it is an easier one to deal with (at least for me).
So the pain is not always what you think it is.

It does give you peace of mind sometimes to see the DR.

well, glad to hear about the hip! It seems I have to see so many drs these days it is driving me nutty. I had an abnormal chest xray and the CT showed some stuff so now I need to see a pulmonologist too. Yikes. Well, I appreciate what you have shared. For now I just won't sit the way it will hurt!

I thank everyone for their responses. I neglected to say I am 55 and have had arthritis for 11 years. I am in a lot of pain and have a lot of trouble walking and using the steps of my town house. I really began to consider surgery when vioxx was taken off the market. It was giving me some relief and the mobic I'm taking can:t touch this pain.