Happy Friday everyone!
Wanted to post an update after receiving a lot of questions about the treatment I had on my knees, and how effective it's been so far. Here goes....
Right after I had Logan (15 years ago), I blew out a knee trying to lose baby weight (corn dogs and diet root beer....oh my gross looking back...). Had surgery to fix it and all was good. What I didn't know at that time was that surgery leads to arthritis (in most cases).
Over a year ago, the other knee started hurting in a similar way and I knew right away I had torn part of my medial meniscus. Got a cortisone shot and all was good for almost a year....and then it wasn't. Tried another cortisone shot that worked for 3 days, then nothing. MRI showed a bone spur, torn meniscus and moderate to severe arthritis (and moderate arthritis in the left knee that was repairs 15 years ago). Since the cortisone didn't work, it was suggested to consider a partial knee replacement. Because the pain was so severe, I went ahead and agreed (and the fact that the partial knee replacement would fix ALL my issues...not just some). I hadn't slept in over a month because I could straighten my leg- so if I was on my back in bed, it would wake me up because my leg wanted to straighten. If I was on my stomach, same thing. If I was on my side, inevitably, my other knee would go right to the spot that hurt and I would wake up (what seemed like) a thousand times every night. Our house is all stairs, and I looked like a monster coming down the stairs, swinging my crazy leg out to the side so I didn't have to bend it- none of it was pretty. I was desperate, so I scheduled the partial knee replacement- for THREE MONTHS LATER (the soonest)! I was in tears when I talked to the nurse. I wanted a fix NOW.
A client arrived at the end of my blubbery breakdown and gave me the name of a doctor in Seattle that diagnoses based on ultrasound and specializes in PRP (platelet rich plasma) and stem cell treatments (in my case, they would take stem cells from the pelvis to inject into the knees). Super fascinating! It's using your OWN body to heal by promoting growth factors in the affected area. Her referral got me in sooner than I could have otherwise, and I will be grateful to her forever.
Day of the appointment (a Friday) was a blood draw then hanging out for 15 minutes while the blood was in a centrifuge getting all the platelets and plasma separated. Then a big bad needle in the knee (he did enough for BOTH knees, which has been a complete blessing to me) that contained the goodness and an anesthetic. Not fun, you guys, but just for a moment, then that numbing starts. The second side was worse because I knew it was coming.
Walked out on my own, feeling like my knees were swollen and walking a little funny but just achy. Stayed on the couch all day with my legs elevated and took it easy all weekend. I had a prescription for pain medication but took only Tylenol until it was time to go to bed. I REALLY wanted to sleep so took a Tramadol. That was the ONLY time I took it, and I wouldn't really say I "needed" it.
Woke up the next day better than I had been before the procedure and by a week later I was walking down the stairs like a normal person! I was amazed!
The procedure is not covered by insurance, so is entirely out of pocket and is just less than $1000. Money SO well spent, in my opinion. It can take 6 weeks to get the most relief, and I'm about a month in. I have taken most jumps out of workouts and squats and lunges less deep than in the past. There's no real functional benefit for me to be doing all that wacko stuff any more anyway. Spin is the thing that was surprising to me- feels SO GOOD! Whether it's simply the motion or strengthening surrounding muscles- I don't know but since I love that format anyway, I'm all for doing more.
Get your inflammation under control!!! Holy shit, this is huge people. Being in pain is depressing- and then I ate sugar that made the pain even worse. If you want to experiment with yourself, which I highly recommend, binge eat a shitpile of sugar and see how you feel. Then don't for a week, and compare. Just know that sugar is more addictive than cocaine- crosses the blood/brain barrier and is no joke. It's killing us.
An interesting thing this doctor also shared is that we should really never take Advil. It's an anti-inflammatory which seems like it should be a good idea, but it sends a message to your brain that "all is good, no need to take any action to heal". Let your body do the healing and support it by a really great, clean diet with good fats (think olive oil, avocados, salmon, etc.).
So that's it. Feel free to message me if you have questions. The phrase this doctor (that I ADORE) told me at my first appointment has stuck with me- "you can cut, but you can't uncut". My lesson learned is that get that second opinion. I didn't feel "right" about the partial knee replacement. This recovery was a day compared to MONTHS. And one day I will likely be signing up for the replacement, but hopefully not any time soon. Procedures are constantly improving and the longer we can put off the serious ones, the better they will get.
Enjoy the weekend! If you're in the Seattle area, get some groceries, gonna be a blizzard in a few hours!