Addiction to Pain Medication following Knee or Hip Surgery

An essential part of recovery following hip or knee replacement surgery is using painkillers as directed. Your body’s energies will be directed toward healing when your post-operative pain is under control, minimizing your discomfort and stress. Physical therapy and at-home exercises will be relatively painless for you to perform. Improper pain management can make recovery more difficult.

Painkillers Before Hospital Discharge and During Surgery

You will probably be given painkillers intravenously both during and soon after your hip or knee replacement surgery. Hydration, sedatives, and/or anesthesia were likely administered via this same IV before and during your procedure.
Typically, morphine, fentanyl, and oxycodone are injected into your IV catheter at regular intervals to relieve pain. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is another option that might be presented to you. PCA is a device that lets you press a button to administer a set dosage of medication to yourself; after that, the device stops allowing you to administer more doses until enough time has passed.

Painkillers Following Discharge

Your surgeon will likely prescribe oral pain medication for you to take at home for a few weeks or months following your knee or hip replacement surgery and after you are released from the hospital.
It is not unusual for your physician to prescribe an opioid analgesic in addition to a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), like naproxen or ibuprofen. Opioids are pills that have the same kind of medication that was administered to you through an IV while you were a patient. Although they have common side effects like nausea, constipation, and drowsiness, they do a good job controlling pain. The NSAIDs, which include Aleve, Motrin, and Advil, help to lessen pain and swelling.

Addiction to and/or Dependency on Painkillers

Prescription painkillers are crucial for managing pain following hip or knee replacement surgery, but many medical professionals, patients, and patients’ families are worried about opioid addiction.
The human body can grow accustomed to and reliant on the presence of a medication. Addiction, on the other hand, is not physical dependence.
An uncontrollable psychological need for a drug, even in the absence of need or physical pain, is called addiction. Sometimes people who grow physically dependent on a painkiller may need to see their doctor and gradually wean off the drug over several weeks to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Even though this isn’t very common, if it is done gradually, there shouldn’t be any problems or long-term effects that resemble addiction. Every year, thousands of people successfully stop taking their painkillers without any problems.
Patients who have had knee or hip replacements typically start to naturally leave longer intervals between doses because their pain isn’t severe enough to act as a reminder to take their medication.

Nonetheless, some people do develop addictions. As long as you take your medication exactly as directed by your doctor, the percentage is very low and unlikely. In a review published in The Cochrane Library by Meredith Noble, MS, ECRI Institute, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, long-term opioid therapy is associated with little risk for addiction when given to selected patients with chronic pain and no history of substance addiction or abuse (about 0.27% of study participants).
You must discuss pain management with your physician before having hip or knee replacement surgery. Ask him or her any questions you may have about painkillers and discuss any worries you may have about addiction, dependency, or medications in general.

Maintaining an open channel of communication and having a thorough understanding of your doctor’s viewpoint on pain management and medication will greatly improve your post-operative recovery and peace of mind.

One response to “Addiction to Pain Medication following Knee or Hip Surgery”

  1. Rahul Jain Avatar
    Rahul Jain

    Excellent article.

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