Knee replacement 6 years post crps dx; anyone else?
 

I tore the medial meniscus into the root horn on my non primary crps leg. There is a lot of swelling and degeneration of the joint.
My Ortho really seems to understand crps. He is the one that originally suspected I had it. He is also the one that suspected I had a crushed nerve and did the surgery to decompress it. That was about 3 years ago. My crps has since gone full body.
With the currentent damage my Ortho feels it would be better to just replace the knee because he feels with all the damage and degeneration it is headed there eventually anyway. He feels that doing a scope now to clean things up would just be a bandaid and an additional surgery that would have minimal improvement.
He said something that resonated with me. The pain and swelling in my knee is a pain generator(TRUE). This pain could be adding fuel to my crps. I found this to be an interesting theory.
He will use ketamine as part of the anesthesia and will do a nerve block. I take vitamins C and may do a short course of gabapentin pre surgery.
All that said, has anyone had a knee replacement post crps diagnosis? Wondering how it went. Thanks
Barb

I haven't had a replacement but have had hardware removal in my knee since diagnosis. The surgery itself didn't cause any issues with CRPS other than a brief flare for a week or so. It sounds like your surgeon knows a lot about CRPS so I would proceed. One surgery is better than multiple too. How old are you? Are you young enough to have to do it again later? I think knee replacements have a life span of 25ish years usually which is why I've avoided one so far. But I had a tibial osteotomy to avoid it which has a worse recovery than a replacement and caused my crps.

Thanks for the response. You ask a good question re my age. I am in my late 50's so I think a new knee would take me to the end of my life. Actually, They both need to be replaced but because of my crps my surgeon said he would not do them at the same time. So I am just choosing the more painful of the 2 to do first. If all goes well, it would be financially better to get the second one done before the end of the year, but we will see. It is times like this that a crystal ball would be useful.
I never heard of a tibial osteotomy but I know enough about medical terminology to get the point. I will still look it up after I post. I really hate to hear that ppl got crps from a surgery or caused by a doctor. That must be such a bitter pill. In my case, I will never know if it was caused by the incident, or the subsequent surgeries.
My Orthopedic doc really amazes me with his knowledge of the disease, and who he is as a person. His father was a fairly well renowned rheumatologist (which is the specialty that used to treat RSD back in the days b 4 pain management) I think my doc must have gleaned from his fathers' expertise. Or he must know someone with the disease. I guess I should ask him that question. He looks at his patients as a whole person and believes in the body mind connection. I have really never met another doc like him. Very down to earth and approachable. It surprises me that he uses hammers, chisels, and saws to do his job.;<0
Thanks again for your response and encouraging words.
Barb