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Paul Makepeace > Inchoate > 2005 > 06 > Thigh Tourniquet And Nerve Damage news - contact - search |
Just slugged another morphine pill (Sevredol; 10mg/4hrs; "the blue pill") so a quick one before descending into the void...
During surgery to prevent bleeding my thigh was held in a tourniquet. There are really strict limits to how long this can be done for before nerve damage occurs; it's around twenty minutes or so. The surgeons run right up against this limit time and time again throughout the operation to minimise blood loss. The downside is, in my case of a 4hr op, I've come out with a lower leg that has been producing nerve misfires for the last three days - lightly brushing the ends of my toes produces a sensation of having needles shot deeply into them; moving them back and forth creates a feeling of having ice water pored into my cast. Very weird! And almost entirely unpleasant.
The first day or so the nurses were regularly testing for adequate blood flow to my toes by looking for sensation and mobility. It was, fortunately briefly, excruciating even though I logically knew and could see nothing untoward was happening. All these peculiar facets of post-operative recovery...
hello mate this joint is very important for gait purposes, ankle problems can cause all sorts of knee, hip and lower back problems along the line. So rehab it well mate and look after your self whilst your in there, dont rush things just to get out a day early do it once do it right and you will soon be back to training. I had six weeks on morphine shit alful stuff god knows why junkies love it.
take it easy mate, cheers Spud.
Oi wanna sell ya bells.
Posted by: spud at June 4, 2005 07:31A joke to cheer you up.
Some vertebrae are chatting in a bar.
One vertebrae says, "I jumped off a window ledge last night."
Another vertebrae asks, "Were you depressed?"
The first vertebrae answers, 'Yeah, I was crushed!"
Posted by: chrisworth at June 4, 2005 21:49Almost two years ago I had foot surgery. I needed to have a tendon transfer to help with a flat foot and to have the back of my heel cut off and repositioned. The day after surgery I noticed that my upper thigh was extremely tender and that my leg felt as if it was still numb. After several tests it was determined that the tourniquet did nerve damage in a way that my leg is numb all the way around from my upper knee to the tips of my toes. Oh..don't worry about it they all said..the feeling will come back..well, two years later it is still just as numb. I understand your pain. It is hard for me to sleep at night with my nerves jumping. Since your first post was in 2005 I am wondering how you are doing now?
Posted by: Kristy at September 10, 2006 06:28Hi Kristy, sorry to hear about your nerves jumping. My only lasting damage has been a general half-numbness at the back of my heel which for the most part doesn't have much impact on me. It means I can't lie down with bare feet with my heel resting on a hard surface or else I'll get the feeling I'm having pins shot into my heel, or use e.g. a rowing machine with bare feet with the hard plastic footplate against it. Soft contact is fine, i.e. from inside a shoe.
Yours sounds much worse, I'm sorry again about that :(
Posted by: Paul Makepeace at September 10, 2006 22:31Hi to everyone. Had partial knee replacement in Nov of 08 and have ended up with multiple nerve damage myself to my right leg. No true control from the knee down.Still numb feeling to the upper thigh. Just wanted to know if anyone has heard if there are any cases of turniquet malfuctions. Same here as far as "oops" this is a rare BUT unfortunate outcome....per the multitude of doctors and surgeons response.
Posted by: Kimberlee at June 24, 2009 16:13