My sleeve is set for 5/13/14 3 days from now! After being heavy most of my life my knees are really bad, cant take Naproxen any longer and my knees are in pain with pain pills. Legs aching as well. I would like to know ifanyo.e else is having this problem. Im 59 yrs old.

Bite the bullet......time to replace them. Of course waiting till you shed all the weight will certainly make recovery easier.

Hi CM,

Congratulations on your upcoming sleeve date. I have had knee, foot and leg problems for quite awhile and thought I was going to have to have both my knees replaced. My doctor told me they weren't quite bad enough yet but that losing weight would help me. He was right. I've lost about 46 pounds so far and my knees are not hurting. And I'm not taking any pain medication either. My feet are so much better too... though they sometimes still hurt if I've been on my feet too long. My legs don't throb like they used to... its unbelievable that just that small weight loss has made that much difference but it actually has. I will be 59 in July and I feel like the sleeve has given me a second chance to enjoy life pain free. I wish you much luck.

I can understand what you are going through. I have a significant pain in both my hips in the past couple years I have had Cortisone injections and gel injections and it has not helped. Two years ago they said the next step would have to be hip replacements so this was a big reason why I had VSG done almost a year ago.

It has been almost a year since VSG and have a last almost 100 pounds but NO pain relief! I have constant pain day and night even with all my pain meds my quality of life has deteriorated significantly and I know my next step has to be the surgery but I am very nervous to have it. But years of being a nurse and obese this is what has happened ...just Very nervous to have this huge surgery.

I hear ya. I can't walk a mile anymore without severe debilitating pain. I'm heading for both knees being replaced this fall. Should have pulled the trigger last fall but I chickened out.

I'm big on biking and my knees can tolerate a bike ride but they still swell afterwards. I'm thinking I'm going in for one of the big three injections to get me by till October.

Euflexxa, Synvisc and Cortisone injections can mitigate your pain while you're losing weight. It can help you move around and exercise if that's your goal? Cortisone only lasts 2-3 months for me but the other two can last up to 6 months. Check with your PCP?

I am 55 and had a severely arthritic hip prior to surgery. My orthopedic surgeon agreed to a total hip replacement 6 weeks following sleeve surgery. The six weeks between surgeries was very painful without any meloxicam. I continued to use pain killers during this time.

The surgery was a blessing- a huge one. The pain I felt after the surgery was entirely different than prior and far more tolerable. I am sure the weight I lost prior to hip surgery and the weight I've lost until now has helped with my recovery.

Only downside is that I was not able to exercise well until about 4 weeks ago so my loss has been slower than I would have liked. Small price to pay.

Good luck to you and I encourage you to have those bad knees replaced. You have lots of life ahead of you so give yourself as much an advantage as you can!

Thank you for all thr replies, Ive lost 50 pounds and feel so much better except for knees. My surgery is tomarrow may 13th. I still have to use a cane to walk. I am using latocain patches and pain meds and still in pain. Looks like I may have to have knees replaced.

Hang in there. I was sure I needed a knee replacement prior to my sleeve. By the time I was down ~30 pounds my knee was starting to feel much better. I am now down nearly 80 pounds and exercise like crazy. My knee feels great. I no longer worry about needing to repair it. You may have similar good fortune. PS. it may not be advised but I will periodically take ibuprofen if I over do and have too much soreness. Check with your doc.

good luck