Question
My girlfriend had hip replacement back on May 30 2007. Since she has been in out of the hospital. She has shooting pain from her knee all the way to her toes (mostly her big and middle toe). The OS has been giving her dilaudid, soma, lyrica, neurontin to cope with the pain. She has been in extreme pain ever since she was allowed to put little weight on her operated leg. Is this type of pain normal after this type of surgery

Answer
Dear Juan

Something is not sounding right with your girlfriend.  That's an awful lot of pain medication to be put on.  Dilaudid is very strong and Soma is a muscle relaxer.  Lyrica is a neurological pain reliever as is neurontin.  Please run all these meds by a pharmacist to see if they can cause extreme drowsiness and nausea.

It does sound to me that the pain is more neurological and if I were you, I'd see if she can get in to see a neurologist.  I have nerve damage in one leg, but it was not diagnosed as nerve damage until about 19 months after surgery.  

Please have the doctor check her X rays to be sure the prosthesis is stable, and then if it is not a bone problem, take her to a neurologist. The type of pain that is being treated with so much pain medicine, sounds very extreme to me and I, personally don't believe that after almost 6 weeks of post surgery she should be having so much pain.

Sharon Davis