It is serious... I am on four different painkillers, two of which are opiate-based. It's not gonna be fun coming off them but I do know that just stopping without weaning myself off of them is really dangerous. I just need to know how to do it properly. I'll probably need someone to scream at every now and then too!
I think it's a mix of reasons why it took such a long time for someone to work out what was wrong with my knee and then to fix it. The biggest issue I faced was getting a doctor to believe that there actually was a problem and that I wasn't just depressed. I really don't see why they would have thought that recurrent dislocations were a mental illness but there ya go! One surgeon was just really arrogant and I didn't fit in with his research at the time, so he didn't want to help. Another surgeon knew what was wrong but didn't have the necessary skills to help me. Whilst the surgery I had wasn't that unusual or complicated, what made it harder is that I have joint hypermobility meaning that my ligaments, tendons etc. are much stretchier than most people's. Reconstructing one of my knee's ligaments using a tendon from my hamstring isn't the easiest considering the joint hypermobility but it is not impossible. There is the possibility I may need a second surgery but that is even more painful again and has a really long recovery time. My surgeon and I are hopeful that the ligament reconstruction is sufficient to keep my kneecap in place. Only time will tell if my pain is as a result of the recurrent dislocations or some sort of chronic pain condition.....