Okay, I have a weird question that I’m too embarrassed to “bother” my surgeon about.
Since the operation I had to repair (bolts, plates, screws) that I my shatterred fibula (about ten days ago), I’ve gone from being a person who is always cold too someone who is always too warm, not only that my appetite has totally changed. It’s now much less than it once was, and I’ve lost like 5 pounds in 10 days (okay, THAT could be because of the wheelchairing and crutching, no easy task).
Does this sound normal? I mean, is it possible for a broken bone to change a person’s metabolism in some way?
The broken bone doesn’t “change your metabolism”, but it’s fairly common to experience depression after surgery. And depression often means appetite changes.
Your body has had two really huge shocks in the last couple of weeks–first you had the accident that shattered your fibula, and then you had the lengthy surgery to fix it. I’m not surprised your whole endocrine system is in an uproar, nor that you’ve been off your feed and have lost weight. I doubt whether it’s a permanent change, though. I don’t find anything on Google that suggests that orthopedic trauma “changes your metabolism”.
You’re probably on all kinds of pain meds, too, which can mess with your body.
Hi, thanks for the answers all! Yes, I was on pain meds. But the odd symptoms were persisting even during the day when I was only taking ibuprofen.
And as to being to “embarrassed” perhaps that was a bit of a misnomer, I was feeling more along the lines of it being not “important” enough, after all, I felt okay (strangely enough, I’ve NOT gotten depressed), and there were no problems with the leg.
Anyway, thanks, I think DDG answered it, the symptoms seem to be fading (much to the chagrin of my all man office, all of whom were THRILLED that I didn’t have my little heater going and that they could open the windows etc).
I seem to be returning to my former “Chilly Willie” status.
CanvasShoes, I still hold that any concerns about your condition after surgery should still be addressed by your surgeon. This person is being paid to take responsibility for you, and if he’s doing his job, he’ll respond to your concerns. One surgeon friend of mine has said “once you cut on someone, that’s as intimate as being married to them. You must remain responsible to them as long as needed”.
Your own personal doctor would know far better than I or anyone else posting on this board whether your symptoms were truly worrisome or not. I actually wish I’d suggested more forcefully that you address your concerns with your doc.
Yeah, what QtM said. The surgeon isn’t just responsible for the surgery, but the follow-up stuff too. If he/she feels that your concerns aren’t related to the surgery, he can still refer you to other people to help you.
I posted an answer to this question a couple days earlier but it didn’t go through. Oh well.
Interleukin-1 is a chemical in your body responsible for both fever and the inflammatory cascade leading to swelling. If you broke your fibula, and had surgery, both of these would icnrease the amount of local inflammation, and cause warmth.
Other causes include:
Surgery is stressful and can unmask thyroid conditions such as “thyroid storm”
Surgery can cause fever through wind (partial collapse of a lung due to immobility and shallow breathing), water (urinary tract infection or fluid retention), walking (leg blood clot) or wound infection.
People who are less active notice things about there body that more active people don’t.
People who are eating less (due to post-op nausea and immobility) may be burning more fat, which creates a lot of warmth. Babies may burn “brown fat” to keep warm.
Pain meds may play with the fever set point, etc.
That said, I’m glad your condition is transient. Such things usually are.
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