I've had 4-5 scopes on both knees.
Been there, done that as they say.
As far as pain goes....often the doc will wrap the bandages much too tight.
Simply taking them off and wrapping them much looser will easy much of the pain your knee can be feeling.
I never needed any pain pills after any of my scopes.
It does take a while to get back to "normal" though.
Think 4-6 weeks even with a scope job.
Your little bumps where the instruments went in and out will take longer to disappear completely.
With time, your incisions will be all but invisible.
My last scope was about 10 years ago.
Decent arthritis in both knees, cartilege nearly worn down to the bone, torn meniscus, torn ligaments....I've got them all.
Too much basketball in my youth I guess, along with some bad knee genes.
Pain in recent years was handled with SynVisc injections.
Doctors have been telling me I'm heading for total knee replacements.
Didn't like the sounds of that.
So did some research on the internet.
Came up with a group out of Colorado that does stem cell procedures.
Regenexx is their name.
Last summer had a bunch of orthopedic stem cells taken out of both hips.
They cultured them for 2 months multiplying them out to 14 million cells.
Had them reinjected into my right knee in Sept.
Have been pain free ever since then.
Seems that the stem cells regenerated a bit of my caritilege so I'm no longer bone on bone.
Amazing stuff.
I'll likely get the left knee done this summer.
Anything that allows my body to heal itself in a more natural way and keeps me away from plastic and metal solutions is a great idea to me.
Scope surgeries are much better than the old days of the big zipper incisions.
But they are still surgeries.
And if the doc is removing anything out of your knee...that's a bad thing.
Removing meniscus and cartilege only makes for a more unstable knee that will ultimately wear out quicker.
One day this stem cell stuff will be the norm I believe.