Surgery Friday and I'm terrified of the pain/pain meds...

[spoiltmom 44]

I don't do very well with narcotic pain meds. They make me really, really sick to my stomach. I can't take Vicodin at all. The only ones I can take with no problem are Utracet and Darvocet.

The doc is giving me liquid Lortab- Isn't that just like Vicodin?

For the first 3 days I'll have a Scopolamine patch. That should keep me from throwing up. So my questions are:

Will I need the pain meds past 3 days?

Should I say something to him now? I'd rather have Tylenol with Codeine if I'm going to need it longer than 3 days.

I usually just deal with the pain and I don't take anything for it but he said this will mainly be chest pain and that scares me.

I did have arthroscopic surgery on my knee. They explored it and worked on my tendons. I was in a lot of pain but I coped and never took anything stronger than Tylenol. Should I just stock up on liquid Tylenol??

[tylee72198 10]

I have the liquid Loratab (hydrocodone), and I had surgery on Monday.

The worst of the pain is the gas pain or if you hit your port site. I'm on day 3 of post-op, and I've already switched to children's liquid motrin. That seems to be all that I'm needing right now.

Praying that you will have a quick recovery. Make sure that you walk, walk, and walk some more after surgery. That will help you the most with the gas pain.

[SacChick1980 0]

I also have problems with pain meds. Lortab is in the codeine family so if you can generally take codeine, you should be fine. I am limited to (basically) darvocet only which does NOT come in a liquid, so I had to crush pills and take them mixed with juice. It was soooo gross! I had surgery monday and took my last pain pill on Wednesday.

I know everyone is different, but I will say when I woke up from surgery I was in a lot of pain, but they pumped me up on morphine and everything was fine- just sore- after that.

Im a big fan of liquid tylenol and highly recommend it over narcotics whenever possible- just my two cents.

Good luck with everything

[Sue Magoo 71]

Hi:

I had a revision on 7/20/10, original band was put in on 7/26/07. The pain is minimal. Both times I didn't need anything but liquid tylenol starting on day 2. I have nausea issues from pain meds too. There's another thing you could ask your doctor for. They make this antinausea med called phenergen (spelling?) and it comes in a suppository form. You may want to ask for a prescription for these to have at home just in case the nausea hits you and you can't keep food or liquids down. I know that suppositories are gross, but anything to keep from having nausea post-op.

One thing to remember about being a good patient is to always be honest and open with your surgeon. He wants to do what's best for you and if he doesn't know you have issues with certain pain meds he cannot help you with that.

Take care.

Sue

[spoiltmom 44]

I do have some Phenergan tabs at home. I thought we couldn't have Motrin, only Tylenol??

[Mel Mel 0]

Definitely talk to your surgeon. Pain management will be a very important part of your recovery. If your pain isn't managed you won't be able to deep breathe and do the walking. This is puts you at risk for blood clots and pneumonia. It's not just about being comfortable it's really important for you to heal and get back to life.

I was given percocet and was able to take it whole or cut in half. I took the pain meds around the clock for about 3 days and then took it less frequently, decreased to extra strength tylenol instead of percocet until extra strength tylenol before bed was all I needed.

As for nausea there is also a med called zofran that you hold under your tongue and let it disolve. Good luck!

Edited August 4, 2010 by Mel Mel