Post Op Pain

[treblecutie23 318]

I had my VSG Tuesday 11/10 and came home last night. My pain tolerance I thought was fairly high but I'm having sharp, burning, stabbing pain on my left side at the incision area. It feels like I'm being stabbed and the knife is being twisted into me. It's worse after moving or getting up or down. I'm taking my pain meds as directed, and hugging ice but it's almost unbearable. Doctor agrees it's normal and will get better but I'm a bit impatient.....

Any advice or tips on relieving this? Or can anyone share how long his lasted?

Thanks!!!!!

[IncredibleShrinkingMan 437]

You are probably referring to the drain site, if indeed you had a drain. The location that you are describing is exactly where mine was, and it is exacerbated by coughing or sitting up, and potentially even sitting down.

He is right, it will improve steadily, however, it will be markedly slower than the other incision sites. The other thing I heard that helps is to hold a pillow or cushion up against your abdomen when you are about to cough or sneeze, but I seem to not have had a very good technique, because that didn't do much to mitigate the acute pain that you are describing.

[jane13 2,256]

@@treblecutie23 - hello from Jacksonville!

Depending on where your surgeon removed your stomach from your abdomen, that pain could be from just the removal. My surgeon removed mine from my navel. I did have a little more tenderness from that side as well. I used a heating pad too and kept moving.

IMHO I would try to limit as much of the prescribed pain meds as soon as possible. If during the day you can get by on OTC meds, I would. Save the prescribed stuff for later in the day and at night. I felt better doing that as well.

Welcome to the losers bench!

[The Candidate 3,215]

An abdominal binder might help. Hope it gets better soon!

[Mistie 201]

I had the sharp knifing pain. My surgeon told me later it was where the muscle had been cut through. She said it would last 2-3 weeks, but that level of intensity had only lasted 3 days or so. So there's hope! I cannot say there is much that helped. I kept a heating pad on it, and that helped slightly, but mostly, I just did not move lol

[PayItForward 207]

I keep hearing about drain plugs. I didn't have any. Is that normal?

[treblecutie23 318]

I didn't have any drains left in....and only bled thru one of the 5 bandages while admitted. I asked before going in and was told they are left in as needed.

[Catahoula Mom 11]

I was in a huge amount of pain the first few days after surgery, and I have always had a high tolerance for pain before. It gradually got better over the next few days and 5 days out I no longer needed the pain med.

[curvybritt 53]

It may be where they removed a drain, as they mentioned above, which hurt the most for me when they first took it out. Although you say you didn't have a drain.. It could be your largest incision site where they removed your stomach? I'm 5 days out at the moment and that's the one hurting the most for me.

Did they give you any pain medication? I have liquid panadol which I take through the day which seems to help (maybe even as a placebo). They offered me oxycodone, but i had some tramadol at home which I'm taking at night so that I don't wake up when I'm sleeping, and they seem to help.

[treblecutie23 318]

Yea it's def my largest incision. They sent me home with a Tylenol/hydrocodone pill I've been crushing. I'm trying to only take it before bed and use liquid Tylenol as needed during the day. Trying to just power through the pain and remind myself it'll be better soon. in the hospital they were giving me morphine every 4 hours but that wasn't helping much pain wise, it just made me nauseous. As soon as I stopped that I've felt great (other than the incision pain).