How much pain is typical?

I had my abdominal hysterectomy and bladder suspension on Dec. 17. I would love to hear about how much people are in pain...my partner worries that I have too much pain and still taking the vicadin at night. Managing on either nothing or advil during the day - but only if I do NOTHING. If I even wash the dishes, I have to sit down for an hour or so. Would just love some feedback on whether this is typical....
Thanks ~

Dear Lorkat,

I had a Da Vinci Total Hysterectomy & BSO on 12/18. I also had numerous adhesions and scar tissue removed from my bowels and bladder and a specialist had to disect one of my ovaries from my ureter. I'm not in severe pain but I do have moderate pain at times and I do not feel guilty about taking a 1/2 of percocet to take the edge off. I've been having my husband take me walking around at the mall for an hour or so each day and I am sore when I come home, so I pop 1/2 a pill. I try to limit what I take for pain as I know some of that stuff can be addicting, but I figure that's what pain pills are for....pain, which I still have to some degree. Motrin, advil, etc make my stomach upset so that's why I take the narcotics. I also like to take a 1/2 pain pill before bedtime because it helps me with sleep and I feel that right now a good night's rest is vital to my healing. Everyone is different. You know your body best and if you are having pain, then that's what the pain meds are for. Obviously if your pain is increasing or changing you need to contact your doctor. Hope you feel better soon.

Dec 17 is not that far away, you are still in the very early stages of recovery and what you are feeling is quite normal. We all have different tolerance for pain and handle it differently.

At two weeks post-op I was doing very little and felt weak after the simplest exertion. I started off with short walks and built up my stamina by increasing the length of my walks daily. As far as house work went, I would fold laundry that was brought to me with rest periods in between, and I would load the dishwasher if everyone brought me their dishes. Bending was still impossible.

Listen to your body, it tells you what is best. You still need a lot of rest. You only get one chance to heal correctly, so rest, rest, rest.

I agree with another poster here, we are all different in how we handle pain. I handle pain exceedingly well and only took about 1/2 of the pain meds prescribed for 4 days then nothing. My procedure was also different from yours - I had the RALH (Da Vinci procedure) and had everything including my cervix removed.

I honestly don't think you can compare how you feel to how any of the rest of us feels. We are all unique in how we heal and how we feel.

If you have doubts about how much pain you are or should be feeling, perhaps a call to your surgeon will help put your mind at ease.

I think you are doing great! I took narcotics 2-3 times daily and motrin 2 times daily for almost 2 weeks post op. The most I did was walk around the house (I had to go upstairs to go to the bathroom--so aggravating--but it got me moving!). I certainly wasn't able to wash dishes.

By the third week I was able to take motrin once or twice daily, and I was moving around more--I found it was easier to get up and down off the toilet, and I could move a little easier in bed. I did get out to Walmart, but I used the mechanical cart--and it was uncomfortable everytime it jerked to a stop, LOL!

Now I am feeling much better, and having to watch what I do. I am driving short distances and walking more, and the last couple of days, I have been pretty uncomfortable in the evening--lots of bladder spasms, too--probably because I am getting more active. I've had to take a couple of doses of motrin.

One thing I've noticed is that I seem to drop just about EVERYTHING! It is so aggravating! I'm probably bending down too many times--I try to be careful when I do it, and I don't feel any pain or anything when I do bend down, but still!

Hope this helps!

At 3 weeks post op I was walking around the house and up the driveway sometimes before yet another rest with feet up. Not in pain, except for bladder related issues. Cooking only easy meals.

Today I'm at almost 6 weeks and can shop (but still not released to lift over 10 PBS. When I get home I pretty much need feet up again. Not vacuuming yet.

My biggest issue is bladder spasms - which I now pretty much control with diet. Tomatoes, coffee, chocolate, and citrus trigger spasms. Talk to your doc if you have this problem and are still using narcotic pain killers or any cold/allergy meds as they can create real issues during bladder recovery.

It sounds to me like your recovery is being pretty normal. I wish peace and health.

I had my TAH on the 17th also and am still taking pain meds. I had trouble with pain control from the minute they tried waking me up in the recovery room. Took them hours to get the right balance of pain relief so my blood pressure didn't spike but I kept breathing on my own. I found early on that I had to stay ahead of the pain or I would have a really hard time catching back up. At my 12 day checkup, I requested vicodin instead of the percocet, because it was making me feel so "out of it." I'm still taking them, but am down to a half of one 2 or 3 times a day and one at bedtime, with occasional ibuprofen. My dr. asked me if I had heard of this site before the surgery, and said she has looked around and found valuable info here. Her recommendation is to not get too involved in comparing your recovery with anyone elses. Every case is a little different and everyone recovers differently. Some people are off mes a couple days after and some are still in pain weeks later. As long as you're increasing your activity a little bit every few days and still managing the pain, you are on the right path.

I am so relieved to hear from all of you!! I realize that I am doing fine!! I will call my Dr. just to be sure everything is okay, but I feel much better about things. I tend to be hard on myself - like I am not doing enough and so I am being lazy or something. I hope to be back to work a week from tomorrow - but, I may not be if things keep on as they have been. I will keep tuned and would continue to appreciate whatever you want to share with me...thank you so much all of you!

I am 4 weeks post op, had Devinci robotic total Hyst. I too still have alot of pain, achy feeling if I stand too long, or walk too far. I am also experiencing extreme pain when Gas moves thru my large intestines. I am still taking 800 mg motrin 3 x per day. Also still spotting with too much walking. am scheduled to return to work Jan. 9th, had procedure Dec. 9th. Is anyone else having these problems?

I had mt hyster done Dec 15 and I am still having slight pain when I do too much, no pain meds since the second week, thank God. It sounds to me like we are all having the same symptoms which makes me feel better and that maybe I am not a whimp. I am going for a post op check today, scheduled to return to work in a week and I am not sure that I will be able to finish a full day, because when I do light things around the house I am really tired after. We went to the mall for about an hour I couldn't wait to come home and sleep....I am a shopaholic!! I hope things feel better in this next week. Good luck to all with recovery and thanks for posting and replying. I LOVE THIS SITE.