so tired!

I had mine May 24, abdominal surgery. I ended up needing 2 packs of blood due to anemia. I'm on iron now but wonder how long to build up blood supply. Still in a lot of pain so taking pain killers. How long do you need to stay on prescription pain killers? Ibuprophin doesn't seem to do anything. I'm still feeling pretty bad and discouraged.

Hang in there, I had mine 5/16/06 & another emegency surgery on 5/18/06 also needed a transfusion(only 1 unit). I am also on iron- am already feeling a vast improvement from even a week ago. It takes quite a while to build blood supply back up my aunt had 4 units w/ her Hx last fall & took her a few months to be close to normal. I think a lot of it depends on the person, how well you take care of your self & what your diet is like. I would count on at least a month or two(but with having just had major surgery you should be babying yourself about that long anyway) Be sure to keep up with the stool softeners while on the iron- it has a tendency to slow things up a bit- if you slack on the stool softeners- you will be able to tell & NOT like it. Take your pain killers as you need staying with in the guidelines of the prescription. Being in horrible pain won't help your recovery at all!! By all means though keep in touch with your doctor if the pain doesn't ease up.
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Sadone age 31, TVH 5/16/06 w/ A&P repair due to uterine prolapse, adenomyosis, enterocele, rectocele & cystocele

Have you spoken with your dr? ? Are you walking, eating well, having regular bowel movements, is your temp normal, what is your pain on a 1-10 scale, are you sleeping???? Some things to think about....
Oh - I just reread your post - you just had surgery... I thought you said March and I got worried... sorry. Of course you have pain - you just had surgery a week ago but all those questions still need to be answered... Sandra

Yes, I just had surgery a week ago tomorrow. As much as I've been reading these posts, I still expect too much of myself. Like most of you, I am not used to being down! I see my doc on Friday to get the staples out and to be blood tested again. I'm all ready tired of laying down but can't be up too much. I hope to learn more from this forum!

i'm a week ahead of you but also anemic. there was a continual threat of transfusion but even with blood pressure that was ridiculously low (86 over 48), they held off. i'm on iron supplements (slow FE) twice a day again. (was on them before surgery)

i suck at doing nothing, not a good princess at all...especially since this is a solo act so if i don't do it or get it, it doesn't get done or get got! having said all that, i have had to learn to take it a day at a time. some days are better than others. we all heal at different rates and we have all had different types of surgery and various amounts of damage done to our bodies.

i had a TAH and find that the belly hurts way more than the incision. i did the prescription stuff for about 11 days (including hospital time) and now use ibuprofen. after 4 days home i was losing my mind!!! do a search on this forum for a post called "advice for the single woman going it alone". i was given some great suggestions of how to deal with the boredom!!!

whatever you do, give yourself a break. you had major surgery a week ago, your body was been assaulted and since you were so anemic, it doesn't have all the tools it needs to do the healing it needs to do. so listen to your body. sleep when you are tired, walk whenever you can and then sleep some more. the walking keeps things moving as well as increasing your stamina. follow the guidelines your doc gave you on what you can and cannot pick up..that's a biggie. going too far with that will lead to pain, pain, pain and possible serious damage.

and when you are bored, there are always folks around here.

Happy Healing!!!! hope this helps some. *hugs for being on your way*