severe pain postop

I woke up from surgery (tvh) in severe pain. Nothing helped. The nurses kept telling me I had a low pain threshold. I was just wondering if anybody else had bad pain after tvh, it felt like burning and stabbing, almost like contractions from labor pain. Im finally feeling better.

I am so sorry you are in such pain.......Mine went great I did not feel any pain at all after the surgery (TVH) also they did something to my bladder ( not sure what ) so I am sure this is not helping you but ask your doctor for something stronger for the pain.......No one should be in pain if it can ve helped..........I wish you well on your revocery.........Cheryl

I really REALLY hurt once I got my brain functioning again after surgery. While I was in the recovery room, the anesthesiologist stopped by and said I was on oxygen (I had a cannula in my nose and he told me to breathe through my nose as much as possible) because my respirations had dropped to 2 or 3 per minute during the surgery.

This may have happened to you too. Unfortunately, when the anesthesiologist lets your breathing rate drop that low, you build up lactic acid (like you do during an anaerobic workout and your muscles get sore) and that will hurt.

I was in serious pain when I woke up -- I told the recovery room nurse that it was 9 on a scale of 10 for me. It took a lot of Fentanyl to get me to stop complaining so they could hook me up to the morphine pump.

See if you can get hold of your surgery report and check out your respiratory rate. I would bet your anesthesiologist let you get low, and maybe you had some internal bleeding they didn't clean up very well.

I sure hope you're feeling better now.

Hello myhouse,
Sorry to hear you had so much pain. :-(
What type of pain medication did they give you? I was on the morphine pump first then pain pills. I had a hard time adjusting to the pills. They had to give me shots for the breakthrew pain.
Glad to hear you are feeling better!

Debbie [withope]

	Quote:
Originally posted by MessyMe This may have happened to you too. Unfortunately, when the anesthesiologist lets your breathing rate drop that low, you build up lactic acid (like you do during an anaerobic workout and your muscles get sore) and that will hurt.

Hi MessyMe,
Thanks for posting this. Makes perfect sense and could very well be the reason my pain level was so intense.

I woke up on O2 also. Stayed on it for 24 hrs.
I was told by my husband that they said; I had a 'hard time waking up', that I was put under deep.

Unlike you [lucky me] I do not remember waking up in recovery.
This has been strange for me as I have had 3 previous surgeries and remember the recovery rm each time. It was one of the things I dreaded worst.
My last memory was going into surgery and first was being in my rm pushing the button on the pump. I do not even remember being took to my rm and transferred to my bed.

I am 9 days post-op and the pain issue is a LOT better! :-)
Well wishes to you,
Debbie [withope]

I have a dear friend who is an anesthesiologist at a different hospital, and I sure wish she had been the one to knock me out and bring me back. When I told her what my a-guy had said about my breathing during surgery, she nearly blew a fuse! She said she wanted his name so she could call him up and holler at him.

She says she never lets a patient breathe less than 8 times per minute while under anesthesia, and the way I felt when I woke up was a clear illustration of why she does that. I plan to let her read this guy the riot act -- he's fairly young and could probably use a little slapping around.

Hope you're feeling better soon. Don't you wish you could take that morphine pump home??

I'm taking 1 1/2 Ultram tabs in the morning now, and 1 1/2 Vicodin at bedtime. Breathing helps a lot!

Hi back at ya fellow 7/2 sister! :-)
I'll get my surgery report and have it faxed right over if it mentions the risp's on it and she can give him what for also. :-P
My Anesthesiologist was also young, so go figure!

Wawaaaaaaa, you bet I'd like to have brought that pump home! LOL

You sound like your doing pretty good 9 days post-op. :-)
I'm getting there slowly. I ended up having a vertical incision, so am blaming all my problems on it. :-)

I did make a huge change for the better a couple days ago and each day gets a little better. Nights and mornings still seem to be the worse. Reduced pain meds till those times. I am taking 7.5 lortab. One at night & one in the morning.
This morning I thought I had it licked, and did not have to take a pill. I got up and set/layed in the L.Rm for about 3 hrs. YEAH!!
But ended up having to take one this afternoon.

Keep taking good care of yourself!
Debbie [withope]

Good Lord, I wish I knew about the morphine pump. I had demerol iv and then percocet. it never touched the pain. Finally one nurse gave me oxycontin at night. Then percocet and valium together. My pain was still at a 7. Some nurses kept saying I had a low pain threshold. Im a dental hygienist. Id like to get ahold of one of their mouths and show them a low pain threshold.

	Quote:
Originally posted by myhouseisazoo Good Lord, I wish I knew about the morphine pump. I had demerol iv and then percocet. it never touched the pain. Finally one nurse gave me oxycontin at night. Then percocet and valium together. My pain was still at a 7. Some nurses kept saying I had a low pain threshold. Im a dental hygienist. Id like to get ahold of one of their mouths and show them a low pain threshold.

LOL, Myhouse!
You just keep those dental cleaning tools at a distance! :-P

In all seriousness, pain is a real issue that is ignored way to much by today's medical feild, in my opinion.
If one is lucky enough to get a Dr. that treats their pain they have found a real jewel.

I was on the pump for a little less than 24 hrs. My Nurse that morning had mentioned that the Dr would probably keep me on it that day as I was havig some pain issue's even then.
He had it removed that morning. Waawaaaaaaaaaa
And I was put on Percocet. That evening the pain got so bad my DH called the Nurse's and the Dr on call ordered me a Demerol shot for the breakthrew pain.
I went home the next day with a script of 30 percocets and it was made mention by the Dr that that should be more than enough!
Well needless to say come Monday [released on FrI] I was in the need of a refill.
I was scared to even call in and ask for the refill but did so and recieved a call in order for 20 lortabs 7.5 which I am nursing for all they are worth!

Call me bitter~ but I really do not believe that I should be 9 days post-op with an incision from my belly button down below my hair line and be concerned with having to decide "when" my pain warrents a pain pill!

It seems this is the way among almost all Dr's and surgen these days. My DH had a wrist fusion 28 days later they told him it was time for him to manage his pain with over the counter meds.
Excuse me- having a bone graft and a screw run up threw the wrist and the Dr explaining it would be worse pain involved than a broken wrist, and 28 days later it time for over the counter pain control?? His BPrussure meds had to be doubled to avoid a stroke as the pain has kept the BP increased.
I understand there is fear of dependancy but jeesh what happened to pain control???
Well I'll get off my soap box and kick back now, don't want to aggreviate any thing, I've already took 1 pill today and got to make these streach............... :-P

Take care,
Debbie [withope]

When I woke up from surgery I heard myself moaning They kept giving me pain med and it didnt help. The first night was rough. I wondered if the anesthesiologist didnt give me enough meds in the O.R. or something. I know what you mean about the postop pain. I was wondering if that wasnormal pain to have or something wasnt right.