MD refuses to give me more pain meds

Do you find your surgeons are rather reluctant to give enough pain meds? I had percocet for three weeks and requested aother pain med, perhaps vicodin, and my MD's nurse shut me down.
The nurse said I should be taking stricty ibuprofen now.
Ibuprofen works well but I find at the end of the day my belly is really sore and sensitive and I have a bit of a back ache and cramps. Bending over KILLS me and I try not to do it.
Any suggestions on how to approach this with my surgeon? I told the advice RN if I felt the same way next week I will call again.It is really sort of embarrassing to ask. I sweetly asked the advice RN if she ever had a hysterectomy and she said "no, dear".
I don't want to be overly aggressive but I don't think I am going to get addicted when I have a huge bikini scar with the steri-strips still on. I don't see my GYN - a woman - till 1/3/05.
What should I do? I want to be sweet about it.

Hi laddie

Only 30 oxycodone went home with me, and they wouldn't approve more. (TAH)
I got home on a Thurs, and the supply was gone by Monday afternoon. I went on my preop supply of naprosyn after that, and it was a rude, nasty and painful day on Tuesday. By Wednesday I was amazed the pain wasn't that much and the naprosyn handled it.
Everyone's experience is different - sounds like you had alot more pain than I did, but I haven't heard of too many of the sisters here being able to get much more than you did. If you are in pain, do keep asking. Sweetly? LOL - sister, you have to be a complete ***** about it - or they won't think you're in pain at all!

joano

I was sent home with Darvocet (no abdominal incision) and I took them all.

I ended up with unexplained pain in my side and the doctor gave me a milder pain med, which seemed to work fairly well.

I understand our doctors are very busy and often use office staff to answer questions and such, but maybe you should ask for the doctor to give you call so you can explain exactly what you're feeling.
They may have a different opinion than their nurse.

Laddie,

I had my surgery the same day and will have my post op the same day you have yours. I also went home with 30 percocet. I did try to get more pain meds. The nurse tried to call in percocet but there is a law that says you can't call in percocet for prescription, it has to be written, so they called in 10 vicodin. They were pretty good about it though.

I also had a TAH and three lap scars because they started with the lap and needed to finish abdominally.

I have been trying to use tylenol more since I can't take ibuprofen. I have a cough now that is causing more pain but I am down to three vicodin and want to save them. I actually have a prescription cough med that helps some with the cough but not as much with pain.

I think they are very careful with pain meds and I am always hesitant to ask for more. I was really good about cutting down after the first week so that I wouldn't run out so fast but I know how hard it is. I haven't had much help at home since my dad left and with Christmas here my dh took me shopping for over two hours one night. That was a killer.

I honestly believe I would be feeling a lot better if I didn't have the darn cough to deal with.

Hope your recovery gets better. We are on the same time frame and it isn't fun at this time of the year.

Lori

Most times DRs aren't being insensitive or mean when they refuse to continue to prescribe narcotic pain meds after the first couple of weeks. These meds are notoriously constipating, and staying on them long term can be detrimental to your overall recovery.

IMHO antiinflammatories do a good job after the very early recovery period, and have less danger of either constipating or addicting.

You might try asking how much ibuprofen you can take. My DRs have had me take as much as 800 mg every 6 hours as needed.

s,
-Linda

Thank God I have not needed much pain meds but I guess I was lucky my family doc came by and saw me the morning after my surgery and he wrote my script for my pain meds and gave me 60 mepergan fortis. I have only taken 20 since I came home.

I am very thankful for not having alot of pain....

Hope you start feeling better soon.

Shelley

Hello Laddie,
When I went in for my 2 week I was still having pain, I explained to my Dr I was still having pain by the end of the day, He said that was my body telling me I was doing too much,and thing with the pain meds is we tend to do more when we are on them because we dont feel pain which makes us hurt even more later, atleast that is what I have found with myself. I had surgery on 11/30, my Dr gave me 30 vicodin when i left the hospital, at my two week he gave me 40 more and I still take 1/2 at night for pressure and back pain. Call and leave a message for the Dr to call you, pester if you have to they will gve you more. Good Luck and I hope you start to feel relief soon.

I was terrified to run out of pain meds. My Dr. gave me a second perscription with the understanding that I would only take them if I absolutely had to. I promised her I would try to limit them to only at the end of the day and only if I really needed them. I haven't taken one tablet of the refilled perscription. While I still feel some pain, it's not unbearable. However, it's nice to know they are in the cupboard just in case.

The truth is I started to feel much better once I quit taking pain pills. I didn't realize what a fog I was in, until I stopped them. I now take a motrin about every 10 - 12 hours.

I agree with what Teenytine said about the pain meds allowing us to do too much. Those sore spots in my tummy have forced me to take it easy and let them heal.

I also feel a lot better psychologically. I'm more in touch with where I'm at in the healing process and am learning to monitor my ever changing limits.

Talk to your Dr. about the meds. Only you and your Dr. can determine if it's the right thing for you to continue to take them.

Good luck!

If your doc has your best interest in mind, there will be no more narcotics....am surprised that you already got 3 weeks' worth. I am a nurse AND had a TAH this year.

They're not so concerned about your being addicted, as they are about the narcotics having a negative impact on the recovery/healing process........VERY bad for the bowels, like surferbabe mentioned. And, like mentioned by the other wise women here, having too much pain control can falsely lead you into doing things that could cause you harm.

Something is wrong if you cannot get some form of pain control with over-the-counter meds at this point. THAT should be addressed, not just covered up with more narcotics.

Take care and keep us posted.....

Iwas only given 20 vicaden and almost unlimited ibubrofen 800 (1 ev. 8 hours). It hasn't been a week yet, and I am almost out of the vicaden. The ibubrofen might help more if I could take them more often. After reading all the postings I don't feel so bad. I guess I will try to tough it. I just remember in the hospital they kept telling me not to be herioc with the pain, as they now know healing is better when there is less pain. Maybe that only applies for a certain period of time.