Continued Pain 8 months post-op

I haven't been on in a while. I've been trying to just face facts and move on with my life. I'm still having considerable right pelvic pain following my TAH in March. I've had ultrasound, CT with contrast, and an exploratory Laprascopic surgery. Nothing has been revealed. The surgeon literally said, there is nothing more I can do for you. Now they are saying that my only option is a pain specialist. Thing is, I don't want to learn to live with pain. I believe that pain is our bodies way of telling us there is something wrong. I haven't been asking for pain meds, they haven't even been offering. I just simply want to figure out what is wrong and get it taken care of. I can't live on pain meds, I have a 7 year old that I homeschool. I am completley frustrated. Tongiht my pain level is pretty high, probably around an 8 or 9. And for the past week or so I've been having uncontrollable abdominal spasms especially when I am laying down. My family doc, listens, takes lot's of notes but doesn't give me much feedback and I just don't know whether to stick it out with her or make the decision to move on to someone else. What would be the benefit of "starting over" going through the history and possibly repeating tests that have already been done. So very tired, so very sad. I just want to be living a normal life.

A pain specialist actually might not be a bad idea. One thing that can occur for those of us who have dealt with chronic pain is that even after the source of the pain is eliminated, our nerves forget how to stop sending pain signals. Thus, we really can be in pain for absolutely no reason at all except our body is stuck and needs reset!

In order to reset our system, medications that interrupt the nerve signals may be needed or possibly something like bio-feedback. A pain specialist could be very helpful in this area.

Also, if you are tensing against the pain you are feeling--even if it is from nerve signals and not from an actual physical source--that tension could be causing the spasms you are feeling along with and a whole chain reaction of symptoms.

I would suggest keeping a very detailed symptom diary and then meet with a pain specialist. You might try using ReliefInsite’s online pain diary. Take the diary with you to your appointment and share it with the specialist. S/he may be able to tell from your medial records and diary what is going on--whether it is a physical problem or a nerve issue. Then the specialist could help formulate the right treatment program for you which may include medications, physical therapy, bio-feedback, etc. Pain specialists can offer more than than pain medications and I think at least a consultation with one could be very helpful for you!

in there! I know it can be very miserable and depressing to live in pain day in and day out so my goes out to you and your situation!

Weiser is giving you some great advice? Can you describe the pain you are feeling?

One thing I have learned in all this is that we all react to surgery differently. Some women walk away with a great outcome post-hysterectomy and some of us have ongoing problems to be addressed. I tense up from the nerve pain and one thing that helped me was a muscle relaxer. It kept me from tensing up so much that what the adhesions had tied up didn't get pulled too much.

Don't hesitate to ask questions and look for support from this site, the ladies here are great.

I'm going on 7 months and the entire area above my incision feels bruised. Also my right side hurts and at times goes numb. 3 months ago my ob/gyn sent me for a CT scan and it came back normal. When I went in to see him last week about my HRT issues I asked him about the bruised feeling and he said some people have chronic pain after surgery and it should go away by the 1 year mark. So it went from 6 weeks, to 3 months, to 6 months and now a year? Getting a little frustrated. and it doesn't help that I'm also dealing with disc and vertabrae issues in my lower back. I guess I'm just falling apart..

Thanks ladies,
I haven't logged on in a while as my computer access is limited.
@ trmooney, the pain is constant. a dull ache specifically on the lower right side of the pelvis. It changes slightly positionally. My description goes like this.
I have a billiards ball size and shaped pain in the lower right pelvis. It hurts especially if I am sitting up straight. The pain changes positionally. When laying down, if I roll to my right side, the pain feels like it is crushing my hip, if I roll to the left side, it feels like it is pulling into the left cavity. sitting up straight feels like I my right side is crushing down into my pelvic girdle. Sexually the pain increases depending only upon his location in regards to the area. The sexual pain is not related to vaginal dryness, only position.
The pain also increases when I have prolonged and extended activity and can send me to bed for days. Travelling in a vehicle for more than a few minutes drive is torture.

I saw my doctor again on Monday, took the dh along. we now have a game plan. We are doing a colonoscopy to continue ruling out causes there, I've also had a lot of diarrhea and hemorroids so we want to make sure that it's not related to the pain. And the pain specialist will be calling to set up an appt. Funny how the dh's presence made such a difference in the way the doc communicated with us. Makes me feel like she thought I was just making this up. idk i'm super sensative at the moment.

Thanks for your comments. Hugs to all

Sorry to hear that you are still having problems. Sounds like you have a good plan...hopefully some answers and relief soon. I took my DH to every appt over the last yr...he can "detach" himself emotionally from this a bit and talk to the doctors from a "logical" standpoint and then he let them know the emotional toll this has been on me. Keep taking him along. Keep us posted as to your results!!!

Your pain sounds alot like mine. I had a TVH vs a TAH. My pain is on the right and its like its in the area where my leg and pelvis meet and when it gets worse it wraps around the whole pelvic bone to the back. I can see swelling on that side as well. Its never on the left either. And its different if I lay on that side, I can't sit for too long, can't stand and put pressure on that side for too long and driving is brutal. The gyn that did my surgery said it would get better over time that it was probally a pinched nerve, its been 7 months and no improvement at all. I went to a Urogyn that specializes in Pelvic Floor reconstruction and he says I have vulvodynia, I really dont think thats it though. He did botox and physical therapy a week ago in the OR, he says that will "fix" me. I'm not thinking so, the pain is exactly the same in that right side and the dilaudid they gave me post op doesn't even touch it. I have been using ice and heating pads for months to get a small amount of relief and my PCP made me go back to the gyn a few months ago and said this is not normal recovery. I, like you, can't see just learning to live the rest of my life like this. I have small children and I'm what they consider "young". I would love to hear anyone's input on this and if there's hope for relief

I finally asked my PCP to schedule me for a colonoscopy. I took it upon myself to see a chiropractor. Turns out my tailbone and pelvis are out of whack, and the adjustments have been helping with the back and hip pain, but not the abdo pain. will have colonoscopy next week'