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Pain

How long after surgery should pain last? Its abdominal surgery, 4th this year, open and approx 8" in length. This time was 2 hernia removals and replacement of intestines as they were sitting in wrong place on upper abdominal wall is what i was told, flipped? My surgeon gave me a weeks worth of pills but im still hurting. Is it okay to ask for more pain pills or should i tough it out? I'm 10 days post op.
Poster
  • Female | 41 years old
  • Medications: OxyContin

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Featured Answer

3 UpVoted this answer Gordon A. Bodzin, MD, FACS General Surgeon, Mentor
Speak to your surgeon about your pain. It is not unusual to have pain 10 days after surgery but medications can cause additional problems if used for extensive periods.
Daniel Zanotti
2 UpVoted this answer Gordon A. Bodzin, MD, FACS General Surgeon, Mentor
You need to come off narcotics, they will impede your recovery. You need to walk and walk more each day. Extra strength Tylenol and motrin 600 mg (alternating, so you can take something every four hours) are better approaches at this time in your recovery. As long as your liver and kidneys work normally.

Hope this helps, feel better!
Mary Brady
1 UpVoted this answer
Yo need to speak to your surgeon. Normally 1-2 is max I would give in narcotics, however, every patient and their pain is different. Since you are on OxyContin your tolerance may be different and may need pain management.
1 UpVoted this answer
Everybody's pain is different and subjective. The rule of thumb is that if you have pain you should take pain pills. Please contact your plastic surgeon
Arian Mowlavi
1 UpVoted this answer
Pain is variable. It is not uncommon for patients to request pain medicine up to 2 weeks after surgery, by then doctors try to get the patients to handle the problems with lower levels of narcotics, then antiinflammatories.
Richard J. Greco
The more surgery you have, the more chronic pain you will suffer. I recommend avoiding further surgery if possible, particularly if the only indication is pain. It is well established that narcotics are not useful for the management of benign chronic pain. There can be numerous side effects such as GI problems and addiction. Pain receptors will also be upregulated with chronic narcotic use as well causing you to be more sensitive to pain. You should try non-narcotic alternatives.
Peter Muscarella
Post-operative pain control with anti-inflammatory medications like Ibuprofen has been proven to be more effective as compared to narcotics. Anti-inflammatory medications combined with an abdominal binder could help significantly after multiple abdominal operations.
It sounds as though you have had a ventral hernia repair?

Surgery of the abdomen is expected by be quite painful. In particular, repair of hernias generally requires sutures in the fascia.

The fascia is highly innervated. This means that surgery of the abdominal wall generally results in a lengthy recovery. Pain may be expected for weeks after surgery, but each patient is different. I generally begin post operative abdominal pain treatment with vicodin, percocet, or tylenol III. These are opioids combined with tylenol. However, opoid pain medications are widely known to cause constipation.

Thus, it is wise to gradually minimize the use of opioid pain medications and to transition to non-narcotic pain relievers such as ibuprofen. This is assuming you have no contraindication to the use of ibuprofen such as an allergy, GERD, or ulcer.

Good luck
In general by 10 days the need for narcotic reduces, with ibuprofen and tylenol bridging the gap. That being said you should have a post op visit with your surgeon.
Do not simply tough it out. Instead, go in and get evaluated. The post op check-ups should be included in your surgical fees, so it will not cost you anything to return for evaluation.

Depending on your repore of the surgeon, you may decide to get a second opinion.

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