yup, me again :wave:

i figured i'd ask this in a seperate thread....

what pain meds did people find helpful after their surgery? i had a discectomy last tuesday, for pain i'm on oxycodone & tylenol, (and senna & colace). i feel lots of muscle fatigue and yesterday had a bad charlie horse feeling in my calf. i know my muscles are tired, and need to be worked/stretched, but i also know it's too early for that. i do walk around during the day so that is good. i think a muscle relaxant might help me overall. i have flexerall, but don't know if i can take it with oxycodone.

my docs ofc doesn't open for a while, and i'm super tired this morning from getting up and peeing all night (see one of my other posts) :yawn: . now both cats just threw up on the floor, and my husband has already left for work - excellent! oh - and it's that time of the month! :eek: SUPER EXCELLENT! happy monday morning to me!

The flexeril can be taken with oxy but the combo will most likely make you extremely tired.i would not take them at the exact same time but maybe space them out about two hours.Take the oxy and then wait like two hours and then add the flexeril.i used this combo after my surgeries because when they cut through the muscles in my neck(both back and front) it seemed to send all the surrounding muscles into a flippin frenzy.which resulted in these nasty little wads of muscle.I hope you are feeling better soon.Marcia

When I had a discectomy in 1999 (was 22 years old then) they didn't give me any narcotic pain meds. I was told to use tylenol. Thinking back on that it seems horribly cruel to put someone through that. I recently had a two-level fusion (I'm 28 years old now) in January and I'm still using pain meds after that surgery. I remember the pain and stiffness from the discectomy being pretty bad. It would have been nice to have the option of using better pain meds.

The physical therapist gave me exercises to do right after my discectomy in the hospital and to keep doing every day. I had calf cramping when I first started doing them but it went away in about a week. Do these while laying in bed and don't bend your back at all. Hopefully I can describe them so you can understand. Lay on your back with your legs straight out. With your legs flat on the bed lift your toes and feet up without lifting your leg off of the bed. Then lower your toes down as far as they will go. So basically just moving your foot up and down. Do up to 10 2-3 x day. This will stretch your calf muscle. It caused me cramps at first but worked great to stretch it out and loosen the muscle up.


Next one. Just lay on your back and flex your thigh muscles. Hold it for 5 seconds. Release and do up to 10- 3 x day.

Next one. Lay on your back and flex your butt muscles. Keep your back straight. Hold for 5 seconds do up to 10- 3 x day.

This one is standing. Just stand straight and hold on to a counter or something and push yourself up on your toes. Go up and down slowly. Do up to 10- 3 x day. This and the toe raises will help get rid of the calf cramping you are having.

There are a few more but they are hard to describe without showing. These my doctor recommended right in the hospital when I was laying in the hospital bed. It's a way to keep your muscles moving when you are stuck in bed. Just do them while keeping your back straight. They really helped me alot.