Post-surgical pain
 

Had my gallbladder out yesterday. I've been taking percocet (1 every 3 hours). I'm in more pain today than I was yesterday, probably since all of the heavy drugs wore off. I've been laying around, but the only position that doesn't hurt as much is laying flat on my back, and then my back is getting sore and my stomach still hurts. The pain is mostly from the incisions, I think. I took a valium, too, and I think I'm a bit more loopy but still in pain. I have been icing some, too, which helps a bit. Any other suggestions about pain control? I haven't really been able to sleep much at all. Last night I slept maybe 6 hours or so, and I haven't napped at all. So basically I'm just getting really crabby.

So I guess I'm just complaining, and if anybody has any suggestions that would be great. Thanks.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Had mine out on Thurs. the 7th. It is late Sat. afternoon and I just felt like I could sit at the computer to check out the other surgeries this week. I was at the hospital a total of 9hrs. The first night was so bad trying to get out of bed to go pee!!! I don't know how many times I was up. Husband had to help me sit up, then I was okay getting out of bed. Last night I slept in a recliner and only had to get up once and had no problem. But there is a lot more pain then I ever thought there would be. Have been walking around a lot to get rid of shoulder pain. Yesterday at one point I just sat and cried it hurt so bad but then went away. Only have 5 pain pills left. Took 3 of mine for today by noon so have to wait until tonight until I can take another. Don't even remember taking the 3. Took 1 at 6:00a.m. but thats the only one I remember. Feeling much better this afternoon. Took a shower and got off most of the iodine or what ever that was. I had one spot that was like an egg sticking out but now that has gone down. I think that was the area that was hurting so bad yesterday. I think I will be able to sleep in bed tonight if I can get up from the prone position. Hope everyone else is doing okay.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Sorry to hear that you feel so bad. I am starting to feel a little better. I think a lot of my pain last night was gas. I was a much better patient today and stayed on the couch instead of going out. Today I slept until 10, then slept on the couch until 3:30. Took two walks around the block, but that's it. I actually took a shower today, too. It's really cool what they can do these days. They painted this clear stuff over my incisions, and I can shower without covering them or anything. Which is really good because I'm not sure how I would have gotten my stomach into a plastic bag! Hope you feel better soon.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Hi! I had my gall bladder out about two years ago. The first day it hurt a lot when I tried to move or walk around, but I did it anyway since I was told the sooner I move the better off I would be. I would say it took about a week or so until I felt a lot better and was able to get in and out of bed pretty easily. The pain and feeling I had was probably similiar to my two c-sections, but within about two weeks I was just fine. Just give it a little time.

Staci

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

I tried to sleep on the couch last night. It hurt too much, I moved to the recliner. A lot of pain when I try to breath. They said to take deep breaths so I have been forcing myself to work past the point of pain. Think I'm feeling better today. Getting more pain pills because they do help. The one hole above by navel is swollen and tender but my husband said they told him that is where they take everything out through. Also have pain in the back lower right. I think all the gas pain is pretty much gone. Guess I will try to walk off some of the other pain!!

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Your lucky to have the clear bandaids over your incisions. All I had was surgical tapes and I wasn't allowed to remove them for a week! When I did remove them I was surprised to see a gigantic bruise around my bellybutton incision :eek:
Kehorner, I don't know how on earth you can go for a walk so easily!! I could barely get up to go to the bathroom the first 2 days. The gas pain was unbearable for me. It's been 12 days since surgery and I still have a bit of gas lodged in my abdomen...don't know if that's normal :confused:
I wish you all a healthy and pain free recovery!

Donna

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Some people do seem to have more gas than others after the operation. As for the incision in the belly button, it is true that this is the area where the gall bladder is removed from, so it makes sense that this is the area that will hurt the most after the surgery. I remember complaining a lot about my belly button and couldn't wait to get the stitches removed. I had tape over the area, but only when I went back to the surgeon I realized that the stitches were actually staples. I am glad I didn't know that there was a staple in my belly button at the time. Some surgeons use them and some don't, but either way the belly button is probably the most sensitive area.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Had my gallbladder surgery on March 14th. Had to be at the hospital at 8:00 am and was back at home by 12:30. They gave me a shot for pain and 2 pain pill before I left, so the first day...I slept like a baby.

Next day I was in a good bit of pain from the incision and from the gas. It really took me about week and 1/2 before I was able to get up/down and move around without any soreness.

Just hang in there, it does get better.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

My belly button doesn't hurt at all. The one above my belly button is bigger looking, more tape and swollen. One nurse told my husband that was the one they take all the big stuff out. Then the hole to my right over from that one hurts too. My lower back right hurts when I take a deep breath. Just a quick stabing pain. I have not taken my 3rd pain pill for the day yet. Saving it for bed and during the night. Going to try to sleep on the couch tonight. We have one of those electric beds but it is hard for me to get up and out of it. Maybe I will try that and put the back up when I need to get up and then swing my legs and get out. Going to test that out. The couch is lower but still hard to get up from. The recliner was my best sleeping so far!!

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

I guess I'm lucky that I didn't have any gas pains. Mostly, it doesn't hurt too much if I don't move. I went out to dinner tonight and drove the waiter nuts. I asked for a side salad, fruit, and mashed potatoes. He was a bit confused. Being vegetarian and on a very low fat diet just isn't easy! I haven't had any problems eating fat yet, but I'm taking it easy. Lots of fruit, pudding, and graham crackers. Tomorrow I'm going to go to a class. My main issue with going out right now is that I can't wear jeans because they hurt my bellybutton. So I'm going everywhere in my sweatpants. Hopefully I can wear real pants by Thursday so I don't have to teach in sweats. I don't have any staples. They used dissolving stitches and then the glue stuff. I'm a bit confused, as I've been finding some random bruises. It appears that I got two shots in my shoulder, even though I had an IV in. And then I've got an area of spotty bruises on the back of my thigh. Makes me wonder what actually happened while I was out! Happy healing...

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Hi there - I remember the post-op pain like it was yesterday and I had my GB out in 1997!

I was on Darvocet for a couple days after surgery, but I actually got better pain control from OTC ibuprofen. I took about 600-800 mg every 6 hrs, and within a week, the pains (surgery and gas) were pretty much gone.

Good luck to all of you on your recovery,
Katie G

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

I had to go back to the Dr. on Tues. I was in so much pain in my lower back and could not breath very well. He tool chest x-ray and did some blood work up. Found a spot on my lung so had to go to hospital for more tests the next day. They check my oxygen in my lungs and the blood flow. The results were back today but the Dr. had an emergency so after sitting there in some pain, not as bad as Tues., for two hours I left. Had to get my pain pills refilled. So they are to call me tomorrow. Just checking to make sure I didn't have a blood clot or something. I think the worse is over and should be better in the next few days. I have never had such pain my whole life!! I figured it was not from the surgery site.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Sounds like you are having a rough time! I hope that you feel better very soon and that it's nothing serious. I am doing well with the pain, but I have been getting nauseous a bit the past few days. The good news is that because I've been eating so low-fat and not feeling like eating much, I have lost 5 pounds since my surgery. Maybe it's not the best weight loss strategy, but it's working. I have my followup with the surgeon on Monday. Also, my incisions are itching!!! Again, hope you feel better soon!

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Dr. office called today and said everything was fine with my tests. No blood clots. But I did have some congestion in my right lung and I should have another x-ray next week with my regular Dr. It is better but still some pain when I take a deep breath on the right side of my lower back. I'm not having any itching but the biggest hole above my belly button sure is tender and burns. I may have to cover it in the day time so nothing rubs on it. The puppy managed to jump up on me today and hit it with her nail. We are all going to sleep in the bed tonight!! Husband is tired of being in the motorhome with his puppy. I will have to keep a pillow on my chest just in case one of the dogs walks on me!! Last nite I tried to lay on my left side and that really made the pain on my rightside really hurt!! But this morning I rolled on my right side and it felt okay. Still going to take a pain pill tonight.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

I had mine out June 2004. I felt a million times better one week afterwards & was 100% 2 weeks after the surgery. The only meds I was prescribed was Vicodin & didn't use them at all after first week. Good luck to everyone :)

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

I made it through the night with my husband and two dogs back in bed! I feel real good today and I have not take any pain pills. So I guess the worse is all over for me which is great with me!! It is so nice out I think I will get out and walk around and visit the neighbors!

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

I think I split my bellybutton open... I reached over to the side to grab something, and it sort of hurt, then it felt cold like it was wet. I looked in and there's a spot that looks sort of white and shiny (although the stuff they painted over the stitches is shiny, too). It definitely hurts more since then. It's weird, though, because I can't really tell if there's a hole there, or how far in it goes. Nothing is oozing out of it, so I guess it's okay. I just hope I didn't do any serious damage.

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Ouch! Let's hope that your belly-button is ok. There was a couple times I thought I split mine open because I had some severe pain when I would try to get up using my stomach muscles, but it was fine. I still have a bruise around it 3 weeks after my surgery! :rolleyes: Anyone know how long before it goes away?...it's not very pretty. :eek: My other incisions are nothing but scars now.
Anyone else been having some serious heartburn? Almost every night this week I have woken up with some bad heartburn. :confused:

Donna

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

I saw the doc today for my followup. He said that the pain was just scar tissue breaking up and that at this point I shouldn't be worried about splitting open my sutures. He cleared me for any activity I want to do and said that things are healing well. Apparently I had so many stones and some of them were so big that he actually had to enlarge one of the holes to pull it all out and had to crush some of the stones and take them out to get the gallbladder out. I had some that were over 2 cm! So that explains why the one incision is twice as long as the other three. He also found signs of chronic inflammation, so it's good that it's gone.

When I got home I noticed that some of the clear stuff that they painted over my incisions was peeling off of my bellybutton, so I started messing with it (and kept messing with it, and continued to mess with it) and (eventually) this huge chunk of that stuff came out. So that incision is pretty much healed, and now that I got that chunk of hard stuff out of there it feels a lot better! I'm trying to hold off on messing with the other ones, though, because they seem to be a bit more tender... maybe they are healing slower for some reason. I'm just annoyed because I still can't wear a bra because it rubs on the top incision. I complained to the surgeon about it... He said that all the women complain, but that's where it needs to be. I got some snug-fitting tank tops to wear that help a bit, but it's getting a bit warm here in Phoenix to be wearing two shirts (98 today)!

Anyway, I have read that bile refluxing into the stomach becomes more common after gallbladder removal. And bile is just as bad as acid and can cause gastritis. I don't know if acid reflux also increases. I haven't noticed an increase in acid reflux since my surgery, but I had a mild case before the surgery (as well as bile reflux and gastritis). I haven't had a decrease in symptoms, though.

I hope that everybody else is healing well and getting back on their feet!

Re: Post-surgical pain
 

Glad to hear your doing so well. Hows the nausua now? Sounds like you made a good decision to have your gallbladder out. Did your tests before surgery show the stones that large?

Finally got the referral from my HMO to have mine out, still have to set up the appt to see the surgeon. My PCP couldn't give me any guarantee's that it will relieve all my pain because of the PLD but said it needed to come out.