Shoreline

Hey Music, Everyone is going to react differently to different types of anesthesia. 3 days or 4 days post op and still not feeling yourself is pretty normal.

Not taking meds to simply clear you head may be fine, but when it comes to managing the post op pain, there really is no benefit of suffering. If you have gone 24 hours without any pain med, it's not unusual to still need something, perhaps not quite as strong. One of the hydro products would likely work if you not tolerant to these meds.

When it comes time for PT, you will really wish you had pain meds around and without them it can slow your recovery. Using pain meds only for pain and sparingly is not going to turn you into an addict. When we talk about becoming dependent on meds, were talking about chronic pain being treating with pure long acting opiates around the clock for months. Dependence is inevatable for the CP patient using meds around the clock for months, But not post op for a few days or weeks. Especially if you use less and less and move to weaker and weaker meds.

Hope your feeling better soon. My wife has puked for 3 days following surgery from particular anesthetics. It just depends on what they gave you, how long you needed to be out and what kind of recovery time frame and into PT your talking as far as feeling better. Who told you that you would feel good as new in 4 days? It's just not realsistic if you had major recunstruction done, if you only take pain medicine when you need it for pain, Dilaudid only lasts 3-4 hours so it's not like a Dilaudid or Vicodon or percocet today is going to cloud your mind tomorow.The short acting meds have 2-3 hour half-lives meaning by 24 hours, there are just traces in your system and not enough to offer much relief. I would say your doing great if you don't need pain meds 4 days post op.

It's most likely the anesthesia they used that needs to clear your system and it just depends on how much, how long and what kind they used. There are varrious types and degrees of anesthesia from short acting twilight sedation + nerve blocks to deep sedation where you are on a ventilator for a 12 hour surgery.

Good luck, Dave