Surgery and pain

[themalteser]

Hello everyone - quick question,m to those who had hear surgery. From a scale 1 - 10, how bad was your pain after surgery? Some people describes surgery as its like being hit by a bus, do they mean in terms of pain or other things?

 

[almost_hectic]

Constantly asked to rate my pain throughout hospital stay. I think it neve got above 6 or 7 but was well managed with pain meds. That being said, don't focus on that going in, it's nothing you can do much about anyway. Stay positive and focused on doing whatever they say you need to do, eat, walk, breathing machine, poop, whatever simple things actually all add up to a speedy recovery. It's very simple one you get on board

 

[ejc61]

I had minimally invasive mitral valve repair. In the hospital I always remember saying pain a 4 with pain meds. Probably a little less once I got home a I was sent home with percocet. Gradually stopped pain meds at home by week 2.

 

[almost_hectic]

I forgot to add, be nice, be thankful, to your caregivers. If you're not because your too consumed by being miserable it not going to help anyone. Especially you. Tough as it is, remain optimistic and kind to your caregivers, otherwise theirs is a thankless job, and that would be an insult to how hard they work!

 

[MethodAir]

AVR + ascending aorta repair. Sternal incision pain was surprisingly negligible. But I was in a lot of discomfort, with pressure from the pleural effusions, and extreme thirst (6 to 7 discomfort). Felt quite a bit better once the tubes were out and I could walk around somewhat...but was still a long way off from being back on my feet.

 

[Zoltania]

My surgery and experience were similar to ejc61's. The pain in the hospital was never terrible, though I don't know what it would have been like if the medical staff hadn't been controlling my pain well. All the pain has been at and near my incision, not in the rest of my body, though I too was told that it would feel like getting run over by a truck. I think the combination of being relatively young (OK, you 20- to 40-somethings, laugh if you want, but it's all relative) and not having a sternotomy helped there.

I've been home for a week and a half and am still taking one or two oxycodones per day, alternating with Tylenol. I would take more Tylenol and less oxycodone, but I'm only allowed 2000 mg of Tylenol per day because of the Coumadin, so that's only three doses which isn't enough to cover the day and night yet. Most nights I still take Tylenol in the middle of the night. Last night I didn't but regretted it in the morning. You really do need to stay ahead of the pain. Even if the pain isn't severe, it slows you down and impairs your breathing and your mood. I have noticed a significant improvement since I've been home -- I can pull the bedsheet up over me with my right arm now, which I couldn't do when I first got home. And I felt up to blow-drying my hair for the first time two days ago, which was a nice little milestone.

Claudia Z.

 

[Paleowoman]

The pain I had immediately post surgery when I was in ICU was negligible, it was very well controlled. When the drain tubes were removed I felt no pain at all. Once out of ICU and into high denpendency and the ward I was put onto different pain meds (Tramadol and dihydrocodene) and the pain became very bad. Just got side effects - gut problems, repsiratory problems and complete (and serious) loss of appetite (DGAF - see that thread - too). The nursing staff never asked me to describe the level of pain. When I told them that the pain was bad they simply increased the meds. They didn't change them to different type. I have since found out that something like 10% of people don't respond well to the codeine meds, including Tramadol, Hydrocodone, Oxycodon etc due to needing a certain liver enzyme, here: http://www.worstpills.org/public/page.cfm?op_id=414 My hospital was at fault with not being on top of my pain. This partly caused pleural effusions at one week. On discharge I fell on my sternum, hospital told me to increase pain meds to such a high level I started to experience hallucinations. I stopped the pain meds and had nothing. GP put me on oramorph but it was too late and I had bad pain for about two to three weeks - nearly readmitted to hospital as things going wrong due to pain and gut problems caused by mixture of pain and the meds I'd had !

The pain was bone pain in the sternum.

I know for next time to make sure nusring staff give me good pain meds as it's really important to help a person recover well. I didn't like to complain too much but should have - I made a formal complaint to the hospital some weeks later when I felt well and got an apology.

 

[big_L]

The pain was not bad, maybe 4-5. The "being hit by a bus" description commonly thrown around (IMHO) isn't really about the pain, it's about the loss of stamina, inability to do much for awhile, dependency on others. Some may disagree.

After two days, I wasn't hitting the pain 'clicker' for the IV pain meds much. I only asked for oral pain meds at night, hoping they might help me sleep.

A lot of people believe that the pain is less for older patients.

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi big_L - you were given a pain clicker for IV meds for the first two days ? You see I was never given any clicker for IV meds even in ICU, nursing staff controlled it, but controlled it well in ICU. I was put on oral meds end of day 1 when I was moved out of ICU and that's when it went downhill. Seems like you got given good pain management, that makes all the difference.

I was told "hit by a bus" by my cardiologist re the pain level. PS told that three weeks later, not beforehand. I wasn't expecting a lot of pain.

 

[MrsBray]

I agree with Big-L, loss of stamina and inability to do anything. I never rated my pain higher than a 6, and that was for back pain before the drain tubes came out. There might have been once or twice that I called out when they were moving me from bed to chair and back the first two days. And the time i did a belly flop on the bed while chasing a cat in week 4. I didn't move for almost 20 minutes.

My last narcotic was 48 hours after coming out of surgery. I used tylenol after that.

I always thought I was a big baby regarding pain, but I was never reduced to tears. I would rate the 4 days after-surgery as decreasing extreme discomfort, with quick starbursts of level 5+ pain.
it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

 

[Odie]

As I woke up in ICU the pain was really intense. Apparently there was confusion over how my pain should be treated due to a pain-medication allergy I had reported that was on my chart. While the ICU staff sorted things out I dropped F-bombs. That sounds much worse than it was because I was very groggy as I woke up. My wife says that while I was carpet bombing the place I was insisting my level of pain was a 5... and then falling back asleep. Once on pain medication I never suffered at all for the remainder of my stay and recovery. There was some discomfort at times but if it ever reached a level that bothered me there was always a pill available for relief.

 

[Vincent63]

Pain was never really that bad ... Discomfort was there especially when trying to turn in bed or if I coughed it was a but sore but after about three weeks I was off all painkillers . Now I am six weeks post op and feel tender at times and a little sore sometimes but nothing I would describe as bad ... In fact I have way more energy now than I had 6 weeks before the op so take the positives ... We are all different ... Listen to your body and keep thinking about the positives.

 

[Zoltania]

big_L posted:

"A lot of people believe that the pain is less for older patients."

That's what my surgeon told me. He said that patients in their 70s and up have less-active nerve endings than patients in their 50s and below. I don't know, though... maybe older patients are just tougher!

Claudia Z.

 

[ejc61]

My surgery and experience were similar to ejc61's. The pain in the hospital was never terrible, though I don't know what it would have been like if the medical staff hadn't been controlling my pain well. All the pain has been at and near my incision, not in the rest of my body, though I too was told that it would feel like getting run over by a truck. I think the combination of being relatively young (OK, you 20- to 40-somethings, laugh if you want, but it's all relative) and not having a sternotomy helped there.

I've been home for a week and a half and am still taking one or two oxycodones per day, alternating with Tylenol. I would take more Tylenol and less oxycodone, but I'm only allowed 2000 mg of Tylenol per day because of the Coumadin, so that's only three doses which isn't enough to cover the day and night yet. Most nights I still take Tylenol in the middle of the night. Last night I didn't but regretted it in the morning. You really do need to stay ahead of the pain. Even if the pain isn't severe, it slows you down and impairs your breathing and your mood. I have noticed a significant improvement since I've been home -- I can pull the bedsheet up over me with my right arm now, which I couldn't do when I first got home. And I felt up to blow-drying my hair for the first time two days ago, which was a nice little milestone.

Claudia Z.

You go girl. Glad you're feeling well.

 

[Paleowoman]

At the risk of upsetting some people - I think pain following surgery depends on several factors and not on whether a person is "tough" or "weak" - whatever tough or weak means, how do you measure it ? The toughest person in the world can get a lot of pain and the weakest person can get less pain. A lot of the pain a person gets post surgery depends on what went on in surgery and what pain medications are given following surgery. All of us had different surgeons, different protocols etc.

I had a lot of pain following surgery because the pain killers they gave me did not work and so I went 'downhill'…and maybe, just maybe (I'm still trying to find out) it was because I have a depressed sternum which means that it was more awkward to access my aortic valve - the surgeon had to do a median sternotomy which wasn't planned, she'd planned a minimally invasive cut, But if you asked me if I was "tough" I'd say yes. I certainly didn't cry or moan. As an example of my 'toughness', years ago when I was in labour with my son everything was going wrong and I was in serious pain. I told the nursing staff of the intense pain I was in but I didn't cry or moan…, I'm not that type. Around me other women on the labour ward were crying out loud. I started to pass out as the pain got so intense and it was only then that the nursing staff took me seriously and realised something was wrong (in the end I had to have an emergency caesarean as son was stuck as my pelvis, they discovered, was too small to ever give birth naturally). As another example of my 'toughness' - a few years ago I had a colonoscopy. I elected to have the colonoscopy without sedation or pain relief as there are advantages to that. Usually people have sedation and pain relief because colonsocopy can be pretty painful. I did not make a squeak - the theatre staff and gastrodoc were amazed !

I never expected to have bad pain following cardiac surgery - it was quite a nasty surprise. But not everyone will get that. I don't think it can be forecast.

 

[almost_hectic]

My surgeon told me that surgery is hardest on their young and healthy patients. He explained that his old fragile patients don't have hardly anything there in terms of muscle mass when they make an incision. Therefore far less "pain" receiving tissue that needs to mend. He said young healthy people with more active muscle will experience far more physical pain. He also said the younger patient has higher expectation of returning to activity levels before surgery that old people don't. So it's more of a struggle to be active again and that's where we experience pain. Then of course there's like Paleogirl describes, everyone is different, surgeons and patients for that matter. Not every surgeon will prescribe the same pain meds, just as not every patient will respond to the same pain meds. My pain was pretty well controlled. But the pain meds were what made me miserable, killing my attitude, my spirit to get better. I was a very ugly me, but not because I was in pain.

 

[Cooker]

My pain on that scale was about a 3 in the hospital. At home it was negligible. The stamina bus is the one that they talk about I think depends on the shape you are in at the start.

Had my avr at age 49, drove at 2 weeks, back to work in 4. Everyone is different.

 

[Paleowoman]

Well Cooker - I was extremely fit prior to surgery - I keep saying I was weight lifting (not girlie weights) and walked six miles the day before surgery. I had no cardiac symtpoms either. I would have had active muscle to cut through ! Also being so fit prior to surgery it took a while to get back to that level !

But you know something very thought provoking here. On another thread re the choice between mechanical and tissue valves, some who had mechanical valves are saying they wouldn't want to go through this surgery again, and their surgeons described the surgery as "brutal" ! And on this thread some people said they were taking Tylenol just a few days post surgery. Tylenol is paracetamol ! So on the one hand we have peope saying the surgery is so brutal they don't want it again while others saying pain so mild that all they need is paracetamol (an over the counter stuff for minor aches and headaches) !

 

[neil]

for me I was over the moon at the lack of pain, 4 to 5 until I snezzed then it went off the scale lol,

 

[almost_hectic]

Well Cooker - I was extremely fit prior to surgery - I keep saying I was weight lifting (not girlie weights) and walked six miles the day before surgery. I had no cardiac symtpoms either. I would have had active muscle to cut through ! Also being so fit prior to surgery it took a while to get back to that level !

But you know something very thought provoking here. On another thread re the choice between mechanical and tissue valves, some who had mechanical valves are saying they wouldn't want to go through this surgery again, and their surgeons described the surgery as "brutal" ! And on this thread some people said they were taking Tylenol just a few days post surgery. Tylenol is paracetamol ! So on the one hand we have peope saying the surgery is so brutal they don't want it again while others saying pain so mild that all they need is paracetamol (an over the counter stuff for minor aches and headaches) !

Put me in the group who never want to go through this again.