When did you stop needing pain meds? Today was my 1st full day at home (Tues the 31st was my surgery).

I'm in so much pain on my left side....hurts so so bad.

Just curious about when others were able to get by without pain meds.

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The bariatric lady at the hospital and the nurse both told me to follow the prescription for the first four days at home. I went home on a Tuesday and stopped taking them Saturday. They said it was better to take them as prescribed so as not to get in pain and then have to wait for them to kick in.

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Is the pain you're feeling from an incision site or just an overall feeling of pain along one side?

If it is the overall pain it likely is from trapped gas they use to inflate the abdomen to get in there with the surgical tools. Many docs now try to remove the gas as much as possible because it does hurt like anything when trapped. The best thing is to get up and walk around often; the more you move, the more it works the gas out.

If it is an incision site, it likely is the large one where they pull the stomach through; that one hurts more because it's got stitches in the muscle area (the other incisions are small enough not to need that) so it does tend to hurt more. The only thing to do is keep up the pain meds on schedule. If you are in pain, don't try to stretch out the length of time between dosages as it may let the pain get worse.

If the pain is bad, then call your doctor's office. Pain should be manageable with the pain meds and if not, then you may need to get in to see them or get something else that works better. But if it so bad you literally are crying and the meds aren't touching the pain - especially if you are running a temperature, you might need to go to the ER as intense pain with fever can indicate a leak.

Hope you feel better soon!

Edited June 2, 201610 yr by FrankiesGirl

1st 2 days home were the worst for me. 3rd day was MUCH better ....and continued to improve.

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I had surgery on a Tuesday, went home on Weds with oxycodone and Tylenol. I alternated taking them about every 4-6 hours a directed for a few days. On Sat and Sun I only took the oxy before bed and I was totally off pain meds on Monday following surgery.

I took liquid Tylenol for two weeks after returning home from hospital. I did not take one single dose of narcotic from the time I woke up from my surgery because they made me too nauseous. They were able to give me an iv NSAID and also gave me some kind of lidocaine-ish pain med at one of my incision sites that was inserted under my skin during surgery and not removed till about three days after I arrived home from the hospital. So your mileage may vary if you do not have that. Try the maximum dose of liquid Tylenol: the over the counter dose of "extra strength" Tylenol is 500mg of acetominophen x 2 tablets for a total of 1000 mg. If you are taking children's liquid Tylenol you will need to adjust the dose for yourself. I was able to find 8oz bottles of Tylenol "Sore Throat" liquid on Amazon whose sole ingredient was acetominophen. It tastes like a shot of jäger Meister but it does the job with MUCH less nausea than the narcotics without ANY risk of addiction. BUT there are side effects to everything so talk to your doctor about what your maximum dose of Tylenol should be. For most people it is about 3,000 mg per day, but if you have any pre-existing liver issues your mileage may vary so please confirm with your doctor. Thousands of people each year actually do overdose their livers from over the counter pain meds containing acetominophen. So if you feel the need to go over the amount of acetominophen recommended by your doctor then that is also a good indication that you may need to continue with the narcotics. Many people take them only at night for a day or two or three and then give them up altogether. I personally also think it's a good idea NOT to dull all pain because that pain signal also lets you know when you are overdoing it when you are reaching too high, lifting too much, or pulling too hard. It helps us set appropriate limits with our activity so that we can HEAL, which is not a bad thing. At the same time if you can't get any rest because you are in so much pain that is also not helpful for healing, so transition to Tylenol when you can and take the narcotic when you need it most. I hope hat makes sense[emoji4]

Also agree with other posters to stay ahead of pain. That is why I took the liquid Tylenol second thing after waking each day (first thing was zofran, an anti-nausea med that helped me keep the liquid Tylenol and everything else down). I hope this helps[emoji4]

this is going to vary depending on what they gave you in the hospital and what your surgery entailed. Mine had no hernia repair and I had a nerve block in my abdomen, so I was only on pain pills a couple of days and a week at bedtime. only needed a low dose.

but you should take them as long as you need them, and hopefully you have a one week follow up where you can discuss and concerns you have if you are still having that kind of pain.