Okay, so one of my surgery buddies is post op. Some of the things she is sharing is disturbing to me. I personally think this is crazy.

But im curious to see what the norm is on average here for post op pain management.

So when you were out of surgery what was the pain management for you?

Where you on morphine drip? Liquid pain medication? Pills?

12 minutes ago, Oceanlove said:

Okay, so one of my surgery buddies is post op. Some of the things she is sharing is disturbing to me. I personally think this is crazy.

But im curious to see what the norm is on average here for post op pain management.

So when you were out of surgery what was the pain management for you?

Where you on morphine drip? liquid pain medication? pills?

Directly out of surgery you'll most likely be on liquid Tylenol in your IV with a pain pump with morphine (you have to hit the button, it's metered and timed so you can't just keep hammering on it).

You will more than likely be given the chance to take a morphine pill or so after they take the morphine pump away. Once you are home, it's just pills. They don't give you a lot either.

That said, after the first 24 hours after surgery... I really didn't need any additional pain meds. I only hit the pump before I had to move too much (or if I was having a hard time sleeping) but by day 2 post-op, I didn't need any of them.

What's disturbing or crazy exactly?

They did not give her a morphine injection or pump. They had her taking pills afterwards. They gave her a injection of pain meds in the recovery room but afterwards it was straight to pills.

I would think within the first 24 hours swallowing anything would be painful

I wasn’t on a morphine pump but I had morphing injected into my IV every 4 hours. After that I had liquid Tylenol with codeine.

My pain level never went above 7/10 and it was fine

3 minutes ago, Oceanlove said:

They did not give her a morphine injection or pump. They had her taking pills afterwards. They gave her a injection of pain meds in the recovery room but afterwards it was straight to pills.

I would think within the first 24 hours swallowing anything would be painful

if the pills are small enough (which if I recall correctly the morphine ones are tiny) then I wouldn't suspect it would be a major problem. If you can take a small sip of water, which you'll be doing not long after you get to your recovery room (or the next day depending) you'll be fine with tiny pills.

They were giving here norco pills and sent her home with them (script) and Pepcid pills

Those look a little large to be giving a bypass patient...

Going home with pills is totally the norm. You'll be on some form of acid reduction pill, some form of as needed pain med, various vitamins, some pain meds, blood thinner shots, and a list of other things.

Granted every hospital and doctor is going to be different, but it seems a little off to be giving a bypass patient a pill that large, that soon after surgery... but, if it didn't cause issues, it didn't cause issues.

Watch out for the Norco pills, oh they work and do it rather handily but they can constipate you to concrete boulders. After sending the wrecking crew in I went on three times a week, Miralax to keep things a- movering along ? and keep your fluids up?? I think the only thing worse than a heavy heart is a bogged down colon!???

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking they are too large but she has been cutting them in half. But no shots. No vitamins yet. She’s on Pepcid pills.

5 minutes ago, Oceanlove said:

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking they are too large but she has been cutting them in half. But no shots. No Vitamins yet. She’s on Pepcid pills.

I'm shocked that they don't have her on vitamins... that's sorta crucial. The Pepcid isn't a shock, it's an acid reducer, so that's pretty normal and they are quite small.

Every hospital is different as far as what is prescribed because it is the surgeon that is prescribing the medication for the patient. Every surgeon will have their own preferences of what they want their patients to have post operatively.

As a patient post op, I had two or three doses of IV pain medication while in the hospital and went home on pain pills which I took for a few days before switching to liquid Tylenol.

As a nurse working in the hospital, there is a huge push for all patients to be off of narcotics as soon as possible. They are starting to really put a lot of pressure on physicians that are prescribing these medications. Pain pumps for such a basic surgery are becoming a bit of an outdated practice as the push towards getting people off of opiates sooner is now the norm.

My hospital was brutal. I heard you got the good stuff in the hospital---nope! In recovery, sure I was doped up good. But when I got to my room it was a Tylenol IV drip. By the evening I was begging the nurses for something and they finally got me a shot of morphine so I could sleep for two hours. After that I just roamed the halls because I couldn't sleep from the pain. The next day they had me swallowing Tylenol pills (ouch!). Luckily the pain really only lasts a few days.

Edited June 15, 20188 yr by YeahOkay31

omg! This is ridiculous. I mean I get we have a drug epidemic in this country but for goodness sakes you just get out of surgery you need pain management and rest. Then is not the time to be stingy and keep people in pain for the sake of addiction. I get not sending people home with the stuff but your in a hospital.

Next time don't book your surgery at the Bronx Zoo! No I think even they treat the zoo animals better than that. Maybe you were in a clinic in Hell's Kitchen , if you see Gordon Ramsey in a chef outfit, that's a bad sign.

4 minutes ago, Frustr8 said:

Next time don't book your surgery at the Bronx Zoo! No I think even they treat the zoo animals better than that. Maybe you were in a clinic in Hell's Kitchen , if you see Gordon Ramsey in a chef outfit, that's a bad sign.

Rofl ? well mines not till next Wednesday I will look around first. Make sure I see neither.

I had my choice of aggressive pain management to minimal pain management.

I opted for the least I could get away with because I hoped to poop in the next century.

Had one dose of narcotic meds to get to sleep the night after surgery. Other than that, I got by with liquid Tylenol.

I had very little pain with the procedure.

I did have three different meds to prevent nausea, and I think that's what saved me. I had zero nausea. Felt really good. Had it been an option, I would have loved to go home a couple hours after my surgery. Instead, I went home the next day.

I walked a LOT in the hospital. Kept doing laps of the whole ward. I think it helped a lot.