I was just idly wondering if anyone else had an extreme amount of pain after their sleeve (or any weight loss) surgery? I don't mean to scare anyone away from having their surgery because my situation is pretty unique in this regard.

I am a recovering heroin addict so at the time of my surgery (August 2016) I was taking a medicine called Suboxone. Suboxone blocks pretty much all other opioid painkillers from working. I told my surgeon and anesthesiologist that I was on this medication and I was concerned that it would make the post-surgery painkillers not work so I brought my prescription to the hospital with me so I could give it to them so they could administer it to me after the surgery.

Well fast forward to me waking up after my surgery in agonizing pain. They had literally just made 6 cuts into my abdomen and cut out the majority of my stomach and I had nothing working to dull that pain at all. They wouldn't let me leave the recovery room (I think that's what it's called) until my pain was under control. I was literally screaming in pain which I had never done in my entire life before that and I have not done since then. The nurse actually kept telling me that I needed to be quiet! If I was capable of that I would have been! The nurse kept giving me Dilaudid (an opioid painkiller) injections on someone's orders -who? I don't know. I kept telling the nurse that it wasn't going to work because I was on Suboxone, which by the way takes a very long time to work out of your system - like at least a few days until other painkillers will work. The nurse must have given me at least 4 injections of Dilaudid with no effect whatsoever before she finally believed that it wasn't going to work.

Hours had passed since I woke up after my surgery before they finally listened to me when I told them that my mother was in the waiting room with my Suboxone prescription and that would actually work. 15 minutes later they brought it to me and I put it under my tongue to dissolve. Within 10-15 minutes my pain felt like it disappeared completely. Now it hadn't actually completely gone away but compared to the agony that I was experiencing before, this might as well have been nothing. What relief!

To anyone that actually read all of that story thank you for making it this far! I don't have a real reason for sharing this, I just like this forum and have recently gotten back to reading and posting here and wanted to share some of my surgery experience. Feel free to comment about my story, ask any questions you want, or share any similar experiences you had.

-Joshua

You're an inspiration, Joshua. Thanks for your honesty and for sharing.

I obviously didn't have a sleeve, but the post op pain for me was between 9.5 and 10 for a few hours. They wouldn't give me more morphine, and I was at one point told they had to 'go see incoming patients' in the first room there. I was livid, and nobody was allowed in to the hospital due to covid. I to this day believe I would've offed myself then if given the chance.

Not to scare anyone away, mind you. Even with what I've achieved a little over two months out, I'd actually go through that without hesitation again just for feeling this much better already.

However, I think the advice I'd give was talk to your surgery team about pain management upfront. And know that it's "just" the bloated stomach from gas pressing on freshly cut insides ... you're not about to burst or anything (I remember being scared something was very wrong, which didn't help at all).

1 minute ago, OAGBPal said:

You're an inspiration, Joshua. Thanks for your honesty and for sharing.

I obviously didn't have a sleeve, but the post op pain for me was between 9.5 and 10 for a few hours. They wouldn't give me more morphine, and I was at one point told they had to 'go see incoming patients' in the first room there. I was livid, and nobody was allowed in to the hospital due to covid. I to this day believe I would've offed myself then if given the chance.

Not to scare anyone away, mind you. Even with what I've achieved a little over two months out, I'd actually go through that without hesitation again just for feeling this much better already.

However, I think the advice I'd give was talk to your surgery team about pain management upfront. And know that it's "just" the bloated stomach from gas pressing on freshly cut insides ... you're not about to burst or anything (I remember being scared something was very wrong, which didn't help at all).

I'm so sorry you had to go through such extreme pain also. I was also a little worried about scaring people away with my post but it shouldn't be that bad for the majority of people that go through it. Looking back, even with the experience that I had, it was a million percent worth it!

sorry to hear that - not sure if it was related to your Suboxone situation or not. A majority of us fortunately have little to no pain with this surgery (I had pretty much zero). Sorry you were one of the unlucky ones. For those who do have pain with this, the painkillers do work - but your situation might be kind of unique because of your history with opioid blockers, I'm guessing.... Anyway, sorry you went through that.

I’m a nurse in a suboxone treatment program. For anyone reading this that will be facing the same situation, please have your suboxone provider advocate for you with your surgical team! We do anytime one of our folks is having surgery. We call directly to the surgeon and assist with formulating a post op pain plan. There are meds that can help along with suboxone to manage pain! Great job on both your recovery and your surgery, Joshua. And thank you for sharing, you will save someone the same agony you experienced!

Wow what a horrendous experience. I’m glad you shared your story in hopes it will help someone else. After that initial torture, was your healing and recovery managed ok?

On 02/07/2021 at 08:37, kristieshannon said:

I’m a nurse in a suboxone treatment program. For anyone reading this that will be facing the same situation, please have your suboxone provider advocate for you with your surgical team! We do anytime one of our folks is having surgery. We call directly to the surgeon and assist with formulating a post op pain plan. There are meds that can help along with suboxone to manage pain! Great job on both your recovery and your surgery, Joshua. And thank you for sharing, you will save someone the same agony you experienced!

Thank you for your perspective on this! This may not be true for everyone but I didn’t need anything for the pain other than the suboxone (once I finally got it). I just took a slightly higher dose for a couple days and had no issues.

On 02/07/2021 at 09:38, NiceAnkles said:

Wow what a horrendous experience. I’m glad you shared your story in hopes it will help someone else. After that initial torture, was your healing and recovery managed ok?

Yeah after that few hours everything was smooth sailing. I didn’t have any pain or side effects after that. I never even had any foods that I had any issues eating. It’s the best decision I ever could have made for my health (besides maybe quitting heroin a few years before XD)

I woke up in agonizing pain, moaning and writhing. It felt like my stomach was spasming. It hurt so much I peed myself, which I did not realize until my pain was under control. The nurse gave me some pain medication (I did not ask what she gave me), via IV and my pain went away. I had virtually no pain after that, although I did take pain meds for a couple of days, mostly out of fear of the horrible pain returning.

I cannot imagine having that initial pain treatment not work. I am also a nurse and work in a clinic where we have medication assisted therapy with suboxone. It is unfortunate more hospital and surgical center nurses are not familiar with the medication (former hospital nurse here), and how to treat pain for persons taking suboxone. We should be advocating for you while you are in our care, but it is difficult to do if you don’t understand how a medication works.

Congrats on all of your healthy lifestyle changes!

That's a tenuous position to be in. Thanks for sharing.