So i am going over a powerpoint presentation that the hospital sent over basically telling you what happens once i arrive at the hospital, during surgery and after. One thing is they are not providing any kind of the good pain medication (narcotics) WTF lol. Heck when i get my wisdom teeth taken out they give you some. Looks like i am gonna have to make a call and stock up on some before surgery just incase.

That’s interesting but maybe that’s just your surgeon’s preference. Being given opioid meds at hospital & then a script for a few days supply is usually what happens. You’ll likely find you only need stronger pain meds for a few days (about 4 or 5) then over the counter pain meds (not NSAIDS - you can’t have them anymore) will be enough. On day 4 I only took 2 out of 4 opioids I was to have over a day but on day 5 I had a single over the counter med & never took another thing after that. Most of the pain comes from the surgical gas & muscle pain from you being pushed, pulled & prodded during the surgery.

Ask them why & if you need stronger pain relief will you be given it?

My surgeon had no general rule against NSAIDs, as he preferred to look at each person as an individual, each of which have different needs. For me, NSAIDs were OK but I needed to monitor for side effects (as with any med). Acetaminophen (Tylenol) was a definite no-no for me as I had chronic liver issues.

My WLS was open, so I was in a fair bit of pain. At this point I don't recall if I took the narcotics they gave me or if I just continued my ongoing pain relief. Either way, I was OK.

I imagine with the current angst about narcotics a lot of places wait for a need before they hand it out.

Good luck,

Tek

You may be surprised that you might not even need anything strong. My hospital does TAP blocks for abdominal surgeries now and that cuts down on the pain for the first 48 hours post surgery. So I never need meds after. Just as @Arabesque said, the most annoying part is the gas pains. The surgical pain wasn't a thing for me. I never took narcotics after any of my recent surgeries. Ask if they use TAP blocks. It's a peripheral nerve block.

6 minutes ago, BypassingMyPhatAss said:

You may be surprised that you might not even need anything strong. My hospital does TAP blocks for abdominal surgeries now and that cuts down on the pain for the first 48 hours post surgery. So I never need meds after. Just as @Arabesque said, the most annoying part is the gas pains. The surgical pain wasn't a thing for me. I never took narcotics after any of my recent surgeries. Ask if they use TAP blocks. It's a peripheral nerve block.

Yea i hear that the gas pains are the worst of it and pain medication dont really do anything for that. Shall see what they actually give once surgery is over. In any case i secured some pain medication to keep on hand just incase. I always like to keep some on hand because i also have a condition called Diverticulosis and when that flares up oh man the pain is intense and have to be on 2 antibiotics for 2 weeks til it clears up.

4 minutes ago, liveaboard15 said:

Yea i hear that the gas pains are the worst of it and pain medication dont really do anything for that. Shall see what they actually give once surgery is over. In any case i secured some pain medication to keep on hand just incase. I always like to keep some on hand because i also have a condition called Diverticulosis and when that flares up oh man the pain is intense and have to be on 2 antibiotics for 2 weeks til it clears up.

Yeah the pain meds don't help the gas pains. It sucks. When I had my lap band removed last year, I did take activated charcoal capsules for the gas pains and it did help. But I won't take it after my revision surgery because it can cause prevent absorption of nutrients.

Do you use CBD oil for your chronic pain? I use it and it helps me a lot. I have RA.

Edited April 7, 20224 yr by BypassingMyPhatAss

25 minutes ago, BypassingMyPhatAss said:

Yeah the pain meds don't help the gas pains. It sucks. When I had my lap band removed last year, I did take activated charcoal capsules for the gas pains and it did help. But I won't take it after my revision surgery because it can cause prevent absorption of nutrients.

Do you use CBD oil for your chronic pain? I use it and it helps me a lot. I have RA.

I actually got my medical marijuana card back in 2019 when i got diagnosed with diverticulosis. and it worked amazing for the first year or so. After that it was no longer affective. I started to run into problems when i would use it and it would cause pain. no idea why and no doctor to see about it since technically marijuana is still illegal federally. But i switched to High CBD to low THC products and it helps a bit but not much.

4 minutes ago, liveaboard15 said:

I actually got my medical marijuana card back in 2019 when i got diagnosed with diverticulosis. and it worked amazing for the first year or so. After that it was no longer affective. I started to run into problems when i would use it and it would cause pain. no idea why and no doctor to see about it since technically marijuana is still illegal federally. But i switched to High CBD to low THC products and it helps a bit but not much.

Well that's interesting. Any idea if losing weight will help improve the severity of the diverticulosis?

10 minutes ago, BypassingMyPhatAss said:

Well that's interesting. Any idea if losing weight will help improve the severity of the diverticulosis?

nothing at all lol.

20 minutes ago, liveaboard15 said:

nothing at all lol.

Aww well I hope it improves as the weight falls off! ?

I was prescribed ten narcotic pills. I took one each on three days after surgery. I took tylenol after that. I had a nerve block in the hospital, so the pain wasn't bad until the day after I got home, and even then, it was only really bad when I tried to get up from lying down or change my position.

You may be surprised that you might not even need anything strong. My hospital does TAP blocks for abdominal surgeries now and that cuts down on the pain for the first 48 hours post surgery. So I never need meds after. Just as [mention=370238]Arabesque[/mention] said, the most annoying part is the gas pains. The surgical pain wasn't a thing for me. I never took narcotics after any of my recent surgeries. Ask if they use TAP blocks. It's a peripheral nerve block.

I've never heard of TAP blocks. Thanks for the tip. I'm going to ask my surgeon if he uses that. I'm a wimp when it comes to pain. [emoji44]

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Yeah the pain meds don't help the gas pains. It sucks. When I had my lap band removed last year, I did take activated charcoal capsules for the gas pains and it did help. But I won't take it after my revision surgery because it can cause prevent absorption of nutrients.
Do you use CBD oil for your chronic pain? I use it and it helps me a lot. I have RA.

The gas cramps were awful when I had my surgery. Did your doctor recommend activated charcoal capsules? I've never heard of them. How soon did you take them after surgery?

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8 hours ago, hollywrites2u said:

The gas cramps were awful when I had my surgery. Did your doctor recommend activated charcoal capsules? I've never heard of them. How soon did you take them after surgery?

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No I found out about them online. But I wouldn't recommend them for anyone who had a weight loss procedure because they can block absorption of nutrients. (They use activated charcoal in the hospital to block absorption in overdose patients) I only used it this one time because I had just had surgery to remove my lap band, so I was eating just fine. I took them the day after surgery.

You may be one of the people with very little pain afterwards. I woke up on pain meds and asked them to take me off of them because I was in so little pain. They said when the nerve block wore off the pain may get worse but it never did.

I normally have a high pain tolerance but had my bypass on Tuesday and whew…I must have pulled everything and then some. I am unable to sit up without assistance