:thumbup: I had my surgery Friday the 18th (and being as I had my son c-section 11 yrs ago) I was thinking this should be a piece of cake...Man I feel like such a freaking baby for having to take my pain meds every 4 hours without fail or I am in soo much pain.

Tell me I am not a total baby and this is normal???! :teeth_smile:

I am wondring how long this will go on for me??

Try to ween off of it as much as you can tolerate because it will make you even more constipated. have you tried liquid tylenol?

You are not a wimp (or both of us are). I seriously thought I was dying the pain was so bad for me. I was in misery without pain meds. If I was allowed, I would have taken the pain meds every 3 hours.

Day 4-5 post-op I started easing off the pain meds so much and the time between taking them got longer.

Until yesterday I was still taking Tylenol every 6 hours religiously. Now I can get by with 1 dose during the day and a dose before bed.

It WILL get better.

No you are def not being a wimp! I was in agony after my op and so were the other ladies who I was in hospital with.We were all shocked at the level of pain we were in becoz no one had said it would be so bad. The good news is that with every day that passes the pain will ease a bit so dont worry. If you need pain relief take it, make it as easy for yourself as u can.

Im 2 wks post op now and pretty much back to normal, but believe me I was in agony afterwards. I'm surprised how quickly the body bounces back to life. i think the thing is to be nice to yourself, give yourself plenty of time to do rest and recover and you'll be absolutely fine.

All the best!

Julia x

I had my surgery on a Thursday and it wasn't until the following Wednesday that I was really feeling back to good. The first couple of days were the worst. I was discharged from the hospital on Friday afternoon and I spent the weekend at my mom's because she didn't want me by myself at my apartment. I took my pain meds every 4 hours like the doctor instructed and slept for what felt like forever, and by the time the following week came around, I was down to taking it twice a day - upon waking up and once in the evening before bed.

Don't beat yourself up, doll! You are doing fine. You just had abdominal surgery on Friday - 2 days ago. Right now you're going to be in pain and you're going to need your meds. Just make sure you get up and walk periodically throughout the day and that you stay hydrated with fluids. You'll bounce back soon. :thumbup:

Congrats on your banding! :teeth_smile:

Firstly, congrats on being banded. Do not feel bad for taking the pain meds. I just had my band put in on 7/15/08 and I still take the meds. What I did, however, was tried to use either Tylenol or Advil during the day and only take the "good stuff" at night. That way, I was able to ween myself off of the meds. But the doc prescribed them bc he felt you would need them. Just make sure you let your doc know at your follow-up appt how your pain is progressing.

It's just one day at a time.

God bless,

Alicia:thumbup:

You cannot rest, your body can't heal if you are in pain. Take the meds - you will find as days go by you will not need them as much. Then maybe only at night to be sure you rest and soon you will able to tough it out with the pinch and pull from the main incision. The rest of you will be fine. Have patience - it will all work out!

You are not a total wimp for taking pain med every 4 hours.

You just had surgery two days ago.

This is how I explained my pain to my teenager: "I feel like I have been stabbed in the belly five times!!!" Go figure. I HAD been stabbed in the belly five times. Then they took some long instruments and wiggled them around in my belly for a couple of hours.

Surgery hurts.

You should start feeling a lot better soon. Get up and move!

You aren't a wimp, but you still need to start either taking your medication less frequently or start using liquid tylenol instead of the strong stuff. My surgeon, whom I also work with only gives out 10 doses of liquid Lortab (even to his RNY patients.) You would be out of medicaiton by now.

Are you sure you aren't constipated or gassy? Constipation and gas can cause worse pain than the actual surgical pain. Make sure your getting up and walking every hour or two to get things moving. And most of all, if your pain is really severe (it should only be mild and moderate at most at this point) you really need to call your surgeron.

You are def nota wimp. I was banded on 7/15 & I take mine every 3 1/2 -4 hours. No point in letting it get unmanagaeable, THEN take it. Take it to keep comfortable during this trauma period. So I am 5 days post op today & I still take it every 6 hours. What worked forme is, I would take it, wait 30 minutes, then walk walk walk. That kept the gas away & no nausea away & got my abs moving. Then it would allow me enough time to rest about 2-3 hours then start the cycle all over again. I am doing great for day 5 I think & it has alot to do with not letting the pain get out of hand. Keep taking it is my opinion. Goodluck & heal well!

Christine

Well I see we both got banded on the 18th and ur not a whimp either. I had a hysterectomy in 1998 and gallbladder surgery, thought this wouldnt be so bad. Well I am in pain meds as often as I can. First they had to find something I could take due to I am allergic to hydrocodine. I am now on tylenol 3, helps a little. I have found ice on the sutures helps so much. I also walk a lot and it helps. Cold things hurt my stomach but warm seems to help. So me and chicken broth have became best friends. I hope you start feeling better soon.

Can I ask what pain meds were prescribed after surgery?

They gave me Loratab in liquid form, wound up itching and hives so then I got benedryl. Call the hospital in the middle of the night to get my doctor to give me something new. He then now has me on Tylenol 3 liquid form. I guess I am allergic to hydrocodine. Yet I am not allergic ro codine.:confused2:

I had lortab(vicodan) in liquid form postop.The only way I could describe it is,it tasted like flat beer to me.I took it for the 1st 4 days and I got sick of sleeping all day.I switched to motrin every 6 hrs and only took the the lortab at bed time.I slept great and could stay awake all day.I hope that helps.:thumbup:

I had my surgery on July 16th and I refused the narcotics. I feel crazy and much worse when I take them and they don't seem to releive the pain I use ice packs and tylonel (when needed). Walking helps a lot!!! I went to Target yesterday and I was pooped when I got home, but I think the walking did me a lot of good. I hope you feel better soon!

You guys with the liquid stuff are lucky! (Then again, considering how some of that stuff tastes, maybe not! Heehee!) :thumbup:

After my surgery, the surgeon saw me for the second time that evening before going home and he told me that the nurses had been ordered to give me pain medication in pill form, not liquid, because he wanted me to begin attempting to swallow to make sure I could do so efficiently before being discharged the next day. That night, the nurses cut the small pain pill into fourths and when I tried the first fourth, it got stuck and I felt like I was choking. They gave me a suppository for the pain and then, after hours of sipping on Water, it was much easier in the morning when I had to try swallowing again.

The surgeon saw me the next morning and said, "See. I'd rather have you do that here and have difficulty trying to swallow something the first time after surgery with nurses and medical staff around you than to do that at home and panic." Good point, Doc. Good point.

For the first 2 weeks after surgery, I still used a pill cutter to break them into fourths. (I was given Percocet and because of the way it made me feel dazed and kind of out of it, once the pain started to become more manageable, I started only taking half of one pill in the morning and the other half in the evenings before going to bed at night so I could sleep.)