Pain Meds

[lhaag]

I was wondering what an "average" time frame was for continued pain meds. We are 9 days post op today and Sienna is still having a decent amount of pain requiring pain medication. She did undergo posterior and anterior fusion which was very invassive. I do not want her to suffer but I also want to get an idea as to what a reasonable time frame for trying to wean off them would be......Thanks...Lisa

[LindaRacine]

Hi Lisa...

It depends on a lot of things, but it's a bit early to really worry about it. How old is Sienna?

--Linda

[lhaag]

Hi Linda,

She will be 15 this April. Honestly it is not so much that I am worried about it as I am looking for a "general" protocol on when these kids feel a little better and are not requiring continuous pain meds. It will be hard for her to have the home health teacher here if she has just had two Vicodin. Just trying to gage what to expect in terms of pain. Thanks.....Lisa

[Cheryl M]

Lisa,

My daughter had posterior surgery only in November. We saw a big improvement at 3 weeks and then each week continually got better. I can't remember exactly about pain meds but I know I set an alarm to wake me up so that she was on continuous medication for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3. I think she was off pain meds somewhere around 4 to 5 weeks. I cut back some, I think, after 3 weeks when she could tolerate it. I found that some days she still needed the full dose and others she did fine. Each day was different. When the homebound teacher came, Briann was pretty drugged up. She was only here for 1 1/2 hours and then she'd go back to bed.

Hope this helps some. Just remember that everybody is different. Sounds like Sienna is doing well. I'm so glad. Make sure she gets up and walks.

Cheryl M

[Carmell]

Braydon had surgery last week (March 13) to replace both of his adjustable rods. His surgery was only posterior, but he's had anterior surgery twice before. The anterior part of the surgery generally takes long to recover (speaking in general terms).

Braydon is still taking pain meds (Lortab) about twice a day. He is 10 yrs old and has a high tolerance for pain, usually. This surgery was bigger than "normal" so its no surprise that he's still needing some relief.

Good luck to Sienna! She's doing great. Her body will tell her what she needs. Like someone else mentioned, you should see a big swing in the right direction about 3-4 weeks post-op. From then on, it should be better and better all the time. Remember that this is a HUGE surgery. The pain is not going to go away overnight.

Take care!

[marmyte]

don't be afraid to give pain meds (within the instructions of course) because they aid recovery. the human body doesn't heal so well if you're in pain.

i survived on paracetamol (that's tylenol in the US) from 6 days post op and was only taking it once a day from about 3 weeks post op. i recovered very quickly, because mentally i'm quite tough.

3 weeks is when you probably notice a big upwards turn, and teenagers can also get better very quickly.

good luck!